Was rather disappointed in what we got for this strip after such a long wait.
Frankly, I’m factoring the long waits into the enjoyment I get from this comic. Once you realize it’s pretty much inevitable, between Burlew’s health and all the Kickstarter loot he has to do right now, you can sit back and relax knowing it’s not GOING to be a strip-a-day comic anytime in the near future. And that’s fine.
Good job, Quartz, but note that I said that he couldn’t do it without the green energy effect. The sword isn’t bane; it doesn’t have any special effect on undead except when the green energy shows up (unpredictable, but it might be whenever it crits).
And just to correct some of your numbers:
The sword is +5 normally, not +3.
Greatswords do 2d6, not 1d10.
His Strength bonus to damage is multiplied by 1.5 for double-wielding.
And I had forgotten that Power Attack gave double benefit for a two-hander-- Given that, he might plausibly one-shot them all even without the green bonus damage.
Roy is saying that can all be fixed up when you get raised.
The joke is that Roys pelvis got shot up and is now fixed by his teams raising of him
They they his is team and what they did for his pelvis was ‘fix’ it after its previous mistreatment
I understand that translucency is not difficult to create in photoshop, but I still thought the green energy panel was well done.
So what level would Tarquin be? How high do you have to be to toy with 15th level characters?
On the same topic, what levels do Xykon and Redcloak play at?
This thread tries to figure it out. Looks like their best guess is 17+, 21+, and 17.
Was he not explicitly told that the sword would be better against undead? I’m assuming that’s the Bane power, as denoted by the green flame.
Link? If it’s a Bane sword as well, then it becomes +7 vs undead.
Here you go, explicitly named as a +5
Good catches!
Let’s re-run the numbers, then. I’m still assuming it’s a Bane weapon, but with a base of +5 (per that OoTS Forum thread), so +7/+2d6 against undead.
Assume Roy is 15th level, around the level of the rest of the party (remember he’s been resurrected so lost a level), and a pure fighter so BAB +15
Possible Feats: Weapon Focus (+1 attack), Weapon Spec (+2 damage), Greater Weapon Focus (+1 attack), Greater Weapon Spec (+2 Damage), Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave. So +2 Attack, +4 Damage.
Roy’s Str is likely 26 (Base 20, +6 Belt [forum says 24+]) for +8 attack and +8 damage (12 damage for 2H weapon).
Weapon is a 2H greatsword +5 Bane vs Undead for +7 attack and +7 +2d6 damage (av 14)
So his total AB is 15+2+8+7=32 and his base damage is 2d6+4+12+14 or an average of 37.
Mummies have an AC of 20, so he can devote 13 points to Power Attack for +26 damage and still hit the mummies’ AC of 20 on everything except a 1. So he’s doing an average of 63 HP damage per hit - indeed, he even kills a mummy on minimum damage.
It’s nice to see Fighters strut their stuff once in a while!
Nice analysis. There’s a poster or two in the OOTS 861 thread who’s also run through the calcs. Their analysis is pretty much the same as yours. Was just going to add that I think the mummies were just standing there, uncontrolled/flat-footed, so their AC’s going to be even worse. Mummies have 8d12+3 HP, (55 HP) so yeah, Roy’s got a really good chance of Great Cleaving all of them.
I’d really love it if Elan’s contribution to the fight was to paint a Major Image of V on top of Tarquin. Tarquin would see through it, but Z wouldn’t. And I don’t think T would tolerate Z shooting at him for very long. No doubt Burlew’s got something even better planned for Elan, though he’d better hurry.
At a wild guess Elanwill defeat Nale in a duel, but then try to save his life at the last minute only to have Nale fall to his doom or something similar. I know that’s what happened at their first clash, but then that’s how Elan rolls. Bonus points if he saves Haley in the process.
Tarquin will win his way to Girard’s Gate, only to get Xykoned at the last minute. After the joke he made about the good guys fighting their way to the prize only for the bad guys to snatch it away at the last minute, it’d be poetic justice. Elan will be initially conflicted but ultimately happy about the dramatic resolution. We may even get a Darth Vader-esque death scene.
Tarquin has given up on trying to emulate Thog’s speech patterns, right?
Or did he do that some time ago?
That sliding door/trap thing. It seems to be a good use of terrain by the OotS.
Does (Haley’s) use of “detect traps” identify exactly what a trap does, and where the trigger is?
I think he gave it up after Roy noticed he didn’t fight like Thog and de-helmeted (“NOPE!”) Tarquin. They don’t know who he is, but they know who he ain’t.
I’d ballpark Tarquin as in the 20s. He might have the Legendary Dreadnaught PrC which would put him mid-20s minimum. But we really haven’t seen enough of him. As for Xykon, he’s stood up to Roy solo and maintained concentration in the face of significant damage, so he must have a huge Concentration skill. But that can be boosted by both Feats (Skill Focus and Epic Skill Focus) and magic items. He cast a Maximised Energy Drain, which requires a 12th level slot, and can cast Epic spells, so he has at least 4 Epic feats. So he should be L26+ (getting Epic Feats at L21, 23, 24, 26). That makes sense given (IIRC) he described himself as being over 8 levels higher than Roy.
It will always identify the trigger. Whether or not it will identify the effect would depend on what it does. It would let you know there’s a pit trap, but unless you actually have a look inside you won’t know about the spikes at the bottom.
Right. That’s what I assumed, too.
So I was wondering if they knew enough of the sliding door trap to be able to use that in their plans.
My guess: probably. Although, I doubt Haley could tell that the door was airtight.
Undead are immune to crits and the green flame only shows when he’s fighting undead - see his fight with Xykon in 442. He was also told by the Azure city smith that the sword would have additional powers. It’s most likely a bane weapon
Undead, and Miko.
Of course, to her Falling was a fate worse than death.