OOTS 652: No Respect for the Wicked

[Dausuul]

Xykon is not a tactical genius, he has absolutely zero finesse, and he has no patience for details (you'll note it was Redcloak who actually talked him into putting up those defensive wards). He's lazy and his first reaction to any problem is to batter it down with brute force. That has led an awful lot of people to underestimate him, including Dorukan, Roy, and now Vaarsuvius.

Despite appearances, however, Xykon is not stupid, and he has decades of experience and battle-savvy. That experience is standing him in good stead here. He may fight with a sledgehammer instead of a rapier, but he's got damn good aim with that sledgehammer. V is trying to fight Xykon on his own terms - no finesse, no forethought, just charge in swinging. Is it any wonder Xykon is pwning the elf? They both have crazy epic magic, but Xykon knows how to use his. Not only that, he has the other stats to back it up. V's saving throws, hit points, Concentration skill, and magic items are far too weak for this fight.

Vaarsuvius's tactics have largely sucked. The Empowered sunburst was a good move, though it might have been better to Maximize it; but chain lightning against a lich is useless (as one of the splices points out), and dimensional anchor was a waste. And who the heck teleports in without first taking the time to buff up? A simple death ward from Durkon would have saved Vaarsuvius a world of pain right here.

As for people saying this was a railroad - huh? Say what, now? V barged in and fell afoul of a few simple wards. Then Xykon laid the smack down in a perfectly legitimate way... and Rich is actually being merciful to V by letting the negative levels hit the spliced souls; if those two energy drains had hit Vaarsuvius directly, V would already be dead or very close to it.

 

[Leatherhead]

Quite realistic in some ways - someone playing a character from 1st to 16th will often end up more effective than someone created at 18th and just thrown into play, because they are not used to the powers and stuff they can do.

V is experiencing some of that, in a way.

Cheers

This would be ignoring the umpteen levels V is supposed to already have. Yes epic levels are different, but the only thing particularity epic about Xykon is the level of his spells.

When facing down the dragon; while V was the most powerful, confident, pressed for time, and still drunk off power while trance-deprived; s/he used multiple defensive spells. And it's not like V didn't spend a year trying to cast every divination spell in existence aimed in Xykon's general direction (if there was an off-chance that it would have helped locate Haley, it would have been cast). Even if the spells couldn't scry, there would be a high probability of V learning a thing or two incidentally while trying to bypass that restriction.

I hold no illusions that V would have actually won. I just expected that with two epic spellcasters squaring off, the fight would have been more of a bang than a whimper.

 

[Dausuul]

This would be ignoring the umpteen levels V is supposed to already have. Yes epic levels are different, but the only thing particularity epic about Xykon is the level of his spells.

Also his hit points, saving throws, and magic items... but more to the point, Xykon has faced off against other epic-level casters before and won. He beat down both Dorukan and Lirian in Start of Darkness. I can recall three instances of V fighting another caster on roughly equal terms - Zz'dtri, the bandit sorceress, and Leeky Windstaff. None of those fights was remotely near epic-level, and V got stomped into the ground in all three.

This is pretty much par for the course. V simply has no skill at spell-duelling, while Xykon is brutally good at it. Add in all the other factors weighing in Xykon's favor, and it's hardly a surprise that the lich is dominating this fight.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if V got in a few good licks before having to flee. The battle isn't over yet. In fact, given the lunacy that is epic-level combat, it's conceivable that V might get lucky and blow Xykon away with a single spell. (No, this wouldn't eliminate the BBEG of the strip... remember the phylactery.)

 

[catsclaw227]

I hold no illusions that V would have actually won. I just expected that with two epic spellcasters squaring off, the fight would have been more of a bang than a whimper.

Ahh... but it's not over yet. We've only seen the first strip of the battle. I expect V to lose, but not before getting in a lick or doing something that exposes a weakness of Xykon.

Also his hit points, saving throws, and magic items... but more to the point, Xykon has faced off against other epic-level casters before and won. He beat down both Dorukan and Lirian in Start of Darkness. I can recall three instances of V fighting another caster on roughly equal terms - Zz'dtri, the bandit sorceress, and Leeky Windstaff. None of those fights was remotely near epic-level, and V got stomped into the ground in all three.

This.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if V got in a few good licks before having to flee. The battle isn't over yet. In fact, given the lunacy that is epic-level combat, it's conceivable that V might get lucky and blow Xykon away with a single spell. (No, this wouldn't eliminate the BBEG of the strip... remember the phylactery.)

Ninja'd! (see above).

 

[WarlockLord]

I think we're ignoring something pretty important here. Remember how in the strip Xykon said that most powerful evil mages became undead? That's the impression I got, anyway. Sure, the soul splices are powerful, but we don't know who the heck else is running around with way more power. For all we know, they could be level 21 each. And we still don't know why Haerta didn't choose lichdom.

Plus, as has been previously mentioned, V sucks at magic fights, while Xykon rocks.

On a side note, is anyone else wondering whether Haerta can possess someone and rise to power again?

 

[Relique du Madde]

And we still don't know why Haerta didn't choose lichdom.

Maybe the answer is as simple as "She got killed before she could try." After all, you can't become a lich if you are dead and no one uses a ritual on you to turn you into one.

 

[Orius]

How the hell does Xykon have Maximized Energy Drain? I didn't think he was that high of a level... (level 24+)

I think it was mentioned somewhere that Xykon was somewhere around the level of 24 or 25.

V should demand his time back from the fiends. The one spliced soul only has one epic spell available? That means he's at the very low end of epic.

V should have known better before making the deal. Cause no matter what you do, you're gonna get screwed.

I guess V has to will have to be rescued by O-Chuul or MitD.

Given the previous strip, I think those two will some how end up pulling V's arrogant ass out of the fire.

Xykon is the primadonna that can do no wrong and always seems to one-up everyone els,e all while being a cocky bastard about it. But because he's the BBEG he gets a pass on this, while V's derided for it. Such hypocrisy...

Xykon is the BBEG, so we expect him too be a total dick about everything. He's just staying in character. V OTOH, has all the bad karma coming for Familicide and the summary disintegration of Kubota.

The energy drain isn't working on the spliced souls, it's working on V. All the spliced souls essentially do is give V their spell sheets, from which V casts their spells. So when V gets hit with the energy drain, he/she looses his/her top-level spells -- which are on the other two "spell sheets." There's been no effect on V's spell list because he/she has to loose the 10th, 9th, and 8th? level slots granted from the spliced souls before V starts loosing spell slots.

That's my interpretation; the spliced souls are giving V bonus levels which are being stripped off by the energy drain. However, the only abilities he can use from those levels are abilities that the souls had.

Chalk me up in the "hero who acts selfish and sells out to evil deserves to get his butt whooped" column. I'm delighting in seeing V get used as a door mat.

Keep the party together, stupid!

This too. Every veteran D&D player knows you don't split up. V made a serious tactical blunder in taking on Xykon like this.

Besides, the real threat is the Snarl, not Xykon. Though Xykon wants to use the gates, he's been parked in Azure City now for at least 3 or 4 months. So he's not in any hurry.

 

[Particle_Man]

It's been a constant amazement on my part that V can have such a high int score, and yet consistently be so dumb and worthless.

Low Wis?

 

[Particle_Man]

Not exactly, if we go along the rules...
Preventing O'Chul from destroying the gate with an ability that allows a save to avoid the effect is (for me as a player) extremely risky, especially if the target is a high-level paladin. The Force Cage or a Wall of Force would have been a better choice. However, I found the idea with that Symbol of Insanity good and a funny (and really effective) way to deal with many foes. But then Xykon follows with a power that purely relies on luck...hm.

Does Xykon have access to Force Cage or Wall of Force? He is a sorceror, not a wizard, so his choices are more limited.

And Xykon was defeated by the Oots once before (with help from a nearby Gate). If they had known about the phylactery and where it was, this strip might have been much shorter.

 

[Dark Dragon]

He used Force Cage to imprison Miko (and to save Redcloak).