New Order of the Stick Strip Up

[Drejk]

Tacticslion wrote:

Tacticslion wrote:

In 3.5 in most setting (Eberron being one explicitly noted maybe-sort-of-perhaps exception) it was a vague truism that gods sort-of-kind-of derived much of their power and/or existence from their worshipers (with the vague hand-waive that there was a certain amount of mutual maintenance from their dead souls - gods kept the souls that kept the gods that kept the souls, and so on ad infinitum). Though the gods may well have existed in some form or another without the worshipers/souls, and may well have been able to keep them just by being super-powered outsiders, they gained what is considered exclusively godly powers from those sources - both living and dead.

Greylurker wrote:

There is an old WoTC book that put numbers to it. Have it somewhere in my collection.

If I remember it's like 10 points of Primal Energy per 100 worshipers/Souls
Controlling a Plane also grants energy
Temples and shrines grants a little energy
Unwilling souls sacrificed to you grant 1 point/100 souls.

Maintaining a Priest costs 1 point of energy per highest level spell slot they can cast.

for more direct use 1 point of energy can blast someone for 10hp of damage, auto-hit and no save, ignores all defenses.
alternatively if a god has spellcasting levels they can lace a spell with 1 point of energy to make the spell Auto-hit, no save.

Sounds pretty cool!

Hm... was that WotC, though? I kind of remember two publications - one being a 3E D&D 3rd party ("primal order" or something I think - seems to be what you're referring to) and one being a 2E/AD&D TSR publication that put numbers to those, but my memory is shoddy enough that I'm willing to admit I'm wrong. I might have to look into this more in a bit, now... XD

Either way, in the Deities & Demigods book it pretty explicitly noted that it required little to no effort (different from energy, one supposes) to empower those who believe in a given god and just kind of expanded their abilities "automatically" for a given...

The Primal Order is the first WotC book released in 1992. Though at the time of publishing they were a "third party".

[Ventnor]

TriOmegaZero wrote:

1086: Look Inside.

So the main reason that Vampire-Face wanted to get inside Thor's temple was to have a dramatically appropriate location for his showdown with Roy?

Well, Hel has shown that he loves her pointless theatrics. Guess it isn't too surprising.

[Thomas Seitz]

Pointless? Not sure it's pointless. But I will agree it's pretty theatrical.

Regardless, I'm glad to see they're ready to fight.

[Ventnor]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Pointless? Not sure it's pointless. But I will agree it's pretty theatrical.

Regardless, I'm glad to see they're ready to fight.

She announced her grand evil plan to all of her peers, assuming that she had won before actually pulling it off.

I stand by my "pointless theatrics" statement.

[Thomas Seitz]

Okay well so she's pulling from some other ego-manics playbook.

That doesn't mean the vampire is doing the same thing. But regardless, I'm standing by "Elan does something stupid." statement.

[The Raven Black]

I will go with "Elan does something stupid, that actually turns out great " :-)

[The Raven Black]

Tacticslion wrote:

Dal Selpher wrote:

Durkon's gray-haired mom in the crowd got me all misty.

Who's graybeard grumpicus next to her, I wonder? Feels like we should know him.

(Not the other acolytes who are concerned about decorum, I mean the taller, fatter one with the cane.)

Maybe the grandfather mentioned in the letter from strip 1024 linked above.

I wonder what use Durkon expects from this memory, likely not what Durkula wishes

[Greylurker]

Spoiler:

Drejk wrote:

Tacticslion wrote:

Tacticslion wrote:

In 3.5 in most setting (Eberron being one explicitly noted maybe-sort-of-perhaps exception) it was a vague truism that gods sort-of-kind-of derived much of their power and/or existence from their worshipers (with the vague hand-waive that there was a certain amount of mutual maintenance from their dead souls - gods kept the souls that kept the gods that kept the souls, and so on ad infinitum). Though the gods may well have existed in some form or another without the worshipers/souls, and may well have been able to keep them just by being super-powered outsiders, they gained what is considered exclusively godly powers from those sources - both living and dead.

Greylurker wrote:

There is an old WoTC book that put numbers to it. Have it somewhere in my collection.

If I remember it's like 10 points of Primal Energy per 100 worshipers/Souls
Controlling a Plane also grants energy
Temples and shrines grants a little energy
Unwilling souls sacrificed to you grant 1 point/100 souls.

Maintaining a Priest costs 1 point of energy per highest level spell slot they can cast.

for more direct use 1 point of energy can blast someone for 10hp of damage, auto-hit and no save, ignores all defenses.
alternatively if a god has spellcasting levels they can lace a spell with 1 point of energy to make the spell Auto-hit, no save.

Sounds pretty cool!

Hm... was that WotC, though? I kind of remember two publications - one being a 3E D&D 3rd party ("primal order" or something I think - seems to be what you're referring to) and one being a 2E/AD&D TSR publication that put numbers to those, but my memory is shoddy enough that I'm willing to admit I'm wrong. I might have to look into this more in a bit, now... XD

Either way, in the Deities & Demigods book it pretty explicitly noted that it required little to no effort (different from energy, one supposes) to empower those who believe in a given god and just kind of expanded their abilities

...

Managed to find the book and dust it off, (it's the Primal Order one). Energy from worshippers is actually the square root of all worshippers on a given plane, so long has there are over 100 of them (IE: that is where I got 100 souls = 10 points). If they are unwilling souls in your possession you can still squeeze them for power and get 1/10 of the amount you would from worshippers.

In this case though Hel would have legitimate ownership of the souls, so they might count as full worshippers. Square root of 10 million dwarf souls = 3162 points of energy. Which would be a pretty heafty jump in power

[Thomas Seitz]

Raven,

There is that possibility too!

[Tacticslion]

Greylurker and Drejk: Sweet! Thanks! I knew my memory was shoddy, but that's actually a pretty awesome find! :D

[Andostre]

A new comic, by any metric

[Thomas Seitz]

The meter on this was off.

[Fromper]

This is the first real hint we've seen of Durkula's personality being affected by Durkon's memories. I'm still waiting for the payoff on all of these memory scenes. I'm sure it'll be huge.

[Thomas Seitz]

I'm still waiting for death or Durkula and moving on to the Gate.

[Lord Fyre]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

I'm still waiting for death or Durkula and moving on to the Gate.

Why won't you get onboard with the "Great Leader" narrative already!?!

[The Raven Black]

I should have guessed what kind of apprentice a master bard called Squeaky would have :-))

[Thomas Seitz]

Fyre,

Because in my mind the Great Leader is Zykon.

[Lord Fyre]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Fyre,

Because in my mind the Great Leader is Zykon.

True. But the quote was too good not to use. :D

[The Sideromancer]

The great leader is Redcloak.

[Thomas Seitz]

Redcloak is an average leader. Zykon is the awesome leader. :)

[Lord Fyre]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Redcloak is an average leader. Zykon is the awesome leader. :)

The correct spelling is Xykon.

[137ben]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Redcloak is an average leader. Zykon is the awesome leader. :)

Check again, [url="http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0917.html"]it's "Zyklon," with an 'l'. I always thought that T used divination to try and figure out who Xykon was, but couldn't due to Cloister. He then ended up finding out about an unrelated villain Zyklon, who was much weaker and hence concluded that the villain Elan is worried about isn't really a threat.

[Thomas Seitz]

Regardless!! I still stand by my choice!

[TriOmegaZero]

1088: Hall Past

[Thomas Seitz]

More lovely memories and of course vampire infighting.

[The Raven Black]

The dwarf's soul doth protest too much, methinks.

Did Durkon develop the ability to alter his memories, or at least hide part of them ?

I noticed he did not speak about the grumpy old man aforementioned.

[thejeff]

The Raven Black wrote:

The dwarf's soul doth protest too much, methinks.

Did Durkon develop the ability to alter his memories, or at least hide part of them ?

I noticed he did not speak about the grumpy old man aforementioned.

I think he's just steering the vampire by selectively choosing what to present.

Like the trope of the character unable to lie, but being very good at misleading by only telling selected truths.

[Drejk]

I am pretty sure he is showing the Durkula the truth. He simply omits things Durkula didn't ask for... Like a big windows with the view to East, or inconspicuous wards...

[The Raven Black]

Isn't the female vampire that did not immediately get onboard with the Great Leader narrative and shows more independent thought than the other spawns the same one who seemed to heed self-preservation more than bloodlust in the fight with Roy and the representatives ?

Is it possible for a spawn to actually be created free, and maybe even non-Evil ?

[BigNorseWolf]

The Raven Black wrote:

Is it possible for a spawn to actually be created free, and maybe even non-Evil ?

Cowardace and not being part of the one big evil family is not the same as being not evil

[Fromper]

Drejk wrote:

I am pretty sure he is showing the Durkula the truth. He simply omits things Durkula didn't ask for... Like a big windows with the view to East, or inconspicuous wards...

Yeah, Durkon was obviously steering Durkula to that room for a reason. Possibly just to avoid him going somewhere else.

[Bob_Loblaw]

It's probably consecrated.

[137ben]

The Raven Black wrote:

Isn't the female vampire that did not immediately get onboard with the Great Leader narrative and shows more independent thought than the other spawns the same one who seemed to heed self-preservation more than bloodlust in the fight with Roy and the representatives ?

Is it possible for a spawn to actually be created free, and maybe even non-Evil ?

How Vampires Work in OOTS.

Thanks to Jaxzan Proditor (for the quotes, not just the votes.)

[137ben]

More specifically:

--All vampires that aren't currently thralls have free will.
--Malack's primary purpose in the story was to kill Durkon. If Malack weren't Evil, he probably wouldn't have killed Durkon and so wouldn't have been in the story. Hence, you only saw Malack because he was evil.

--HPoH's primary role in the story appears to be as the main antagonist of book six, so he also had to be evil for that role.

--The Giant hasn't decided how many death gods there are in the OOTS world. If there's a Good-aligned death god out there, they are probably more likely to be making Good-aligned vampire spirits, and if there is a Neutral-aligned death god out there, they are probably more likely to be making Neutral-aligned vampire spirits. But the only ones that matter are the ones shown in the comic.

Speaking from my personal perspective, I'd be very surprised if any of the vampires in HPoH's retinue were non-evil. Hel created all of them for the same purpose as HPoH, and they all very clearly want Hel's plan to succeed, which means they all want Hel to get more power. Then again, Eugene also didn't seem to mind the idea of Hel succeeding, since it would mean he personally could get into the afterlife and he's too self-centered to care about what happens on the ground.

[Drejk]

Fromper wrote:

Drejk wrote:

I am pretty sure he is showing the Durkula the truth. He simply omits things Durkula didn't ask for... Like a big windows with the view to East, or inconspicuous wards...

Yeah, Durkon was obviously steering Durkula to that room for a reason. Possibly just to avoid him going somewhere else.

Oh, yeah, that's a possibility too...

I just recalled an old comic book scene where invading bandit-knights try to assault the village inn, only to be thwarted by the door of the said in. After many attempts to break the door in, the door opens outside letting out the blacksmith (or similar muscle-man) who gives the invaders beating, while they complain they should be sign "pull" if it opens outside...

Maybe the door the vampires tried to pass was easy to open but no one knew how?

[137ben]

1089: Scents and Cents

Nice callback to the first page of book six.

[Thomas Seitz]

I thought it was a callback to the fact Durkon is alive and his friend isn't.

[Lord Fyre]

I thought that it was Durkon manipulating the vampire to stop asking for information that would harm the OotS.

[Thomas Seitz]

Fyre,

Nah. If he wanted that info, he could have ripped it out of him. Plus Durluka has fought against some of the OotS anyway...

[Lord Fyre]

Thomas Seitz wrote:

Fyre,

Nah. If he wanted that info, he could have ripped it out of him. Plus Durluka has fought against some of the OotS anyway...

Yes, Durkula can rip the info from Durkon. This is exactly why the Dwarf had to be subtle about denying that info to Durkula.

Hopefully, the vampire won't realize that he has been manipulated until too late.

[Ventnor]

Troll Durkon is best Durkon.

Also, I liked the neat reference to Wednesday as Odin's holy day.

[The Raven Black]

I think Durkon is up to something nice and devious and that we and Durkula will realize far too late, and kick ourselves for not seeing it earlier

Durkon just showed Durkula how you can "trick" a Lawful person by putting things in terms they cannot help but honor

[Thomas Seitz]

Raven,

That's probably true but I have no idea what it could be.

[KingOfAnything]

1090: Not Touching!

I'm not touching you.

I'm not touching you.

[Lord Fyre]

It's true. "Dwarves 're Nuts!
Note my Avatar.

[thewastedwalrus]

Ah, forgot about the flumphs.
Haven't seen them in quite awhile.

[Fromper]

It's the return of the flumphs! One of these days, I still want to see them actually do something, besides just showing up as a running gag. Now that we know they're in the dwarven lands, maybe they could show up just in time to save the day.

[Tacticslion]

FLUMPHS ARE THE BEEEEEEESSSSSST~!

[Thomas Seitz]

Flumphs are cool.

[Ventnor]

Guess we know who the true masters of the Northern lands are now.

I also love Cpt. Bandana's half-confused, half-exasperated face in the last panel.