The OotS Thread II

[Raxmei]

Wow, that's ingenious of V, there.

So, how much does a kobold weigh and how much can a wizard elf carry while flying?

About 45 pounds plus gear. Almost certainly enough to be a medium load for V but not enough to to exceed his maximum load, which is what flight and overland flight allow.

[Ahriman238]

Now THAT is the sort of lateral thinking that should define a wizard! I thought V was just going to take out the kobold and continue trying to hook up with the team, but why just subtract from their side when you can add to yours?

"Yes, by all means, keep trying to kill your own ally. He just stopped resisting my orders to shoot you."

[Serafina]

Incidentally, that trick also provides a nice shield against area spells - fireballs, lightning bolts and all that stuff.
Yet another reason not to play a small character

[Ahriman238]

Forget being clever enough to find a solution outside his specialty, was V ever ruthless enough to use a human shield or mindblitz an enemy into attacking his own? Certainly it worked for Nale, it's one of my favorite memories of the strip.

"Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair..."

[Napoleon the Clown]

V was ruthless enough to up and blast a guy with Disintegrate simply because Elan had the guy tied up and so the logical conclusion was "bad guy." V has never been portrayed as being all that nice. It isn't so much "Is the elf ruthless enough" as it is "Would the elf even think of".

[PainRack]

V was ruthless enough to up and blast a guy with Disintegrate simply because Elan had the guy tied up and so the logical conclusion was "bad guy." V has never been portrayed as being all that nice. It isn't so much "Is the elf ruthless enough" as it is "Would the elf even think of".

V was also "sleep deprived: and suffering from the equivalent of PTSD/guilt syndrome then. Its not a very accurate protrayl of what his ethics may be.

[Sriad]

V was ruthless enough to up and blast a guy with Disintegrate simply because Elan had the guy tied up and so the logical conclusion was "bad guy." V has never been portrayed as being all that nice. It isn't so much "Is the elf ruthless enough" as it is "Would the elf even think of".

V was also "sleep deprived: and suffering from the equivalent of PTSD/guilt syndrome then. Its not a very accurate protrayl of what his ethics may be.

It should be further noted that he was gloating about how he would beat his show-trial in short order and go back to villaining while V was standing just off-panel.

[RecklessPrudence]

On a different note, what's this counterspell thingy that V and wossisname, the Drow have been throwing around? Is it a specific spell, does it use spell slots of the level you're trying to counter, does it work on Divine spells, what?

I ask because I've never played any edition but a bastard one built mostly out of Second, with some First and a little bit of Third, although I'm going to have some straight Second soon. None of the GMs 'round me want to touch Third, let alone 3.5, which is what the Order's world runs on. All I had was Spellcraft rolls - which I never made - to see what spell the other guy was casting.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Under some rules, if you make a spellcraft check and identify the spell coming, you may cast the identical spell (or the inverse, if there is one) specifically as a counter.

[RecklessPrudence]

Ah, so that's why the fact that the Drow had a counterspell for every one of V's spells was so important. And infuriating, for V. That would also be why V has only Countered a couple of the Drow's spells, they're the only ones V had prepared.

In 3/3.5, is it still as difficult to expand your spell repertoire? It was bloody difficult to get any spells past your new-spell-level spells, in the games I played.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Its just a matter of rolling a successful spellcraft check when you find a scroll or a spellbook. If the Drow is a sorceror and NOT a wizard, then he doesn't have to prepare spells ahead of time.

[Lord of the Abyss]

If the Drow is a sorceror and NOT a wizard, then he doesn't have to prepare spells ahead of time.

He's referred to by Nale as the Linear Guild's "team wizard Zz'dtri" here. Although he did also claim that Zz'dtri was Chaotic Good; Nale's not the most reliable source of info.

[Master_Baerne]

Under some rules, if you make a spellcraft check and identify the spell coming, you may cast the identical spell (or the inverse, if there is one) specifically as a counter.

And there's a feat - Improved Counterspelling, I think - that lets you cast any spell from the same school as a counterspell, not just the same spell.

[Eframepilot]

If the Drow is a sorceror and NOT a wizard, then he doesn't have to prepare spells ahead of time.

He's referred to by Nale as the Linear Guild's "team wizard Zz'dtri" here. Although he did also claim that Zz'dtri was Chaotic Good; Nale's not the most reliable source of info.

Yeah, that was an exaggeration/deception. The entire race of Drow is not now Chaotic Good just because so many PCs are now ripoffs of Drizzt. Zz'dtri's alignment is presumably the evil opposite of whatever V's is... which could be True Neutral, since it is its own anti-alignment.

[Spekio]

It could be true, since it is implied (IMHO) that V's actions while Soul Splitting made him/her somewhat evil.

[Raesene]

801 is up - nice !

Didn't expect to see her again - No, not the Dwarf priestess

[Sabastian Tombs]

Some fast thinking on Elan's part.

Roy gives this big speech about the importance of intelligence and its uses, and then he's the only one not getting any use out of his. Poor guy.

[Ahriman238]

As a bard, Elan is just naturally more aware of genre conventions. In a way, it's suprising it's taken him this long to take advantage of looking like Nale. Certainly Nale has exploited that often enough.

For that matter, a little grey dye and some careful coaching from Roy, and he could probably do a decent impersonation of Tarquin, at least until he said something comically inappropriate. Remember kids, sometime the best way to take down a bad guy is to frame him for several hideous crimes, alienate his allies, and let the populi/Town Watch take him down. At least, that's how it used to work with my group. Until the GM decided the villains should logically start using that tactic against us.

As an aside, since we were discussing the benefits of Fighter vs. Barbarian earlier with Thog, when the Linear Guild first showed up, Nale said he was a Fighter/Rogue/Wizard multiclass. How in Valen's name does that work?

[Eframepilot]

As an aside, since we were discussing the benefits of Fighter vs. Barbarian earlier with Thog, when the Linear Guild first showed up, Nale said he was a Fighter/Rogue/Wizard multiclass. How in Valen's name does that work?

It gives him the equivalent skill set of a Bard without being a Bard.

[RecklessPrudence]

Not that this changes much, but I'm pretty sure it was Fighter/Rogue/Sorceror, getting by without that whole 'preparing spells' annoyance.

Honestly, I much prefer casting from a replenishing 'mana' pool, as opposed to the whole Vancian system rigamarole. You can still have your spellcaster being more dangerous when they have time to prepare, they just rely a bit more on 'upkeep' spells and imbuing objects with magic than trying to guess what you'll need in the future.

[The Yosemite Bear]

if I recall correctly it was Illusion specialty class for his mage skills.

[Ahriman238]

Not that this changes much, but I'm pretty sure it was Fighter/Rogue/Sorceror, getting by without that whole 'preparing spells' annoyance.

Honestly, I much prefer casting from a replenishing 'mana' pool, as opposed to the whole Vancian system rigamarole. You can still have your spellcaster being more dangerous when they have time to prepare, they just rely a bit more on 'upkeep' spells and imbuing objects with magic than trying to guess what you'll need in the future.

You're right, it was sorceror. I know the magic system can get annoying, but it really is the best way to keep the spellcasters from walking all over everything. That and spell resistance.

if I recall correctly it was Illusion specialty class for his mage skills.

Enchantment, actually. Though now that I think of it, I can't remember ever seeing him cast anything.

[Simon_Jester]

Elan doesn't cast spells very often either, aside from occasional illusions. Or am I forgetting something?

[Bedlam]

quote]

Enchantment, actually. Though now that I think of it, I can't remember ever seeing him cast anything.

I dont recall any actual illusions but he put some sort of mind control on Belkar while he was pretending to the Elan, getting him to try to kill his friends while singing show tunes. No one noticed the difference.

[RecklessPrudence]

And if I recall correctly, he hit Haley with something when newly-Dashing Swordsman Elan burst in on them at around the same time.

EDIT: Actually, now that I've posted, I think he hit Elan with it when, after bursting in, Elan found him and Haley in a compromising position. This was when Haley was speaking gibberish, so she couldn't defend herself, and it was only when she yelled out 'I thought I was kissing you!" that both the spell and Haley's speaking difficulties were broken.