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2024-03-14, 02:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
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2024-03-14, 03:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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2024-03-14, 03:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Yeah... probably against the rules to get into the deeper reasons people think and act like that. I haven't been to San Francisco in a long time but I had a nice visit both times I was, and there's a lot of great stuff to see, especially just walking around. Downtown Denver is fine, too, although (and for the first time ever, for me) I prefer living outside of the city and closer to the mountains.
It was a very well-considered response.
Yeah, that's literally covered in the part of the sentence you cut off:
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2024-03-14, 06:50 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
"Thursdays. I could never get the hang of Thursdays."-Arthur Dent, The Hitchhiker's Guide
"I had a normal day once. It was a Thursday." -Will Bailey, The West Wing
Roy will be Xykon's Final Boss
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2024-03-14, 07:09 AM (ISO 8601)
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2024-03-14, 07:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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2024-03-14, 09:00 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Check me on this, but fighting an adult dragon in D&D is much like fighting a wizard. A wizard which doesn't have the usual balancing issue of being squishy but also has a massive size, a claw/claw/bite combo, a breath weapon, high resistance to just about everything, and a sizeable hit point total. You've got to prepare both to fight a wizard or sorcerer with an unknown spell list, but you also have to fight a very large, dangerous monster type as well.
Which implies that the battle shouldn't happen at all if we can't find some way to do what O-chul did, and learn in advance what the dragon's known spells are. If you have to go in unprepared, expect casualties at least.
Respectfully,
Brian P."Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid."
-Valery Legasov in Chernobyl
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2024-03-14, 09:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Regarding Calder's size:
The only reference we have for a Red Dragon's size is the Empress of Blood, who had a head approximately one Thog long (not counting the horns) in her pre-eat-to-get-bigger days.
Since Calder's head is approximately two Haleys long or two Vaarsavii long without the horns. Since each size D&D size category is the double of the preceding one, we can estimate with some certainty that Calder is one size category higher than the Flashback Empress.
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2024-03-14, 09:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Cool elan Illithid Slayer by linkele.
Editor/co-writer of Magicae Est Potestas, a crossover between Artemis Fowl and Undertale. Ao3 FanFiction.net DeviantArt
We also have a TvTropes page!
Currently playing: Red Hand of Doom(campaign journal)Campaign still going on, but journal discontinued until further notice.
Extended sig here.
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2024-03-14, 09:49 AM (ISO 8601)
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2024-03-14, 10:07 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Another good comparison is the Ancient Black Dragon. Especially since in #628, we have her holding down V as a convenient point of comparison with Calder holding V in #1298
V is about the size of the ABD's head, or one of her arms. Calder's arm and head look like they are 1,5 to 1,8 V long. He looks far bigger on the shot with Haley, but this could be a perspective trick?
So, since Mature to Ancient Black Dragons are Huge, it'd put Calder on, what, either G or the extreme upper range of H?
Although those comparisons have limits due to the artstyle. The young black dragon doesn't look much smaller than his mom, for example (really smaller torso and shorter neck, sure, but head and arms about 1 Elan long in #183)Last edited by Kardwill; 2024-03-14 at 10:11 AM.
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2024-03-14, 10:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
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2024-03-14, 10:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2009
Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
The issue being discussed wasn't that he (a red dragon, inclined to fire) was using Polar Ray, but that it was being cast from his eyes. Whether that was just a matter of artistic license for extra coolness (no pun intended), or use of the Ocular Spell feat. Since Calder's other spell was cast from his hand/claw, that gives a bit more weight to the argument for his having used the feat (no pun intended) for the Polar Ray. And that has implications for his casting level.
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2024-03-14, 11:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
There was a joke in-comic about the son being a Young Adult, so I think we can safely put him there?
For the mother, I don't remember if her "Ancient Black Dragon" name comes from the comic. Anyway, I think we can safely put her at least as a Mature Adult, which are also Huge (But "Huge" covers a lot of ground between the "somewhat huge" MA and the "real huge" Ancient. Size categories are not one-size-fits-all)Last edited by Kardwill; 2024-03-14 at 11:13 AM.
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2024-03-14, 11:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Qa'ar thought she was Ancient.
"Besides, you know the saying: Kill one, and you are a murderer. Kill millions, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god." -- Fishman
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2024-03-14, 12:22 PM (ISO 8601)
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2024-03-14, 01:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Gate keeping. Also, intentionally increasing opportunities to make fun of each other. And perpetuating jobs for little old ladies with rulers and whip-strike forearms.
Well, that's partly right.
Sideshowdenfreude might be good too. So sayeth the Muntz.
- MNo matter where you go...there you are!
Holhokki Tapio - GitP Blood Bowl New Era Season I Champion
Togashi Ishi - Betrayal at the White Temple
Da Monsters of Da Midden - GitP Blood Bowl Manager Cup Season V-VI-VII
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2024-03-14, 04:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 1
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2024-03-14, 04:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
One random encounter between Plot Point A and Plot Point B, since the Owlbear incident on the Southern Plains. The bug riding slavers in the desert are another example. A non-random encounter may be substituted, such as the Crystal Golem, the frost giants, or the vampire spawn in the tunnel outside the Temple of Thor.
Presumably Calder's "endless waking nightmare" will lead to some discussions with Serini. This probably isn't a party that can work well with a hypnotic dragon, considering how absymally poorly they generally fare against mind control magic.
Right now it looks like he is held prone by a dinosaur and everyone is going to town on the pile of hit points. If being held stops his flames, claws, and tail, he's likely to be a corpse soon.
Maybe V will stop it when Calder is incapacitated but not dead as part of the whole penance deal (save a dragon vs. all the dragons they killed)? Otherwise it does seem like more of a set piece to me.
But hey, I'm not the author, so who knows!SpoilerI Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Sorcerer (5th Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength - 11
Dexterity - 16
Constitution - 11
Intelligence - 15
Wisdom - 12
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2024-03-14, 05:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
I can't believe you failed to mention comic 145 where they not only have one random encounter on the way to the star-metal, but Vaarsuvious explains that all journies have exactly one random encounter.
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2024-03-14, 05:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
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2024-03-14, 06:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
I think that weird originally had a pronunciation that was less of an exception, but became an exception due to its pronunciation shifting.
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2024-03-14, 08:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
You'd think, right? but no actually, the only thing about the word that didn't change was its pronunciation. It grew from Wyrd, which dealt less with the strange and was more about fate or destiny, was a noun in most uses, obviously spelled differently, and has the same pronunciation the whole time.
Weird, eh?"Thursdays. I could never get the hang of Thursdays."-Arthur Dent, The Hitchhiker's Guide
"I had a normal day once. It was a Thursday." -Will Bailey, The West Wing
Roy will be Xykon's Final Boss
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2024-03-14, 08:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
I thought I did when I said Owlbear incident, but, oops, now that you point me at it, V's explanation was after a battle with ogres, not an owlbear. I stand corrected.
I wasn't being arrogantly internet wrong. I was just being too internet lazy to check if I was remembering correctly. :PSpoilerI Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Sorcerer (5th Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength - 11
Dexterity - 16
Constitution - 11
Intelligence - 15
Wisdom - 12
Charisma - 11
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2024-03-14, 09:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Sheriff: I have removed a couple dozen posts from early in this thread that were rules violating or engaging with rules violating comments. So there's probably some oddness in the way the conversation reads now. Sorry about that.
Also, please keep it civil in here and report anything that appears to be a rule violation, whether it's an inappropriate topic, returned banned poster, or flaming/trolling.
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2024-03-14, 09:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Hey,
Really good summary of Elan. I never thought about his interaction with the party in that depth, but I will forevermore see that planning vs. improvisation angle.
Moreover than that though, I want to applaud this quote. Artists should explore different points of view. Different from their audience's and even from their own. Having an arena of ideas is how we grow as a society.I don't actually play D&D. I do play:
Magic: the Gathering Online (with FREE tournaments at Gatherling)
DC Universe, my surprisingly good CoH replacement
Planetside 2, MMO-meets-FPS (and the first shooter I've liked in ages).
Simunomics - a massive multiplayer Business Simulation Game. Browser-based, free to play.
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2024-03-15, 05:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2016
Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
I think you are placing too much emphasis on visual estimates of size here.
As you point out, there is a significant difference in the size of V relative to Calder's head. In the first and third panel, V looks about as long as Calder's head, wheras in the two panels where Calder is gripping V, V appears less long than Calder's head. This might be because of perspective (the relative nearness of V and the head to our viewpoint), or simply the art varying because the Giant isn't intending to suggest size in the detail we need for the assessment you want to make.
If it is different perspectives, there's no reason to think that the pictures where V appears smaller are more accurate than those where V appears bigger. If anything the opposite, because we know Calder is holding V in his claw which is further from our viewpoint than his head is - meaning that any forced perspective is going to make V seem smaller than the head.
In addition, V looks about the same size as Calder's head in the first panel of 1297. Hayley is similarly inconsistent, looking smaller than the head when Calder threatens to bite her in 1298, but about the same size as his head in earlier frames of 1298, and in 1296.Last edited by Liquor Box; 2024-03-15 at 05:51 AM.
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2024-03-15, 08:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
That makes sense. The owlbear was on the way from Azure City to the Oracle IIRC. There have been a lot of minor encounters to keep straight.
There were the ogres and dirt farmers while travelling with Miko toward Azure City, and orc island could be considered a random encounter while looking for a place to take in the Azure city refugees (Banjulu becoming the orcs' god and settling things with a pie eating contest was certainly random enough for me).
They thought that the scags were a random encounter, but it turns out they were part of the Kubuto plot, the paladins thought Oona was a random encounter, but it turns out she's part of TE latest set of minions.
Most of their encounters advance the plot in one way or another, but even so, they have lots of more or less random encounters and plenty of their foes are defeated and never seen again. Do we really expect great significance and a dramatic return for the Furkini menace, or Curly the vampire, or the spiked chain wielding half-ogre; on the other hand, Trigak will of course be back. He got dramatic musical cues and all.
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2024-03-15, 08:19 AM (ISO 8601)
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2024-03-15, 08:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: OOTS #1299 - The Discussion Thread
Avatar by linklele. How Teleport Worksa. Malifice (paraphrased):
Rulings are not 'House Rules.' Rulings are a DM doing what DMs are supposed to do.
b. greenstone (paraphrased):
Agency means that they {players} control their character's actions; you control the world's reactions to the character's actions.
Second known member of the Greyview Appreciation Society