Tarquin still thinks Elan is the leader of the Order, I think.
Also, this comic.
I’m not so sure: remember that with Manyshot, only the first arrow carries critical and precision (e.g. Sneak Attack) damage. And despite the name, it also applies to thrown spears, javelins, darts, and more.
And it’s definitely not shit when you take it as a prerequisite. It’s a requirement for two badass Epic feats: Infinite Deflection and Reflect Arrows.
I don’t know about anyone else but in some of these battle comics I always have a bit of dissonance between my D&D brain and my realistic brain. Normally a guy who just took three arrows, a dagger to the leg and a sword through the torso would be in bad shape, but then we saw Roy’s head being used to knock down a building and he walked away from that. Hit points are invisible, and hit points in the service of a narrative doubly so.
In the Epic levels you’re fighting legions of dragons or duelling gods, the ranged attacks you might take are giant boulders flung by Cloud Giants, and of course spellcasters doublecast Disintegrations at you (not to mention, the friendly ones can most definitely shield you from arrows entirely anyway), so…
To the leg? Yes. To the knee? Your adventuring days are over.
And you’re Enlarged so you can catch them and chuck them right back.
Elan participated.
Does reality strain your suspension of disbelief, too? Because there really are real badasses in the real world who really do shrug off damage like that.
Cite? There are people who can knock down a building with their head, and walk away afterwards? Who?
George Washington.
Seems to have grabbed, swung, and tossed that dwarf by gripping him by the beard. Ouch!
Ten bucks says that’s not Tarquin they’re fighting.
Huh? Nale, Malack and the kobold accountant all address him as they would Tarquin (“Dad”, “Tarquin” and “Sir”, respectively).
You think its someone pretending to be Tarquin pretending to be Thog?
Hell, I don’t even know who would be a CANDIDATE for that possibility right now. I mean, theoretically, it could be one of the Evil Inc. triumvirate, but that’s a REALLY long shot.
Foxtrot could be figuring it’s one of Girard’s illusions, but that seems unlikely.
The helmet serves a dual purpose: a disguise against OOTS, and a disguise against the reader.
Tarquin, as excellent a fighter as he may be, is far too smart to put himself in a combat situation where he isn’t guaranteed to win. He has no reason to throw his life away. He also has no reason to trust the Linear Guild, so he’s not going to engage one-vs.-five against several high-level combatants and just trust that the Linear Guild isn’t going to screw it up or stab him in the back, even with Malack there to keep them honest.
In fact, I think he even knew that he wasn’t going to win one-vs.-five, which makes it all the more likely that it’s not him under that helmet.
I think the Linear Guild is about to be just as surprised as the OOTS at what’s going to happen next.
So who IS it? “Tarquin” has been interacting with a) a son who’s known him his entire life and b) a “business partner” who’s known him for YEARS right up until he launched himself into this combat, and neither one appears to have the slightest inkling that it wasn’t Tarquin they were speaking with the whole time.
Malack’s there to bring him back from the dead if he ‘throws his life away’ – which Tarquin doesn’t figure has a chance of happening unless it makes for a really terrific story.