Chekhov’s dinosaur is now in play. And we have a mechanic to trigger it, too.
I think now that the Order is mostly beaten, I think we will see some talking happen. I hope so, at least! Haley and Elan are probably the ones with the best odds of negotiating with Serini, so maybe it’s a good thing that the Lawful Good guys are KOd.
I don’t think we know that Durkon is KO’d. It looks to me like he’s in the process of rolling his save, with the result yet to be determined.
Doh! Sorry for not spoilering my post, and thanks Puzzlegal
What’s #8 on these beasties?
That’s a bit tough to answer because they usually have 10 eyes, with 2 particularly devastating rays: Finger of Death and Disintegrate.
Our beholder only has 8 eyes. I’d assume he’s saying “not #8” because that one is too deadly, and they’re trying to capture, not kill, the Order. Both FOD or Disintegrate would be “deadly force” that the beholder might not want to use. So I assume Ray 8 is one of those.
I’ve never been sure which edition the strip is primarily based on, but Rich must be at least including the first edition as source material.
From the Monster Manual 1E:
I don’t see anything in the 3.5 rules concerning how many stalks can be used at once, but Rich flipped Sunny upside down, which effectively made all attacks come from “above”.
The strip uses the 3.5 edition rules, but the rules are very similar to what you quoted (well, aside from the bizarre units used in 1st edition).
Was Belkar hit by the fear ray?
It looks that way
D: FtS
M: Sleep
H’s bow: TK
B: Fear
E: Charm person
Mr S: Charm monster
V: Slow
I don’t see this ending well for Sunny.
The lizard is the only one not drugged or hit by an eye-stalk ray (or both). Sunny’s eye is currently tightly shut. He’ll peek eventually.
Then again, #8 is currently Chekhov’s Eyestalk, so it might end badly for Bloodfeast.
So currently Haley is the only party member who hasn’t been hit with something disabling (if you don’t count Bloodfeast)
Do we know what’s up with the arrow that hit V? It seems like that had an effect of some sort on it.
Presumably the same sleep poison as the blowdarts.
Ah, yeah. Haley only got TKed, didn’t she. Wonder what else she has in those bags of holding.
When the Behol Multiple Eye Monster looks again with its big eye, will that undo the magical effects it just inflicted on Elan, Belkar, Durkon, etc.?
Several wands with unknown spells.
If Sunny opens his big eye again and aims it at the party, those magical effects will be temporarily suppressed, but then resume as soon as he blinks again or looks away.
I notice also that Durkon seems to have gotten off a healing spell on Roy. At least, his hand is all glowy when the anti-magic was turned off and his hand is on Roy’s head when the eye-stalk rays hit everyone. Roy still looks out of it, though.
Obligatory complaint about how no one in this high level party can ever make a damn saving throw (possibly excepting Durkon this time)
I’ll admit I’m not very familiar with D&D rules but I’ve been assuming there have been numerous times when one of the main characters makes a saving roll in a scene and Burlew doesn’t lampshade it. He just shows the fight scene (or whatever) continuing on with the character not getting hit.
If it’s a save versus an effect like Fireball or Lightning Bolt, a successful save reduces the damage by half so some people just have less hash marks on them afterward. If it’s a save versus a control effect like Hold Person or Dominate Person, you usually see them make a scrunchy face and “Hrrgh!” as they make their Will save and power through it. I don’t think you ever really see anyone say “Hold Person!” and it’s just not acknowledged.
In a case like this (or the big vampire fight), it feels rather improbable that so few, if any, high level characters would be successfully making their saving throws. Power of Plot and all that but it still stands out when it happens.
“And once again, Probability proves itself willing to sneak into a back alley and service Drama as would a copper-piece harlot.”