On Belkar and Lord Shojo

[goodyarn]

I was re-reading old strips recently and something occurred to me, which might have been obvious to all of you, but I only just noticed it...

There's a neat symmetry to:

(1) an illusory Lord Shojo being present when Belkar's mark of justice is activated, chiding Belkar for killing in a town. And then...

(2) a completely different illusory Lord Shojo is instrumental in the mark of justice being removed, urging Belkar to declare that he is a sexy, shoeless god of war, so that the cleric will remove the mark of justice and Belkar can do what? Why, kill lots of people in a town, of course.

The removal of the mark of justice could have been written a number of different ways, but the way the Giant has written it is especially satisfying.

[Leecros]

I was re-reading old strips recently and something occurred to me, which might have been obvious to all of you, but I only just noticed it...

There's a neat symmetry to:

(1) an illusory Lord Shojo being present when Belkar's mark of justice is activated, chiding Belkar for killing in a town. And then...

(2) a completely different illusory Lord Shojo is instrumental in the mark of justice being removed, urging Belkar to declare that he is a sexy, shoeless god of war, so that the cleric will remove the mark of justice and Belkar can do what? Why, kill lots of people in a town, of course.

The removal of the mark of justice could have been written a number of different ways, but the way the Giant has written it is especially satisfying.

yes, there is a certain symmetry, but one's a recorded message and the other is a fever-induced hallucination.

[Zevox]

yes, there is a certain symmetry, but one's a recorded message and the other is a fever-induced hallucination.

Is it? Seems to me more likely that the second is an effect of the Mark too. Else it'd be one hell of a coincidence that the message there just happened to correspond so perfectly to the password needed to dispel the Mark ("evolve or die").

Zevox

[Welknair]

I never understood the need for a password. I know that they had the activation word for the mark (Squiddly doodle fluffer, or however it was spelt) but there was no mention of a password. Nor does the need for a password arise in the standard descriptions of remove curse or mark of justice. Then again, this is Greater Mark of Justice...

Either way, how did the cleric know the password? Unless it's the same for all curses? In which case what's the point of having it in the first place?

[Zevox]

I never understood the need for a password. I know that they had the activation word for the mark (Squiddly doodle fluffer, or however it was spelt) but there was no mention of a password. Nor does the need for a password arise in the standard descriptions of remove curse or mark of justice. Then again, this is Greater Mark of Justice...

Sounds like a part of the spell meant to ensure it can't be removed by any old caster with a dispel/remove curse spell handy. Likely part to the "greater" portion of the spell, yes.

Either way, how did the cleric know the password? Unless it's the same for all curses? In which case what's the point of having it in the first place?

Based on what the Cleric was saying when explaining the need for the password, it sounds like Shojo had simply had a personal tendency for using that particular password. (He starts saying "It seems like the Lord down there-" before Haley interrupts him.)

Zevox

[Welknair]

I wish the Giant would provide specs for GMoJ... I kinda want to use that on my players.

[factotum]

I wish the Giant would provide specs for GMoJ... I kinda want to use that on my players.

Invent your own stats, then! Seems to me the Greater Mark of Justice works pretty much the same as the standard Mark of Justice spell with the addition of the multiple trigger conditions (Roy's code word) and the passcode required to dispel it. Oh, and the actual curse it inflicts when it goes off can be a bit more powerful than the normal MoJ.

[Souhiro]

Well, you can even create a more versatile spell. One that "Protects" curses, states, polymorphs, etc... from being dispelled, until a Password is uttered, or until a HUGE Spellcraft check is made.

That would be a GREAT spell, that would be usefult to GMs!

[SoC175]

I wish the Giant would provide specs for GMoJ... I kinda want to use that on my players.

Just make the PW lower the difficulty (aka caster level) needed to remove it. With the PW the cleric of Loki was sufficient, without it it would have taken Redcloak