Order of the Stick

[Inu]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

I haven't played any variety of D&D in about 2 decades. What the heck is Electric Orb? Is it supposed to be a high level spell? How powerful should it be?

I'm pretty sure Electric Orb's one of the ones from Complete Arcane or some such. I didn't pay much attention to the Orb spells, because I didn't think they were very good. Certainly not very high level or very damaging. Power of plot. (Haley shoots the chick a whole buncha times, but gets taken out by one spell. Rules are no help here. If, that is, Haley actually got taken out.)

[James Gillen]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

I'm pretty sure Electric Orb's one of the ones from Complete Arcane or some such. I didn't pay much attention to the Orb spells' date=' because I didn't think they were very good. Certainly not very high level or very damaging. Power of plot. (Haley shoots the chick a whole buncha times, but gets taken out by one spell. Rules are no help here. If, that is, Haley actually got taken out.)[/quote']

 

I don't think she got taken out, given all the shots that she threw into Tsuhiko, but Tsuhiko just used that tactic to bypass her Evasion defense.

 

Speaking of which, I have .hdc writeups for the Order ready, if you're interested...

 

jg

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

 

Speaking of which, I have .hdc writeups for the Order ready, if you're interested...

 

jg

 

IF we're interested? That's like saying "there's air in here IF you happen to breathe that stuff".

[James Gillen]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Ok, here's Roy:

[Inu]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Hm. Orb of electricty is a level 4 spell, does 1d6 per level (max 15d6). Tsukiko is almost certainly a True Necromancer, a hybrid arcane/divine class that requires you to be an arcane and a divine spellcaster before taking it, so her caster levle is a bit low (but as she's cast both cures and fireball, she has to be a hybrid). Probably 3 wizard/3 cleric/X True Necromancer. If she's high enough level to cast Maximised Orb of Electricity (she'd have to be character level 18, for spellcaster level 13), she could do an instant 78 points, no save. That's a lot of hurt. Given that V has been scribing level 7 spells (implying level 13), a level 18 villain isn't too far out of the question... but probably a bit big.

 

Even if Tsukiko isn't that big (level 16, spellcaster level 11), she might be casting Empowered Orb, for an average of 58 damage. If she's only level 12 (caster level 10), she can do 35 damage on average with a raw cast of the spell. Can always get lucky (and her earlier spells might have done SOME damage to Haley).

 

If Haley is a level 13 rogue with +1 constitution (for the sake of argument), she has an average of... 61 hp. Wow, that's less than I expected. But then, I usually give higher-than-average hp pools when I run D&D.

 

So suddenly, her one-shotting the rogue isn't so far-fetched, now that I run the numbers, as long as Tsukiko is big enough.

 

And, of course, Haley might not be out yet!

 

(Of course, Tsukiko probably is pretty high level. She took three fiery arrows on a sneak attack. If Haley is level 13, that's an average of 95 damage, not counting strength or enhancement bonuses. Drop it to average 84 damage if the fiery is merely cosmetic. A 3 cleric/3 wizard has average 25 hp with no con bonus, with 3.5 more hp per True Necromancer level. The Empowered Orb option will give her 63hp... plus maybe 32 for high Con, putting her in survival range, especially if Haley rolled badly.)

 

So hey, it might well work out with the rules after all. But then, how did they keep a level 16 True Necromancer locked up, when they clearly didn't have any high-level people in the city aside from a couple of Paladins?

 

And that, my friends, is probably more D&D geekery than you will ever want to see in your entire lives.

[Edsel]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Haley souldn't be out of it yet. Her eyes didn't turn into "X"s. I still expect Belkar to save the day. He can't spill Tsukiko's blood but he could take out the wight and distract her.

[OddHat]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

So hey, it might well work out with the rules after all. But then, how did they keep a level 16 True Necromancer locked up, when they clearly didn't have any high-level people in the city aside from a couple of Paladins?

 

Anti-Magic Cell Block, the same place they kept the OotS (sans Belkar).

 

Generally, Rich seems to stick pretty close to the rules, unless it's funnier to hand wave something.

[Inu]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Haley souldn't be out of it yet. Her eyes didn't turn into "X"s. I still expect Belkar to save the day. He can't spill Tsukiko's blood but he could take out the wight and distract her.

That would indicate death... unconscious doesn't mean death. ^_-

 

And yes, Belkar is probably the key to saving the day. Assuming he didn't get jumped by the ninjas in the stables (or otherwise distracted by whatever was in there).

[casualplayer]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Hm. Orb of electricty is a level 4 spell, does 1d6 per level (max 15d6). Tsukiko is almost certainly a True Necromancer, a hybrid arcane/divine class that requires you to be an arcane and a divine spellcaster before taking it, so her caster levle is a bit low (but as she's cast both cures and fireball, she has to be a hybrid). Probably 3 wizard/3 cleric/X True Necromancer. If she's high enough level to cast Maximised Orb of Electricity (she'd have to be character level 18, for spellcaster level 13), she could do an instant 78 points, no save. That's a lot of hurt. Given that V has been scribing level 7 spells (implying level 13), a level 18 villain isn't too far out of the question... but probably a bit big.

 

Even if Tsukiko isn't that big (level 16, spellcaster level 11), she might be casting Empowered Orb, for an average of 58 damage. If she's only level 12 (caster level 10), she can do 35 damage on average with a raw cast of the spell. Can always get lucky (and her earlier spells might have done SOME damage to Haley).

 

If Haley is a level 13 rogue with +1 constitution (for the sake of argument), she has an average of... 61 hp. Wow, that's less than I expected. But then, I usually give higher-than-average hp pools when I run D&D.

 

So suddenly, her one-shotting the rogue isn't so far-fetched, now that I run the numbers, as long as Tsukiko is big enough.

 

And, of course, Haley might not be out yet!

 

(Of course, Tsukiko probably is pretty high level. She took three fiery arrows on a sneak attack. If Haley is level 13, that's an average of 95 damage, not counting strength or enhancement bonuses. Drop it to average 84 damage if the fiery is merely cosmetic. A 3 cleric/3 wizard has average 25 hp with no con bonus, with 3.5 more hp per True Necromancer level. The Empowered Orb option will give her 63hp... plus maybe 32 for high Con, putting her in survival range, especially if Haley rolled badly.)

 

So hey, it might well work out with the rules after all. But then, how did they keep a level 16 True Necromancer locked up, when they clearly didn't have any high-level people in the city aside from a couple of Paladins?

 

And that, my friends, is probably more D&D geekery than you will ever want to see in your entire lives.

 

Your D&D-fu is strong, grasshopper. Rep for you.

 

I wouldn't think that a Cure Crit Wounds would have "erased" the damage from Haley's initial, fiery triple sneak attack. Maybe that's the best Tsukiko can do in a single spell? That would be another clue to her level.

[Maur]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

She did a cure critical and had her mind controlled paladin Lay on Hands to her...

[Cygnia]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

[noob mode on]Are necromancers even capable of casting Cure spells?[/noob mode off]

[Inu]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

[noob mode on]Are necromancers even capable of casting Cure spells?[/noob mode off]

That's why I saw a True Necromancer. It's a prestige class that requires you to be a cleric and a wizard, then progresses both spellcasting classes simultaneously. You lose some caster levels overall (as I said, a character with 3 cleric levels, 3 wizard levels and 10 True Necromancer levels would only have an effective caster level of 11, whereas a single-class cleric would have a caster level equal to character level: 16).

 

there are a few hybrid classes like that, such as mystic theurge.

 

Y'know, actually, I think she said something about being a mystic theurge in her first appearance. In that case, she just got a bit more casting power. She'd only have to be level 14 to cast the Empowered version, and 16 to cast the Maximised version. I'd put my money on her being around level 14, if she did inded one-shot Haley (though Rich has usually had characters announce their metamagic on casting).

 

In short, yes, necromancers can't cast cure spells. bUt a necromancer who is also a cleric CAN... and even better if they have a hybrid prestige class that lets them be clerics AND necromancers. ^_-

[Inu]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

She did a cure critical and had her mind controlled paladin Lay on Hands to her...

Yup. That's a pretty hefty heal right there... and even then, it only got her to NEAR max hp. No idea what level moustache dude is, but he's pretty beefy if he turned wights.

 

Let's see... wights are a 4HD monster, with no turn resistance. From what I can see in the comic, he only turned two (because that's all that was present). Meh, he could be almost any level (above 4). He didn't seem to be in too much danger from the wights, though, so he's probably at least high single digits, maybe more.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Ok' date=' here's Roy:[/quote']

 

I like the use of Damage Reduction to reflect high D&D levels. It may not be cheaper than buying up BODY and STUN, but it's certainly more elegant.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Will need to check James' write up when I get home...only 5 more hours!

[James Gillen]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

I like the use of Damage Reduction to reflect high D&D levels. It may not be cheaper than buying up BODY and STUN' date=' but it's certainly more elegant.[/quote']

 

As opposed to buying more BODY than Godzilla, yeah.

 

JG

[Inu]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Combat Luck is also an option -- it's partly what hit points is meant to represent, after all. =)

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Combat Luck is also an option -- it's partly what hit points is meant to represent' date=' after all. =)[/quote']

 

Which he also used, rather liberally. It's quite clever that the level-based attributes are within the experience bonus, so you can imagine what a 75-point Roy looks like without too much difficulty.

 

The leadership skills are good, but Roy is supposed to be one of the very best at what he does. I imagine that his other abilities meld into that equation as well -- another sign of an elegant writeup. I am impressed. I'm not that subtle.

[James Gillen]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Haley:

[Finwe]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

About the level of Moustache Dude (aka Thanh): When Tsukiko threatened to make him play pattycake with the wight, the Azurite hiding in the crate with Haley said that he "won't make it to the end of the second line before he's a lifeless husk".

 

When playing pattycake, you alternately clap your own hands together, and slap the hand of the person you're playing with, while singing the following song. I'll use round brackets () to represent syllables on which you clap your own hands, and square brackets [] for syllables on which you touch your partner:

 

(Patty)-[cake] (patty)-[cake], (bake)-[er's] (man) []

(Bake) [me] (a cake) [as] (fast) [as you] (can) []

 

Every time Thanh touches the wight (represented by square brackets [] in the text above), he loses a level. There are eight such touches in the first two lines - so, if Thanh "won't make it to the end of the second line", we know that he must have no more than seven levels to lose.

 

As Inu said, we know that he's over level four, because he was able to turn a wight. So, we can confidently state that his level is somewhere in the range 5-7.

 

(Hey - who would have thought that a knowledge of children's nursery rhymes would be useful here?)

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

About the level of Moustache Dude (aka Thanh): When Tsukiko threatened to make him play pattycake with the wight, the Azurite hiding in the crate with Haley said that he "won't make it to the end of the second line before he's a lifeless husk".

 

When playing pattycake, you alternately clap your own hands together, and slap the hand of the person you're playing with, while singing the following song. I'll use round brackets () to represent syllables on which you clap your own hands, and square brackets [] for syllables on which you touch your partner:

 

(Patty)-[cake] (patty)-[cake], (bake)-[er's] (man) []

(Bake) [me] (a cake) [as] (fast) [as you] (can) []

 

Every time Thanh touches the wight (represented by square brackets [] in the text above), he loses a level. There are eight such touches in the first two lines - so, if Thanh "won't make it to the end of the second line", we know that he must have no more than seven levels to lose.

 

As Inu said, we know that he's over level four, because he was able to turn a wight. So, we can confidently state that his level is somewhere in the range 5-7.

 

(Hey - who would have thought that a knowledge of children's nursery rhymes would be useful here?)

Dude! That was a magnificent act of geekery right there.

You are so repped.

[Hermit]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

 

 

(Hey - who would have thought that a knowledge of children's nursery rhymes would be useful here?)

 

A subject both Wight AND Nerdy... I rep thee

[McManus]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

Gotta get on the rep wagon. well done.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

A subject both Wight AND Nerdy... I rep thee

you need to be punished.

[Sweeper]

Re: Order of the Stick

 

New oots confirms she a Mystic Theruge. Makes me wonder which of the 12 Gods she worships.