A high level evoker against a large number of conveniently clustered mooks? This is the sort of situation V was basically designed to deal with.
The Psion is a bit of a wild card, though.
Good thing its an illusory army. 
Destruction gives him access to disintegrate. However, he needs to prepare his spells ahead of time, and I don’t think he’s had a chance to do that since he was killed, so he probably can’t use any of those domains just yet.
There’s a spell in Malack’s staff that would allow Durkon to vamp him as a thrall (presuming he would be able to access it)…
Sure, we’ve all seen Redcloak use Disintegrate frequently thanks to his Destruction domain (and Earthquake and Implosion, too!), but what I meant was, would any of those four domains give him anything useful for defeating an entire army and its dinosaurs? Disintegrate is nice, but he could only kill one person at a time with it, right?
Also, if he hasn’t had a chance to prepare spells, how did he manage to summon that devil? I assumed he must have risen as a new vampire with fresh spells prepared, like how the Soul Splice refreshed Vaarsuvius’s spells. Would that not be the case? (I suppose it would depend on the details of how Malack’s obscure spell to hasten the process of rising as a vampire works?)
Doesn’t he need to actually be the one to kill him, using his blood drain, for that to work? (Assuming the spell really does just “hasten the process,” that is.) Or can a normal vampire take any fresh corpse and make it rise as a vampire 1d4 days post-burial? It sounds like that isn’t the case, from the SRD’s description…
He already had a summoning spell memorized to summon a deva to guard the Gate (the original plan against Xykon). He just asked a different place for help when he cast it and summoned the devil.
I figure he could probably make time to administer the [del]coup[/del] mordre de grace as well.
Elan: “Dad. I hate to break this to you, but I’m as stupid as Nale was unwise. Luckily I’m wise enough to recognize that and secure myself solid allies. The only way the stupid guy can be leader is in a zany comedy (or worse a romantic comedy), and do you really want to be that kind of villain? Because that’s where this narrative is heading.”
Except Elan can’t articulate it in that way. But maybe he could with Haley’s help. Elan does grasp his place in the world, unlike Tarquin who thinks that he is the main villain.
Funny thing is, being a recurring villain can be way better than being the main one. Things won’t end well for Xykon, but Tarquin could conceivably die of old age.
Sadly, Tarquin that old bastard probably understands some of this. He sees the obvious exit in the canyon and knows that if Roy is truly the hero, then he will survive. So the attack is a genre test of sorts.
He should check out this strip, then!
I’m assuming that Durkon’s got 7th level spells max. If he’s got the Trickery domain, he could use Screen. But he’s quite likely to still have the Air domain in which case he can cast Wind Wall. Though he may have it anyway.
Redcloak mentioned to Xykon that Tsukiko had a copy of the arcane half of the ritual, and asked Xykon if he knew anything about that. Note that Xykon hesitates a moment before answering “No”.
That doesn’t fit the idea of Redcloak discovering/suspecting that Xykon planned to have Tsukiko take his place in the casting (Xykon would need the divine half for that, which he doesn’t have and can’t obtain), but it does lead Xykon to suspect that Tsukiko might have planned a coup (particularly embarrassing given that he’d apparently given Tsukiko access to the arcane half because he was too lazy to do his own homework). That served as a sufficient distraction from any questions about Redcloak’s plans.
So, those spells are transferable, then? Neat.
You mean, he probably still has Air because he hasn’t prepared new spells yet? Or can he keep that domain despite being a vampire?
He’d basically have to redo his build from almost scratch then, wouldn’t he? And although I’m not to familiar with the more obscure prestige classes, both those options seem a little, lets say hard core, for Elan. His earlier attempt to multiclass as an arcane spellcaster did not go well.
Maybe, going off of Measure for Measure’s comment #7169 above, Tarquin is genre savvy enough to know he won’t defeat Roy here, but he does want to shake Elan up a bit. I’ve been feeling that he’s a little nerfed as a character. He’s at least a 12th level bard, which could give him access to at least a few offensive spells, and decent melee combat abilities. Elans nerfitude may not be in his build but in himself. He can’t be a leader but he could be a more powerful bard. Maybe Tarquin is trying to force him to become one.
I don’t think if Roy has the leadership position in the OOTS because of his combat skills, but because of his ability to plan or improvise strategy.
Also, Roy was the one who went around to recruit people to help him in his quest against Xykon (as told in “On the origin of PC’s”), making him the default boss & leader at the start. While the rest of the Order (except for Belkar) came to see the goal of stopping Xykon to be a worthy one, Roy seemed to be doing a decent enough job as Der Fuerer to leave him be.
In game terms, a high enough self confidence (high CHA?) may be the key. While Elan has a high CHA, I think that’s all looks, and not self confidence.
No - there’s an equivalent anti-psionic spell, but it wouldn’t normally have any effect on magic, unless the optional “psionics are magic” rule is in play.
Well, Tarquin is on record as believing that bards do not exert nearly the power they are capable of. My first reaction to this strip was that he isn’t actually trying to kill Roy; instead, he’s setting up a dramatic moment for Elan to manipulate.
I believe he just used Summon Monster IX, which allows you choose what you summon at the time of casting; a barbed devil is the Lawful Evil creature on the list for IX, but he could have summoned other things, like a gargantuan (think dragon-sized) fiendish scorpion. Technically, I think he could still summon celestial creatures with it, but it probably wouldn’t be a great idea.
I agree that Elan is not that Bard, I’m just pointing out that knowing Elan is “a Bard with a prestige class” doesn’t automatically mean Tarquin can write him off as just a force multiplier.
Oh glory, that’s a Magic 8-Ball on the end of Elanicalicus’ staff. How did I never see that it was a Magic 8-Ball before? :gigglesnort:
“I am powerful and stuff!”