After being introduced to Goblins webcomic in the Order of the Stick threads, I have become a big fan (though not as much as OotS). I found an old thread about the webcomic itself, but it is borderline zombie and not really geared toward an ongoing discussion.
A new strip was just put up and my mind was blown by Minmax getting character development. He’s essentially been a thin character that reflects gamers only concerned with doing max damage. I don’t want to spoil it. Click the above link to visit the comic.
If enough people show interest, we can keep this thread going like the OotS and Erfworld discussion threads.
I’ve loved Goblins since the start- and I do admit I was surprised by Min’s reaction. I figured he’d be puzzled- but I didn’t think he’d act as proactively as he did.
Good on him, and good on Thunt for surprising me with his characters!
Good on Minmax. I actually had a mental bet on Forgath letting the leash go, myself, but I guess enough time has passed since his conscience was last pricked for him to revert to type.
OK, I can see it now (after a very long load time). I’m thinking that the real test of character is going to come in the next panel: How’s Minmax (or Forgath, if he’s overhearing any of this) going to react to what Goblinslayer just said?
I was soooo pleased to see MinMax react that way. Previously, I had precious little reason to like him, other than as an outstandingly dim (“Forgath, let me ask you a question. My charisma – is AWESOME!”) but not particularly admirable character.
I wonder if Forgath, when he finds out what’s going on, will decide to let go of the leash. And if he does, would MinMax work to liberate Kin, or kill her for the XP?
Indeed. It was taking too long to load the comic itself, so I did “view image”. I didn’t realize that the full update was actually two images. Thanks for cluing me in on that, or I would have been pretty confused next week.
And, of course, something like that was pretty much destined to happen from the first panel where we saw an exterior shot of the bar, four or five weeks ago.
I was also delighted to see this. Sure, he was good for comedy, but it’s good to see him go from admiring another adventurer to discovering just what that adventurer does for fun…on a nightly basis. Notice that Minmax started out calling Kin “it”, but then switched to calling her “her”. She became a person to him, even if she’s also a monster.
And I like Forgath’s way of ordering a drink…“I’ll have something dwarven. Anything that’d make an elf roll a fortitude save.” Better not put any paper umbrellas in HIS glass!
I should have noticed this last week, since the first panel of this update appeared then, too, but Forgath isn’t holding onto Kin’s leash any more. Just Minmax vs. Dellen, even with his absurd munchkinry and Santa Claus DMing, would probably be pretty lopsided, and Forgath probably wouldn’t be enough to even the odds, but Minmax, Forgath, and Kin? Now, it’s looking a lot more plausible.
I noticed that last week, and figured it is the only way Minmax survives. Forgath and Minmax have maybe two rounds versus Delyn, tops, unless Delyn toys with his prey…again. Good villians never learn, they just escape to make the same mistake again and again.
I’ve always thought that Kin was captured by Dellyn and at least one other person, probably Soral Caine. Even though Dellyn’s a high level ranger, and can cast spells, Kin is also pretty tough in a fight AND she’s a lot smarter than most anyone around. She’s got a hell of a motive, too, she’s been beaten and raped every night that Dellyn’s in town for Og only knows how long. Dellyn’s been used to having Soral Caine for his backup, and having the elite guards at his beck and call, for a long time. Now, he’s still a very high level ranger, but it looks like he, Forgath, Minmax, and Kin were the only adventurers in the tavern…and all the townsfolk NPCs have cleared out of it, so it’s going to be three against one. And while Forgath and Minmax might annoy Dellyn, Kin is going to wait for just the right time to attack.
I think that Dellyn will survive, barely, because THunt has too much backstory invested in him, and because he makes an excellent recurring threat. He’s already one of THAC0’s most hated people, and he’s made an enemy in Kin, too.
Kin will appreciate Minmax’s outrage on her behalf, and will befriend him, I think…but she’s probably had more than enough of sex with human males, so I doubt that they’ll become a couple. You never know, though.
Forgive me if this seems purient, but…HOW? It’s the mermaid problem all over again, but with a snake’s tail instead of a fish’s. Is Dellyn using her cloaca? Is he doing it orally? Do you really want a tender and vulnerable part of your anatomy in the mouth of a humanoid whose species has been breeding with poisonous snakes and snake-type beings for millennia?
Wait…never mind. I forgot about the control effects of the leash.
Considering some of the things human males manage to come up with even in our world, I think it’s safe to say that horny dudes in a fantasy world would figure out something.
I think that Dellyn isn’t particular, and that the leash ensures his safety. I mean, heck, even in the real world we get rapists who want blow jobs. A horny dude usually isn’t thinking with his big head.
Dellyn can cast druid spells, or some sort of spells. I believe that rangers get the ability to learn and cast spells at around 9th level, though my books are packed away at the moment. Dellyn has mentioned his spell casting abilities at least a couple of times.
So, Dellyn is around at least 9th level, and quite possibly higher, as he casts spells on a regular basis. Assuming that Forgath is level 2 or 3, you have one second level character and one second or third level character against an NPC who’s at least 9th level, and who is very experienced in all sorts of combat. Plus Dellyn’s a sadist…remember his dungeon, where he has an implement for each type of monster which is guaranteed to cause the maximum amount of pain? Minmax and Forgath are going to NEED Kin’s assistance. And she’ll be only too happy to give it to them, for this one battle.
The comic is Third Edition rules, so rangers start getting spells at level 4, and IIRC the only spell we’ve seen him cast is Magic Fang (first-level), but that just gives a lower bound. I’d say that 9 or 10 is probably a lot more likely. And we know definitively that Minmax is level 2, and I can’t see any reason Forgath’s level would be different.
Theoretically, power scales exponentially with level, such that a character of level n+2 is equal to two characters of level n, so even at the absolute most conservative estimate, the two good guys don’t have an edge over Dellyn. And Dellyn probably has some funky prestige class or template to get the whole half-plant thing going (though I haven’t found anything in the rules that matches it, so we can’t be sure about what exactly it gives), which probably gives him a further edge.