But the OotS are going to try to team up with RC to save the world. Not that I think they’re going to be successful at that. They may propose the team up, but I expect RC to turn them down.
They’ll end up finding a different, probably better, solution to the Snarl problem. After all, the solution Thor wants is really more of a stopgap than a real solution. A better one than the gates, but still not a true fix.
I don’t know. I acknowledge Xykon usually uses brute force to overwhelm his opponents. But I think he does that because it works. He doesn’t use strategy because he doesn’t need it.
But Xykon has shown he is capable of acting more intelligently when he needs to.
Didn’t Xykon once say something like, “Anything to avoid the fires down below.”? In which case, might he actually join up with the Order to save the world? His price being salvation, of course.
Indeed. An ideal solution would be, somehow, cutting a deal with The Snarl. But we don’t even know now whether it can communicate. It’s possible it would be willing to do so but considers the gods to be unremittingly hostile to its entire existence.
Xykon would never settle on anything short of godhood.
He’s essentially a god now. He’s what? Level 20? 25? More? At that level the difference between epic level character and god is pretty blurry.
I ran the numbers and he’s most likely in the upper 20s.
That depends on the GM. 
He may have godlike powers, but he can still die. Or whatever.
And so can gods, clearly. This whole thing started with gods dying.
Does Xykon know that?
Xykon might agree to help is he was convinced the world was in danger of ending. He has no interest in that occurring. But right after he helped save the world, he would go back to his original plan of conquering it.
And right after the world was saved, the Order of the Stick would go back to their original plan of preventing people like Xykon from conquering the world.
It would be an interesting dynamic to have two groups working together towards a common goal with both sides knowing they should eliminate the other the instant the goal was achieved.
I think more likely that the Snarl no longer wants to exist and it turns out the Order has something that can effect that. Something the gods do not have. I even have an idea what that something is.
Yes. In SoD, Redcloak told him about the Snarl wiping out the Eastern Pantheon.
Xykon has the intelligence to play 3 dimensional chess. He just lacks the patience. “Doesn’t care doesn’t imply doesn’t know.” Redcloak isn’t as smart as Xykon. But he’s motivated and has probably gamed things out over the course of years.
Xykon presumably has figured out what Redcloak might do after attacked by the MitD. But I doubt whether he has thought much beyond his first or 2nd response to that.
Burlew might choose another route though: I’m not sure how entertaining Redcloak as a very prepared Batman would be.
Presumably Redcloak is seeped in wisdom though.
But consider the MitD angle. Xykon planted a hidden compulsion with the MitD to attack Redcloak if Redcloak ever betrayed him. That means Xykon was considering that possibility at least four years ago and making plans for it. This shows that Xykon is capable of making long-term plans. Heck, the fact that he’s still trying to capture the Gates after thirty years shows that.
Xykon isn’t Nale or Tarquin; he doesn’t form elaborate plans just for the sake of it. Ninety-nine percent of the time he solves problems by brute force because it works. But he is capable of other solutions in the one percent of the time when brute force won’t work.
Remember Xykon is a sorcerer, not a wizard, so game stats wise, he has no use for a high intelligence score. He has a great depth of experience, power, and chutzpah, but not exactly a top IQ-surrogate mark. (+2 for lich and +2 or 3 for age though)
Remember, he was flunking out of school at the time that he discovered his sorcerous powers. That suggests both a low Int and Wis (though both have, since then, been boosted to at least decent levels). Redcloak is certainly wiser than him, and there’s a pretty good chance he’s also more intelligent.
For some reason I thought lich-hood gained you a higher intelligence bonus than +2. Woops.
Xykon can certainly think ahead. In SoD he anticipated an attack by team Redcloak and countered it. But Redcloak knows this, and Redcloak is fully dedicated/obsessed with his mission. I think RC has guessed why Xykon keeps MitD around, and has planned accordingly. In turn, Xykon knows Redcloak has been plotting. But that won’t help him when he wakes up in a phylactery away from his astral plane hideout.
Remember that Roy, a fighter, has 18 intelligence. Min-maxing was not a consideration when designing these characters. More like “roll 3d6 six times, in order.” Or, you know, thinking of them like characters in a story instead of gaming characters.
And there are other reasons for flunking out of school besides being unintelligent and unwise. Various personality issues, for instance.
Nah. He’s smart but more like 15 or 16 smart. There’s the one early gag comic where the mind flayers are eating Roy’s brain but the obvious joke is that they are not going for the more intelligent Vaarsuvius’ brain. Since V indigently states that s/he has an 18 Int, you’re left to either assume that the mind flayers found something else yummy about it or that Roy, rather improbably, has a 19 or 20 Int.
That said, Roy did very well in the genetic 3d6 lottery with 18 (natural) strength, high constitution, moderately high intelligence and better than average wisdom and charisma. The only stat where he’s likely average is dexterity and he’s not bad at it, just not noteworthy.
The fan Wiki says he has 14-17 Int which makes sense but also gives him 13+ dexterity which I’m skeptical about and 8+ Constitution which is technically true in that it’s over 8, but I’d say it’s well well over 8.