I often feel that Durkon was a completely underappreciated member of the OOTS, by Rich, by the readers, and by the party themselves. He deserved better. 
Honestly, I turn my back for two days (because of mafia responsibilities) and the Giant posts two comics.
The problem with throwing of the Dominate is, why should Belkar get a second saving throw? Unlike Hold Person, there is no automatic save granted each round. Malack would have to demand Belkar do something against Belkar’s own nature - which pretty much amounts to killing himself or killing Mr. Scruffy.
So while it would raise the chance of Belkar making the save, the odds are that Malack, who would know what Durkon cast, simply won’t give Belkar instructions like “don’t kill Durkon” for at least 20 minutes.
He attempted to turn Malack and it didn’t work (“Bolster Undead”). Is there a reason to think the symbol would have otherwise affected him?
Durkon was one of my favorites as the quietly competent member of the party. If this is it for him, he’ll be missed. As already said, he deserved better.
I guess Roy isn’t getting any deva to guard the gate. Bang goes that plan.
From the SRD:
Presenting the holy symbol would have prevented Malack from grappling Durkon. This wouldn’t have hurt Malack in any way, and Durkon couldn’t do much else while doing this, so it wouldn’t have been much more than a delaying action. Durkon couldn’t just delay, since the Hold Person on Belkar would wear off long before the Domination would, so he had to go on the offensive.
More rules silliness then. I mean, the symbol was very apparently sitting on Durkon’s chest in plain and obvious view. But I guess it doesn’t work unless it’s in hand :dubious:
It has to be brandished, which I’ve always thought of as the individual actively focusing his faith through the symbol. The symbol doesn’t really DO anything on its own. It’s just the lens through which the actual faith that does the work is focused.
I was about to argue the point but then realized that I’m just surly about Durkon 
I doubt anything bad will happen to them at this point. First because, plotwise, losing two (or 3 if you count Mr. Scruffy) members of the Stick would crumble the party to the point where they’d no longer be effective at their task and it would risk a TPK. I can’t see Rich putting them in that situation.
Second, again, plotwise, the readership will have enough to deal with having lost Durkon that he’s not going to muddy the emotional waters by throwing another major death on top of things.
Finally, it seems to me that Malack isn’t the type to just kill for killing sake. He saw no choice with Durkon. With Belkar he has other options.
Fuck this. Just…fuck this. Aaaargh.
If we’re going by the SRD for vampires, Malack can only control twice his own hit dice’s worth of vampire “children.”
He could vampirize Durkon, and have Durkon vampirize Belkar though.
The Class and Level Geekery thread at GITP have Malack with somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-12 Cleric levels and 2-ish racial HD (really depends on whatever the hell kind of creature he is). Durkon is at least Level 13, probably 14, and Belkar is one level higher (due to what we can infer from the Holy Word effects). Malack just doesn’t have enough hit dice to run both Durkon and Belkar as enslaved vampires. He easily can keep Dominating Belkar though, a la Renfield from Dracula, as one poster at GITP put it, and so that’s probably how it will go down.
Thing is, he needs to bury Durkon, or otherwise give him 1-4 days in a coffin, in order to complete the vampirization. How’s he going to do that in the Draketooth pyramid? Unless…
Consider the Draketooth family chart at the last panel of #842. Doesn’t the first generation of kids from the Draconic pairing have a member that looks an awful lot like a tanned version of Malack? If Malack is a member of the Draketooth family, he would be able to get into the pyramid without having to be invited into the building. He’d also have a coffin stashed away—maybe in a sealed crypt with tiny airholes? Familicide wouldn’t affect him, because he’s already dead. This would mean that he knows about the Gate already, probably. Though you’d think if he were affiliated with them, then he’d be a hell of a lot more shocked by the cafeteria scene.
Of course, he could just Word of Recall with Durkon’s remains and bury him back in Bleedingham. Leave the Dominated Belkar to infiltrate the party or take him back with you too, if I’m reading the spell’s weight restrictions accurately. How long would it take Malack to fly back to the Windy Valley?
Sorry, TPK?
Total Party Knockout?
edit: Oh, Total Party Kill.
Total Party Kill.
So, Durkon’s dead. And, per the SRD, has to wait 1 to 4 days post-burial/interment before coming back as a vampire. What happens to his soul in the meantime? If he returns as a vampire cleric, and enslaved by Malack, will Thor still grant him spells? Or will Hel make a pitch to him in the Dwarven afterlife during the 1-4 day hiatus? Would Durkon agree to be a cleric of Hel, or instead go back as a vampire/fallen cleric of Thor? Can the interment of Durkon happen here, or will he be dragged back to the Dwarven Homelands and buried there? Does a new vampire start out evil, or do they turn that way from their hunger for blood/life force, and what they have to do to get it?
Should be interesting and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the story goes next.
How certain are we that Malack is level 13? Compare the fact that he’s 200 years old with Xykon being around 110. Xykon is estimated to be around level 27.
Add in the fact that Malack has spent around two months in comic (and two years out of comic) perfectly content to lie to anyone he has to to conceal his true nature and I think it’s easy to believe Malack’s hiding some levels here and there.
I actually don’t think he is, mainly because I haven’t seen him fire off any 7th level spells. And for all of the hullaballoo about Malack having the fight well in hand, and “don’t play your trump card first,” IMHO, if he’d had 7th level spells, he’d have used them by now.
(Rant/ Seriously, that trump card crack is one of the silliest pontifications on fighting I’ve read in awhile. Especially when your opponent would have shoved you below zero HP if he’d just altered the order of his Lightning Bolt-Heal combo. You absolutely use your best weapon first in a fight to the death against a capable opponent—Durkon qualifies—because you might not get an opportunity to use it second. /Rant) That philosophy does make for undramatic fights though.
Moreover, though I confess to not understanding the effective character level rules, doesn’t a vampire lizardman (or half dragon, maybe) cleric have such an Olympian ECL that he can’t get experience from anything less than snuffing very old dragons? I like the idea that he’s got 12 cleric levels, but it could easily be only 11.
As far as Xykon’s level, I think he’s as powerful as Burlew needs him to be, and that we really can’t pin it down any more than that. (Not that I don’t appreciate the C&L geeks trying.) Whatever level he was, beating Darth V had to give him another one or two.
That’s certainly a part of it, if I understand how it works correctly. His racial template probably adds 1 or 2 levels, and being a vampire adds 6. That means that if he’s 12th level, his ECL is probably 20. That means that to advance to 13th level, he has to gain enough XP for a “normal” character (one with no level adjustments) to advance from 20 to 21. That’s a big hurdle. I haven’t crunched numbers, but I also suspect that the earlier you get vamped, the worse it is for your progression; you miss out on the quick leveling early on.
Xykon, as I recall, was already an epic sorcerer before he got liched, so his advancement rate as a lich doesn’t really come into play.
Tangentially: I don’t claim that Malack has 13 cleric levels, though I use that as a worst-case assumption in some calculations. My argument was just that 13 is probably the most he could have, given actions we’ve seen him take. I would guess that he actually has 12.
Can Durkon be Resurrected before coming back as a vampire? Or after, for that matter? Okay, there’s the small matter of the only other cleric around being the one who killed him and all, but say a cleric ex machina popped by, could Durkon be the second member of the party to die and come back?
Anyone need a straw? I’m clutching a fine handful of them over here.
Yeah, resurrecting would fix the vampirism. Durkon offered the option to Malack before they started fighting, if you remember.