I'm sorry, but Holy non-sequitur Batman! How does it follow from "Durkon will die" that "V's incompetence will get Durkon killed during this particular fight"?
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I'd guess that it's a bit of a language issue. I don't think he meant exactly what you're thinking he meant. Check out his location, and the way he writes stuff -- I think it's a case of "English is not his first language".
In cases like that, it seems prudent to do a little interpretation, rather than taking everything absolutely literally. See, now, although I could be wrong, I read his statement as:
"That is a possibility. And since Durkon is prophecied to die, perhaps V's incompetence will be what kills him."
It helps to be a little creative with your interpretation and allow some leeway when you're speaking with a person whose knowledge of your language is imperfect.
I speak some Russian -- luckily, the real Russian speakers I've spoken to cut me some slack and don't take what I say literally, because otherwise I would have been punched in the nose, denied entry to countries I was visiting, and probably tossed out by my future wife the first time I said something garbled to her. :smallbiggrin:
I kind of feel sorry for Nale now. Think of it - he is despised by his father, Roy (in a way), and probably Xykon, and by many many friends of them, and even by some of his teammates. I think that if Nale will die, it will probably be a shameful death (unless he suddenly comes to his sences and protects Elan from Redcloak's Implosion).
Now I have a feeling that something will ruin Order's plan. Something like big yellow glowing eyes in the smoke, or V suddenly coming up and trying to 'help'.
About the death pool between Belkar and Durkon, I'd put my money on Belkar. My guess is Durkon will die at Kraagor's gate which closer to the dwarven lands (if it is already there, then my guess is wrong). I don't know what to think of the kobold, but his a-little-macabre-name makes me think that there is a chance that he is more powerful than Zz'dtri.
Given that he was almost certainly paralyzed by the Holy Word, I'd hoped that any theories about Kilkil secretly being a 20th-level sorcerer (or whatever) had been put to rest by now.
There are loads of alternate sub-races for halflings. The real question isn't if, it is a matter of which Belkar is. Also, I think some people have been missing the obvious... why must Barbarian be the favored class, Belkar is a Ranger first, and it could be his favored class, thereby he can have 20 levels of Ranger and it wouldn't affect his future cross-classing what so ever.
Possibilities:
Rogue FC:
Tabit (I included this for fun, but it is a major idea... it might explain a lot)
Ranger FC:
Stoor Halflings (Unlikely, they prefer archery, and don't have the Halfling sling/thrown stone bonuses)
Artic Halflings (Much better possibility, they have the sling/thrown bonus, and love to be Rangers... only odd thing is they're usually peaceful, but then Belkar could be an oddball)
Furchin Halflings (Similar to the Artic Halfling, though slightly different... don't think Belkar is one, but it is an option)
Barbarian FC:
Jungle Halflings from Unearthed Arcana (my top pick for Barbarian, mainly because Ghostwise Halflings don't seem to be more obscure, so obscure I couldn't find them on the same site as all these others)
So, with all these options, can we drop the Belkar would have a penalty from cross-classing... for all we know, Belkar could be a Stickian Halfling, who have the options of any class as their Favored Class, and Nale is a Stickian Human, who takes no penalties from cross-classing as long as he never takes Bard as a class, but if one takes Bard as their only non-divine spellcaster primary class, they can take any prestige class without penalties for cross-classing instead.
As for Kilkil... he's alive but Paralyzed (no Xs on his eyes, just frozen in the same look)... Qarr had to save against Banishment, the door wouldn't protect him (but may have protected Malack who only needed to not hear Holy Word to be safe from it)... If Qarr failed his save he was Banished but might be dead too (not sure of his level), if he made his save then he was unaffected if Malack was shielded or he's deaf and possibly blind and Paralyzed if Malack was not shielded by the door.
Predictions
SpoilerI speculate that Elan may walk up behind Malack, smack Qarr (vile henchfiend who betrayed sweet Therkla) if he is still there, and then offer to help Malack get his shot at Nale. Malack will probably actually like Elan (or not hate him) as he is everything Nale is not, and has a few of Tarquin's positive qualities.
SpoilerV will find the Gate
SpoilerMr. Skruffy will be eating mummies, cause mummies are yummies
The Mummies were definitely taken by Holy Word.
As for the people arguing about bows and accuracy at range, that is why in many games they added progressive penalties for longer ranges for any ranged weapon (need to recheck D&D, but I think they just have the shooting into melee penalty)... Star Wars Saga has interesting range penalties, might check it out if you need some alternate to the just fine D&D decision. BTW, I hear Saga is the basis for 4th Ed, so D&D 4th may also have such range penalties and such, and minor penalties to hit for cover as well.
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Wait... someone said Nale is in a Blind Panic shouldn't that be a Deaf Panic in this case? I'm pretty sure he's not Blind
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Belkar is affected by Suggestion... but just as the dragon was able to be affected by V's suggestion and obey while he was a lizard, and then not understand him as a Elf, so too Belkar is affected by the spell, but acts on his own will until he can hear Nale...
I do like someone's idea that Belkar will regain his hearing and then Nale will accidentally say something stupid like, "I wish someone would just poke me so I could wake up from this nightmare" or "This is getting old, just kill me already", or Tarquin will insult Nale as he gets his hearing back and mention how Sabine is gone because of Nale's bad planning which Nale will reply "Rip my heart out, why don't you.", at which point Belkar will obey without resistance...
While this would be funny, I don't think it's going to happen. Regardless of whether Belkar was affected by the spell or not, I suspect that if Nale's going to die here (I suspect he won't, though I have no idea how he'll survive), it'll be well before the deafness wears off.
Because in PHB the favored is Rogue and as such both of Belkars classes are unfavored. Of course he may be one of your proposals, C&LGeekery had some discussion about it. On the other hand there's been no hint to anything like that... Whatever, if I remember correctly Belkars most likely first choice of Favored Enemy should be Human - which gives him the boost to be the only, real and sexy shoeless god of war!! :smallbiggrin:
- beware Tarquin!
Qarr has at least 8 levels of Sorcerer, so there is no way how he could be dead. Anyway I believe the door blocked the line of effect of the Holy Word, so Malack and Qarr are unaffected regardless of their level.
The mummies have also at least 8HD, so they are not destroyed. They probably can't be paralyzed either, so the Order will have to deal with them soon.
Why do you all hate V so much :smalleek:
People just keep saying that s/he'll screw things up somehow, and this is totally uncalled for D:
I mean, s/he fails much only if going all solo on epic liches/epic dragons (that familicide thingy)/epic abjurations/trap-filled-mummy-crawling dungeons/romantic dinners. In party s/he should be fine.
My issue with this isn't necessarily that V wouldn't screw it up, it's that there's not really any reason to expect V to show up. She's a floor below, running around sacred stupid, and I'm not even sure she's running in the right direction to be anywhere near the ambush. No, V is isolated for some other reason.
So... someone made a mistake which they deeply, sincerely, and plainly regret and wish to repent for, and your response is eternal hatred and loathing? seriously?
I get the hatred of Miko or Celia, because they act in stupid ways by choice and have no intent of changing. V did something without truly considering its consequences and feels horrible for doing so, so I cannot fathom why anyone honestly loathes anyone for making a mistake...
Vaarsuvius committed mass murder. Knowingly. Gleefully.
Now, Vaarsuvius has realized that the mass murder hit mostly-humans, instead of just the dragons s/he meant to slaughter. And, upon that realization, Vaarsuvius is stricken with horrible guilt...that s/he made a mistake and failed to make sure to spell would only hit the type of sapients s/he wanted to kill. That guilt does not make him/her any less vile than s/he was before we all learned about the Draketooths dying. It just highlights how very far s/he is from comprehending how monstrous what s/he did was, and would have been even if it had had no unintended results. How monstrous what s/he immediately bragged of having done was.
No, "Vaarsuvius feels sorry for something in some way related to the Familicide" is not redemption. In fact, whenever I read a post like yours, I worry that it's what we're going to get fobbed off with instead of redemption. But then I look at the Rich quote in my sig, and I conclude it's unlikely he'd mistake Vaarsuvius' recent unhappiness for redemption, and I stop worrying.
It's not unreasonable to think V may screw things up. The Order have set up a smart ambush, and are executing it flawlessly. Ergo, the universe is in a state of unrest, and must soon resolve this imbalance by knocking them down to the bumbling semi-trained quasi-professionals we know them to be. One way this could happen is a panicking, emotionally unstable V pass-walling to the worst possibly place at the worst possible time.
To bring us back closer to the current strip, I'm not sure it has been pointed out explicitly but according to this comic, Suggestion has no somatic component so it doesn't matter that Belkar can't hear. I thought it didn't matter if the target heard any casting but this way it is spelled out, so to speak.
I'm pretty sure the use of spell names when casting is more so the reader knows what is going on rather than representing what others would hear.
It doesn't matter that Belkar doesn't know Nale cast Suggestion.
It does matter that Belkar was unable to hear the suggestion.
You appear to be under the impression that "somatic" means "verbal." It doesn't; it means gestures. You also seem to have missed the second panel of the comic you linked, where Vaarsuvius mentions that Suggestion requires the subject understand your speech.
To the mother dragon- immediately after doing it:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0640.html