Would Elan’s garlic breath go through?
Don’t talk about plans in front of a bunch of characters with high intrinsic wisdom scores.
Glad my DM never let the baddies hear us plan.
Nice to see Burlew can still get back to his roots and make a joke about gaming conventions.
Even in the OOTS universe, I’m not sure I understand the physics of force cage. It will block magic and physical attacks, but light, sound, and apparently air are all good. It seems remarkably permeable.
Humor potential aside, you’d think that V and Roy would be smarter than that considering that they were just speaking to the vampires outside the Forcecage a few minutes earlier.
Or, for gaming mechanics, would be wiser than that. Roy has a decent Wisdom score (so said the Deva who asked why he didn’t become a cleric) and it seems more likely that V dumped Strength or Charisma than Wisdom. How much wisdom do you need to grasp “Don’t talk strategy right in front of the enemy”?
(Not seriously complaining, mind you. Just making comic related comments)
Does Resist Fire have any drawbacks? Because Roy and V just might be sneakier than we’re thinking.
A Forcecage is described as invisible and immobile. So it should let light through, but if that “immobile” is taken literally, not sound. Solid objects transmit sound, but only because they vibrate. Air is not needed to cross the barrier; a 101010 foot volume will hold several hours worth of oxygen for 6 people and 2 small animals.
As a general rule: don’t try to apply real world physics to a fantasy universe. On that path lies madness.
…and next strip, V says “I have another spell, but it will do even more AOE damage” and bluffs the vampires into wasting their spell slots on all the resistances.
Well, probably not, but that would be funny.
My guess is that this is a set-up for a narrative hook. Burlew has now established that the characters cannot discuss their plans because the vampires are listening. So somebody is going to be able to dramatically say “Listen, I can’t tell you what I’m planning. You just have to trust me. Now drop the cage!”
What would happen if you surrounded a force cage with a bunch of wood and started a bonfire? Would the force cage let the heat of the fire in and cook the people inside it?
Maybe a forcecage is made up of ground up repurposed General Products Hull material. 
Hard to say. Of the three mode of heat transfer, radiation should work (assuming that if visible light gets through, so does IR), convection will not, conduction will probably work, since sound gets through. But that’s an OotSverse Forcecage; some other DM may not let sound/heat penetrate.
A wizard did it.
Could be. The spell he’s casting is actually resist energy. When you cast it, you pick which energy type (fire, cold, electric, etc.) you’re protecting yourself against, but once you pick, you can’t change it for the duration of the spell. So, V. might drop the forcecage and then surprise the vampires with, say, a lightning bolt instead of a fireball.
A bummer is that vamps get resistance to cold and electricity of 10. At least it doesn’t stack with their DR 10/silver and magic. Still, that’d take a bit of the sting out of Chain Lightning or Cone of Cold.
I was going to write earlier, and it got eaten by the Board software, that I absolutely hated DMs or video game AI that pulled those kind of shenanigans. ‘Gee, I could have buffed in one of three ways, given the time I had, and you just happened to prepare for the type I used. However did that happen???’
Strange that vampires aren’t, IIRC, endemic in D&D in places like the Underdark. Given how powerful they are, and one of their only downsides being their sunlight allergy. I mean, the Order is about as powerful as adventuring parties get in Stickworld, and this vampire spawn pack is giving the Order fits.
Are there any wands in that jumble that Haley bought that could bolster Will saves?
GP hull material won’t pass sound. There’s language in one of the Ringworld sequels about needing hull microphones (which i guess communicate to the ship via visible light pulse) in order to hear what’s going on in an adjacent sealed compartment.
It still sounds obnoxious to me that a Wall Of Force can vibrate to transmit sound, but again, I’m not writing either the gaming system or the comic strip.
Vampires have specific dietary requirements that are hard to meet in large parts of the underdark.
Well, there are Drow, and Duergar. I know I’m forgetting others.
(Jeez, a Drow Vampire template. Are those munchkins I hear?)
The thought of a Vampire trying to bite an Illithid, (or worse, actually connecting) is kinda funny though. IIRC, they don’t have ‘blood’ as we know it, right?
Probably the best answer to that issue.
Except that V eschwed cold and electricity-based evocations. Perhaps he has some sonic spell he can cast.
I’m calling here: Elan is going to be the key to the Order’s success in this encounter. Perhaps he readies an action to cast Mass Cure Light Wounds as soon as the Forcecage goes away. Or he finally whips out the wand of Cure Moderate Wounds that Haley gave him way back in Tinkertown. Or perhaps his breath weapon will be decisive.
Mass Protection from Fire was a reasonable choice for one of the clerics to cast, anyway, even without overhearing the plan. They have detailed knowledge on their enemy, and know that the only full spellcaster among them is fond of using Fireballs, the only common damage type that vampires aren’t already resistant to.
And maybe I’m reading too much into it, but Elan’s bit about now being an unwise time to learn a new song has some serious joke set-up potential. Anyone wanna bet that he doesn’t yet know the tune to “Fight fight fight fight the bloodthirsty vampires”, and so has to instead sing “Fight fight fight fight the ugly goblins” or something instead?