I’ve done an analysis here which indicates that V cast a Maximised Fireball and that Haley is 17th level.
The giants are undamaged in the first panel, so they haven’t taken one yet. There doesn’t seem to be any gap in time after that and before they’re KOed. The giants don’t seem to move except in how they’re holding their rocks. I’m going to say this is very unlikely.
ETA: nice analysis on Haley’s level, Quartz. It’s nice when we can deduce the levels of the non-magic users.
Eh, I’m not buying it. I don’t think the extra d6 really makes a significant difference in moving it from “implausible” to “plausible”. And that even assumes that the Fireball was maximized, and that no giant saved against it.
Rule of Cool, people.
(Heh – cool. Get it? Because frost giants.)
An alternative explanation has been offered, so it’s not definitive.
I haven’t looked at that, but I hope it’s not a bend-over-backwards-so-hard-your-head-goes-up-your-rear-type explanations. There seem to be a lot of those in that thread.
My feeling is that Haley killed the frost giants because she’s a bad ass archer in a fantasy comic. Worrying about 3.5 dice roles isn’t worth it. At this point I think Rich is using the rulebook as a set of useful guidelines.
Isn’t he in the record saying he didn’t want to be explicit about anyone’s level so as not to be bound strictly by the rules?
Yeah, she killed them because it makes narrative sense for her to have done so.
Yes, Burlew does not keep stat sheets for any of his characters. Nor does he feel obligated to follow the rules precisely, although he does follow them generally.
But that doesn’t stop D&D geeks from trying to figure out those stats. Think of it as a game, similar to the Game played by A. Conan Doyle fans who try to reconcile all the discontinuities in the Sherlock Holmes books.
Personally, I suspect that he does keep actual character sheets, and only says that for cover in case he decides to change something. If he is just playing it all by ear, then he’s clearly internalized the rules of D&D far more deeply than any of us readers, because he’s almost never caught in an inconsistency.
Not like he’s going to carefully narrate the battle scene/round by scene/round.
He’s been in and around the game for decades. He’s quite familiar with the rules. Wrote various stuff (not sure if third party or for the publishers), including inventing acid-breathing sharks, which he used in the strip.
He actually did that for the fight between the Order and Miko, the second one, not the initial encounter. Don’t remember where it is, but it’s somewhere on the GitP forum.
Notwithstanding dtilque’s point, it’s fair to allow for some of the fight occurring offscreen. Though I’ll admit that groups of fictional adversaries don’t typically go down in 2 strikes.
I suppose the next step would be to invoke the binomial theorem. Don’t do this.
No, we’d only do that in the Conan Doyle game.
Wait, is Roy actually concerned for Belkar’s safety? What happened to “run out the clock?” http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0666.html
Roy has learned a few things about Belkar AND himself since he was resurrected.
The setup, which I’d forgotten about, but which was mentioned on the OOTS forums. (panel 7)
Cool. Now we get to discuss single high-level tiny humanoid damage vs. frost giants. Don’t forget, gang, Belkar has that neat new weighted dagger.
Hey, he’s a ranger. Don’t they do extra damage against giant races?