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Calaveron posted:He would lose his paladinhood, wouldn't he? I mean, the whole "willfully consorting with evil beings" thing. What? Hinjo hasn't lost his powers and he's been with Belkar for months.
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Jun 10, 2009 16:25
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Well, his duty is to protect the city and the rift within it, and if I know my Paladin oaths that duty doesn't end just because of some little technicality like the city being conquered and the rift broken open. You could argue that he could best fulfil that oath by joining the Order, but I think it more likely that he'll try to meet up with the resistance, or maybe search for Xykon's phylactery.
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Jun 10, 2009 16:35
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ConfusedUs posted:What? Hinjo hasn't lost his powers and he's been with Belkar for months. Belkar's been with Haley and Celia?
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Jun 10, 2009 16:37
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Idunno, there's kind of a difference between "I will recruit a horrible little psycho to set out on an adventure with me" and "I am stuck on a boat with a horrible little psycho and a bunch of people are trying to kill us." By the way, is there any speculation on how Belkar manages to be a sexy shoeless god of war? I mean, he's the most badly-maximized ranger ever. He doesn't even have the Wisdom to use any spells and doesn't bother to train a companion. I know he's got barbarian levels now, but he'd still have to be pretty gimped if he's not playing some crazy ranger variant. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jun 10, 2009 |
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Jun 10, 2009 16:41
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Oh god we are this close to having yet another alignment argument.
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Jun 10, 2009 16:51
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Halloween Jack posted:By the way, is there any speculation on how Belkar manages to be a sexy shoeless god of war? I mean, he's the most badly-maximized ranger ever. He doesn't even have the Wisdom to use any spells and doesn't bother to train a companion. I know he's got barbarian levels now, but he'd still have to be pretty gimped if he's not playing some crazy ranger variant. Maybe that's how he can be so good at it--by not worrying about stats like Intelligence (which could've given him more skill points to be a competent ranger) or Wisdom (which would make him a competent ranger), he can pump Str, Dex, and Con to his heart's content and be a better killing machine. Basically, he seems to be using ranger for the free Two-Weapon Fighting feats and favored enemy damage bonuses. Anything else doesn't matter and can be tossed aside for a level or two in barbarian. Either that, or it's just funnier when he's killing people and the rules go out the window for that (see Xykon's piece-by-piece regeneration). 
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Jun 10, 2009 16:51
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All Azure City paladins are oathbound never to interfere with the protection of the other gates for any reason at all. O-Chul took that oath to become a member of the Sapphire Guard. At best he would be able to investigate the scene after Xykon conquers another one. Depending on where he and V land, he'll either join with the Resistance to fight for Azure City's freedom or Hinjo to see to the safety of the citizens. I see no scenario where he would (a) prefer to join the OotS or (b) be able to without dishonoring himself.
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Jun 10, 2009 17:00
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Making the assumption, of course, that O-Chul and V wind up in the same place.
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Jun 10, 2009 17:12
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I'm not assuming that. Even if he's all alone, I think O-Chul will still the same decisions. If close to or within Azure City, keep fighting the lich and hobgoblins. If outside and too far away to get back, ask V or divine the location of Lord Hinjo and rejoin him and the refugees.
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Jun 10, 2009 17:32
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A Big Dark Yak posted:Maybe that's how he can be so good at it--by not worrying about stats like Intelligence (which could've given him more skill points to be a competent ranger) or Wisdom (which would make him a competent ranger), he can pump Str, Dex, and Con to his heart's content and be a better killing machine. I instantly started calculating whether he wouldn't have been better at that as a Fighter/Rogue or Fighter/Barbarian, or maybe taking a few Ranger levels before switching to one of those tracks, except there's the favored class issue, and then I remembered why I was starting to loathe 3.5 by the time our last campaign ended.
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Jun 10, 2009 17:39
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Hasn't he still got that cat following him around, and even fighting with him at some point? I don't know if that would qualify as a companion.
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Jun 10, 2009 17:42
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HKR posted:Oh god we are this close to having yet another alignment argument. i think belkar might be lawful good let's discuss! ok go
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Jun 10, 2009 17:45
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I'm gonna laugh when Xykon's phylactery winds up at Girard's Gate.
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Jun 10, 2009 17:54
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Bobulus posted:...did you not notice the change in eye glow and the capitalization on 'escape'? Oh I definitely think it was the MitD, I just kind of expect Burlew to do a "Haha, don't you guys like to jump to the wrong conclusions"-kind of scenario again. v  v
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Jun 10, 2009 18:47
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HKR posted:Oh god we are this close to having yet another alignment argument. Or worse, debating the conditions of a paladin falling.
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Jun 10, 2009 19:35
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A Big Dark Yak posted:Anything else doesn't matter and can be tossed aside for a level or two in barbarian. Speaking of which, have we seen him rage? I don't think that battle in Azure City was raging.
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Jun 10, 2009 19:39
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Man this was awesome. I love how Xykon always seemed like a fun-loving goof, but when push comes to shove he is a scary-rear end mofo when he's pissed. I also reread Start of Darkness recently. drat I love that book.
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Jun 10, 2009 20:43
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Vicissitude posted:Speaking of which, have we seen him rage? I don't think that battle in Azure City was raging. Raging would make him fatigued afterward, not good for long drawn out battles. TJO posted:Hasn't he still got that cat following him around, and even fighting with him at some point? I don't know if that would qualify as a companion. I believe Belkar still has the cat, but I'd think it qualifies as a companion. It's definitely his friend, and will help him out in battle. And I'm a big fan of seeing O'Chul's actions actually help him. He's really being a good paladin, trying to convert the MitD(which apparently had some good effect), trying to get rid of the phylactery, everything shows a paladin who follows the spirit rather than the intent of his oath.
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Jun 10, 2009 20:43
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I've never played D&D in my life but I've known enough to enjoy oots plenty, but from what I've gathered from reading this thread occasionally Xykon is unbeatable by the order regardless of how much they level, even mega V couldn't do it. Would it be a fair assumption to say that we are leading up to the box-monster turning on Xykon along with a crapp star wars joke thrown in? Because that's the only way I can see it turning out.
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Jun 11, 2009 06:42
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Competition posted:I've never played D&D in my life but I've known enough to enjoy oots plenty, but from what I've gathered from reading this thread occasionally Xykon is unbeatable by the order regardless of how much they level, even mega V couldn't do it. Xykon's far from invincible. Remember, the Order has defeated Xykon in the past. As for the latest fight, Mega V ran in with the vast majority of his/her high level spells cast, and lost the last few high end spells to Energy Drain. Then he got tag-teamed by a number of high level casters in their sanctum, surrounded by their magical defenses. And he lost to a rested epic level sorcerer?! OMG XYKON IS HAXXORING  There's nothing stopping the crew from surrounding Xykon and giving him a drubbing every time he tries to cast a spell--or even just having a plan other than, "Imma spam high level spells yaaaaaay!" V decided that having a lot of spells is a substitute for being smart/lucky/high level, and lost miserably as a result. Conversely, Xykon pretends to blast his way though life (and if you've read Start of Darkness, he used to and lost frequently as a result) but goes into every fight with a plan and contingencies, including leaving his phylactery on a high level minion who can leg it out the door and heal himself in an emergency. Xykon's only tried to solo bum-rush a situation once--and he lost pretty badly when he did to Soon's Ghost Martyrs. He's kept his minions close ever since.
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Jun 11, 2009 06:54
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Is there anywhere that has a summary of the plot of Start of Darkness? I really wanna know about Xykon / Redcloak's orgins now
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Jun 11, 2009 06:57
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Competition posted:I've never played D&D in my life but I've known enough to enjoy oots plenty, but from what I've gathered from reading this thread occasionally Xykon is unbeatable by the order regardless of how much they level, even mega V couldn't do it. Did you perhaps miss the part where Xykon was defeated in like, the first 200 strips of OotS? Which is what started this whole thing? He's far from unbeatable. Mega V failed because Mega V was, while powerful, a goddamn idiot with no notion of tactics whatsoever. Arrogance undid him. If he'd put some thought into his assault, he'd have probably killed Xykon. The MitD will probably contribute to Xykon downfall, but the party just needs to work as exactly that: a party.
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Jun 11, 2009 06:57
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Captain Oblivious posted:Did you perhaps miss the part where Xykon was defeated in like, the first 200 strips of OotS? Which is what started this whole thing? Mystic Mongol posted:Xykon's far from invincible. Remember, the Order has defeated Xykon in the past. I don't think he's referring to temporary "hey I'm gonna go recover piecemeal in my magical pendant soul hidey place" defeat/death. I think he means "Oh craps ah'z gone, catch ya in one of the hells, Reddy" type defeat/death. To which the answer is still no. As long as they destroy his phylactery (wow, Firefox spell check has that in it's dictionary) around the same time as they destroy Xykon, he's gone. Tough, but not impossible.
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Jun 11, 2009 07:28
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I'm actually wondering whether the party is ever going to defeat Xykon. I don't mean to say that I think Xykon's unbeatable, but rather, that the comic i just perpetually going to essentially revolve around him versus the Order of the Stick.
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Jun 11, 2009 07:28
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Nosy_G posted:I'm actually wondering whether the party is ever going to defeat Xykon. I don't mean to say that I think Xykon's unbeatable, but rather, that the comic i just perpetually going to essentially revolve around him versus the Order of the Stick. I very much doubt it, the comic has been slow going but plot points are being resolved. The story definitely seems to have a beginning, middle and end even if we haven't reached all of those parts yet.
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Jun 11, 2009 07:32
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tylertfb posted:Is there anywhere that has a summary of the plot of Start of Darkness? I really wanna know about Xykon / Redcloak's orgins now Well, I can give you the cliff notes, but you really should buy it. It's a blast and a half, and has the origins for more than just Xykon, Redcloak, and the MitD--it's got the origin of Robin the Boy Wonder! Insultingly brief version. Xykon Over a hundred years ago, Xykon became a sorcerer by animating the corpse of his beloved pet dog, Barky. Angered by the insults of wizards, (who generally view sorcerers as retarded idiot savants) he murdered his family, joined an evil empire, lost a promotion to game designer Keith Baker, and generally spent six or seven decades rampaging randomly across the world killing stuff, but still taking the time to enjoy the little things in life. Eventually he met up with Redcloak, who had a plan for world conquest. They worked together until Xykon became a lich--while more powerful, he had lost a lot of things he took for granted when he was alive. Now the only thing he enjoys is killing stuff and insulting people. Oh, and showing up wizards. Redcloak Apparently, once upon a time he was a pretty nice goblin, but then he found out his entire race was spawned to give adventurers something to kill, granted an arbitrary number of cleric levels, and given a plan to hold the gods hostage using an entity of pure chaos. It changed him a little Also, Azure City paladins murdered his entire village because the prophecy warned them about a goblin who would someday have a plan to hold the gods hostage using an entity of pure chaos, so, you know, self fulfilling prophecy there. He was working with Xykon on the plan for a while, but when Xykon went lich, he was too dangerous and crazy to work with. Now he serves Xykon because breaking the plan would mean all the evil acts he's done so far for the plan were just evil acts, not necessary deeds in the service of a higher plan. He started calling himself Redcloak when he first met Xykon--who murdered a lizardman shaman for having a name too long to remember, Ekdysdioksosiirwo. Right Eye If you haven't read Start of Darkness, you probably won't recognize the name. He was the Monster in the Dark's best friend. He's dead, now. Right Eye once mentioned having a daughter who was being raised by humans. If you don't think she'll show up before the comic is over, you're a very silly person. Monster in the Dark The monster was caught in a jungle by British big game hunters, who sold him to a circus. His biggest (and only) fans were Right Eye's children, who thought he was awesome looking. Redcloak rescued/kidnapped him because a big ugly monster would be useful for his god-destroying plan. He's never shown any aptitude for evil--when given command of the zombie soldiers and ordered to attack a castle, he simply sent them to Taco Hut to buy all the goblins tacos. The monster has been hypnotized to instantly eat Redcloak should the goblin ever betray Xykon.
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Jun 11, 2009 07:39
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Mystic Mongol posted:Conversely, Xykon pretends to blast his way though life (and if you've read Start of Darkness, he used to and lost frequently as a result) but goes into every fight with a plan and contingencies, including leaving his phylactery on a high level minion who can leg it out the door and heal himself in an emergency. Xykon's only tried to solo bum-rush a situation once--and he lost pretty badly when he did to Soon's Ghost Martyrs. He's kept his minions close ever since. Xykon's cleverest plan was convincing the rest of the world that he never had clever plans. In reality, the dude's pretty smart and quite good at planning.
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Jun 11, 2009 09:24
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You should read Start of Darkness if for no other reason than Xykon's speech to Redcloak at the end.
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Jun 11, 2009 10:23
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Pope Guilty posted:You should read Start of Darkness if for no other reason than Xykon's speech to Redcloak at the end. and for the coffee monologue...
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Jun 11, 2009 15:39
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Affi posted:and for the coffee monologue... And his rant to Dorukan about Sorcerors vs Wizards?
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Jun 11, 2009 16:59
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Kuroshi posted:And his rant to Dorukan about Sorcerors vs Wizards? And the conflict between Redcloak and Right-Eye through the entire book.
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Jun 11, 2009 19:16
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You people need to post all these monologues or something because I am poor and can't afford the book (also I live in Mexico)
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Jun 11, 2009 19:34
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Why did Roy used to wear Xykon's crown around his neck?
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Jun 12, 2009 05:47
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Ograbme posted:Why did Roy used to wear Xykon's crown around his neck? As a trophy, because Lawful Good doesn't mean you can't gloat.
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Jun 12, 2009 05:49
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Oh, I thought Xykon took it from Roy as a trophy. Rather than just taking it back.
Ograbme fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Jun 12, 2009 |
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Jun 12, 2009 05:59
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Ograbme posted:Oh, I thought Xykon took it from Roy as a trophy. Rather than just taking it back. Nah, where Xykon got it ties in the backstory with Xykon and Roy's dad.
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Jun 12, 2009 06:08
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 New strip is up  Next stop, Giraud's Gate?
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Jun 13, 2009 12:56
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Wow, zykons really pissed. I like these strips 'cause they are a reminder that he can be terrifying when he's actually upset about something.
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Jun 13, 2009 13:26
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the first thing I thought when I saw "ocean" was dragon turtle, but sea serpent is just as good I guess. Plus I like the phrase "more eyes than assholes". I'm hoping this is the end of the Xykon phase for a while and we get to see Roy next strip. (edit: \/\/\/\/ if they let him out to look for the phylactery I bet the only way we would know is because we'd see him complaining about being back in the box afterwards \/\/\/\/) bison wings fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Jun 13, 2009 |
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Jun 13, 2009 13:57
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So, I guess the monster is finally coming out of the box? Or he could just shuffle around inside the box and do whatever it is Xykon wants him to do.
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