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 #1187 - Somewhere Between Super and Mega - I love how Rich Burlew keeps subverting the inspiring speech tropes.
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Nov 19, 2019 15:01
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| # ? May 24, 2024 12:27 |
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Elan? Are you OK?
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Nov 19, 2019 15:09
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my dad posted:Elan? Are you OK? He's better than okay, he's the best around. 
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Nov 19, 2019 15:10
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Once you've completed your character arc, you're allowed to be good at anything, even things completely at odds both with your original character and the nature of the challenges you overcame.
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Nov 19, 2019 15:21
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Holy poo poo, Elan. What a beautiful bard
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Nov 19, 2019 15:24
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Llab posted:Holy poo poo, Elan. What a beautiful bard
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Nov 19, 2019 18:07
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ikanreed posted:Once you've completed your character arc, you're allowed to be good at anything, even things completely at odds both with your original character and the nature of the challenges you overcame. The thesis of Elan as a character is “despite what the propaganda of the world economy will tell you in demanding you either learn to code or get a MBA, the arts, and literary arts in specific, are productive and necessary endeavors for human functioning.” This is completely part of that. It’s just always been filtered through the “bards are useless” dnd trope which Rich is arguing is a direct outgrowth of modern societal scorn for career artists Furthermore, “learning to code” in the dnd layer of the metaphor is in this case “become capable of solving encounters via damage” and Elan does pick that up as a secondary skill, indicating that the view of the comic is that such things are not to be considered in direct opposition to the arts, and it’s probably smart FOR an artist to pick up other skills for other uses, but also that they will always fundamentally be motivated by their creative impulse and that will define their productive output—i.e. adding charisma to damage. And it works! Mister Olympus fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Nov 19, 2019 |
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Nov 19, 2019 18:12
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Mister Olympus posted:The thesis of Elan as a character is “despite what the propaganda of the world economy will tell you in demanding you either learn to code or get a MBA, the arts, and literary arts in specific, are productive and necessary endeavors for human functioning.” This is completely part of that. Which is hilarious with regards to the evolution of D&D, since 5E Bards are some of the most potent characters available if you build 'em right.
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Nov 19, 2019 18:20
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Mister Olympus posted:The thesis of Elan as a character is “despite what the propaganda of the world economy will tell you in demanding you either learn to code or get a MBA, the arts, and literary arts in specific, are productive and necessary endeavors for human functioning.” This is completely part of that. Yes but specifically he's incredibly honest, and while his arc allowed for him developing a better sense of distrust and less naďvety, I don't think he learned to manipulate his friends
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Nov 19, 2019 18:36
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He gave a better pep speech when his leader failed to deliver one (without calling attention to said failing), you're over thinking this
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Nov 19, 2019 18:39
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PMush Perfect posted:I also appreciate that Haley immediately suspected that Elan was doing the bard thing. She knows her leader, and she knows her man. They are such a good pair.
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Nov 19, 2019 18:58
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Minrah being deeply confused by the whole thing was pretty good, too - she hasn't yet come up to speed with The Order's particular style of interpersonal dysfunction.
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Nov 19, 2019 19:03
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ikanreed posted:Yes but specifically he's incredibly honest, and while his arc allowed for him developing a better sense of distrust and less naďvety, I don't think he learned to manipulate his friends Nothing he said was untrue, though. He's not lying to cover Roy, he's helping to emphasise the positive underneath Roy's actions. That's extremely in character for Elan, who consistently sees the best in people and their actions, even when he really shouldn't, and more specifically consistently reads almost anything Roy says to him short of a direct insult as praise by omission. The only difference is that he's starting to be a little more self-aware of the fact that he's seeing the positive and there might be other ways to see it.
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Nov 19, 2019 19:19
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Plus, what is being inspiring but benevolent emotional manipulation?
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Nov 19, 2019 19:26
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This honestly sounds like something my dad would say, taking something as simple as trusting the team to do what's needed, and spinning it as the ultimate vote of confidence.
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Nov 19, 2019 19:38
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Whenever there's a clear callback that I don't quite remember, I always feel like I have to go back and see it. Thankfully, the comic in question is pretty close to the front. Also, "Bwaha, I have deep seated emotional problems" is one of the early gems in the comic.
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Nov 19, 2019 19:41
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It's also not really a crucial moment to inspire the team, since they've got a lot of transit time before they get anything done. Nice of Elan to try anyways.Nenonen posted:If a copper coin weighs less than 20 kilograms then it's not worth keeping. The vague medieval period of most fantasy would probably have lower extraction rates of metals like copper, so there'd probably be more value (although unlike gold, copper's a pretty crucial material for tools and building, so it can't become too precious). Of course, in any case the value of the raw material usually doesn't matter as much as the value conferred by whatever it's been made into unless you're doing some long-distance trade to places that don't share any currency. It's always bugged me that fantasy settings like to totally skip currency types and deal in pure, non-debased coinage. Reminds me too much of libertarians pushing for the gold standard.
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Nov 19, 2019 20:31
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Anyone else gets the feeling that Eugene's gonna visit now?
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Nov 19, 2019 21:51
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I kind of wish that more settings would do more with gold being the currency of choice beyond “it’s valuable because it’s valuable IRL”. Like, for example, gold is the premiere conductor of some forms of magic.
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Nov 20, 2019 00:45
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Regalingualius posted:I kind of wish that more settings would do more with gold being the currency of choice beyond “it’s valuable because it’s valuable IRL”. They should make diamonds into coins. Every time you resurrect someone you cause inflation.
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Nov 20, 2019 07:13
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Regalingualius posted:I kind of wish that more settings would do more with gold being the currency of choice beyond “it’s valuable because it’s valuable IRL”. I tried that once and ended up with a neurotic economy obsessed dwarf who tried to single-handedly invent paper currency.
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Nov 20, 2019 07:24
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I feel like if a material was both rare and actually important, people would be too busy using it for a real purpose and wouldn't bother wasting it as just currency. Like I know Spartans made a currency out of iron, but I think that iron wasn't that rare for them, and in practice it was basically fiat. YggiDee posted:I tried that once and ended up with a neurotic economy obsessed dwarf who tried to single-handedly invent paper currency. That's a pretty natural impulse. It's basically how most banks work, although I think there's some kind of critical mass before your banknotes are trusted and traded freely. There's still things like monk orders during the crusades that would give you receipts for deposits up in Europe that you could redeem for money down in the holy land because schlepping all your money yourself on a pilgrimage is dangerous.
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Nov 20, 2019 07:50
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If you want an adventurer economy to make any kind of sense you basically need to divorce it from the common economy completely. There has to be a reason ordinary people can't or won't deal in the kind of wealth monsters hoard and adventurers hunt.
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Nov 20, 2019 08:27
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If you get too much money a group of adventures will always show up to raid your holdings. Gotta keep your wealth below your loot table default.
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Nov 20, 2019 13:49
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Wealth above a certain percentage is legally a dragon's hoard, and a dragon will spontaneously develop over it.
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Nov 20, 2019 13:58
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YggiDee posted:Wealth above a certain percentage is legally a dragon's hoard, and a dragon will spontaneously develop over it. Like Smaug?
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Nov 20, 2019 14:14
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Facebook Aunt posted:They should make diamonds into coins. Every time you resurrect someone you cause deflation.
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Nov 20, 2019 14:41
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Use fiat money, but money is the required component for resurrection. The Fed adjust the money supply through murder and resurrection.
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Nov 20, 2019 14:55
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HisMajestyBOB posted:Use fiat money, but money is the required component for resurrection. The Fed adjust the money supply through murder and resurrection. Estate taxes are then legitimate double taxation.
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Nov 20, 2019 15:03
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During a recession, the Fed hires adventurers to kill monsters and loot their lairs, increasing the money supply. When inflation looms, they resurrect those monsters, decreasing the money supply.
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Nov 20, 2019 15:04
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Dragons very carefully manage the economy because none of them want their hoard to decrease in value due to inflation
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Nov 20, 2019 15:36
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So an odd question: They need a diamond worth 1000 GP to do a resurrection, right? What determines the worth? Like can they cross country lines to a place where diamond is less valuable in order to get a cheaper resurrection?
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Nov 20, 2019 15:43
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My dm always said "the magic knows"
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Nov 20, 2019 15:46
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ImpAtom posted:So an odd question: I think they'd need to do the opposite. Buy the diamond where it is less valuable, then travel to a region where the value of it would increase to equal at least GP
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Nov 20, 2019 15:46
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Also you cant just Plane Shift to the Plane of Elemental Earth where large chunks are just made up of Diamonds, mine hundreds of lbs of the stuff and say "do your own conversation. And keep the change."
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Nov 20, 2019 15:58
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Teleport and other spells make regional office differences for compact goods rather minimal.
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Nov 20, 2019 15:59
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In Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. series (fantasy that's a lot lighter than the Black Company books!), silver is used to fuel sorcery, and a war in part over silver mines makes the price of silver fluctuate as well. Since both silver and gold are used as currency, there's a lot of arbitrage opportunity - and this is vital in some of the books' plots. Even the local empires' policy on minting and seigniorage becomes important. Not something you'd expect of a hard-boiled detective pastiche/parody set in a fantasy world, but hey it's Cook.
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Nov 20, 2019 16:19
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YggiDee posted:Dragons very carefully manage the economy because none of them want their hoard to decrease in value due to inflation Hobbits carrying illegal cups are responsible for 90% of gold value inflation in lake town this year. We need to put a stop to these criminals and the dwarf gangs that enable them
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Nov 20, 2019 16:48
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ImpAtom posted:So an odd question: Why even bother with country lines and other geographical nonsense? The price of an object is determined by how much a buyer is willing to pay for it, full stop. All you need to do is just conduct an interparty negotiation where one of the PCs agrees to buy the diamond in question for 1000 GP from one of the other PCs. If you don't have 1000 GP on hand, no problem, you can just conduct the sale on credit. Once the value of the diamond is set, do the resurrection. Easy peasy. Then all that's left is for your DM to drop rocks on everyone involved in the transaction for trying to engage in such obvious rule lawyering bullshit.
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Nov 20, 2019 16:53
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| # ? May 24, 2024 12:27 |
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There’s even a joke about this in one of the early desert strips. I can’t be assed to go find it (on mobile), but it was basically: “I managed to haggle these rubies down to 400gp!” “Cool, but the spell requires 500gp worth of rubies. Go back in and buy more.”
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Nov 20, 2019 16:59
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