Class and Level Geekery VIII (spoilers ahoy!)

[Gilphon]

I feel that this does not tell us anything new about Tarquin's arrow snatching ability. Let's just hope he either use it again or comments that he can't use it anymore.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I think until otherwise proved, Tarquin shares the same sense of storytelling and tropes as Elan does.

That, or a super good spot.

The fact that he used the word "feel" makes me suspect that it is not, in fact, spot. He could have ranks in skill(battle intuition) or some other made up skill as appropriate.

Grey Wolf

[EmperorSarda]

The fact that he used the word "feel" makes me suspect that it is not, in fact, spot. He could have ranks in skill(battle intuition) or some other made up skill as appropriate.

Grey Wolf

That is plenty fair, Tarquin has admired Roy's skills of strategy, so it could easily be a strategy skill or even recognizing that they are in a killbox type scenario.

[RMS Oceanic]

Having slept on it, I don't think Tarquin's ability is a D&D one, just a mixture of his Genre Savvy and his Tactical Prowess.

And I'll also wait on some additional expository dialogue or the third arrow before changing that ability as well.

[Kurald Galain]

I just realized that Belkar has no listed age. Are there any clues to this that we have overlooked?

[RMS Oceanic]

None at all. The earliest chronological appearance for him was a a few days before Strip #1. Maybe the upcoming Kickstarter story may shed some light on it.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Having slept on it, I don't think Tarquin's ability is a D&D one, just a mixture of his Genre Savvy and his Tactical Prowess.

I agree. My point, such as it was, is that even such mixtures of savviness and sheer experience are, in this comic, reflected by buying the appropriate skill(description). I am by no means suggesting we add it to the first post (we'd have to make up the name of the skill, if nothing else, and that right there is a major problem). It was more a "it wasn't spot".

Grey Wolf

[Kurald Galain]

None at all. The earliest chronological appearance for him was a a few days before Strip #1. Maybe the upcoming Kickstarter story may shed some light on it.

Hm, looking over the SRD we do know that he's at least 23: halflings start adulthood at age 20, and the minimum age for a ranger is 3d6 years over that. We could us that.

Also, WXP notes that Mr.Scruffy's age is 6.

[Gilphon]

I'm not sure I buy Savviness as an explanation. Savviness might tell him to expect an ambush at some point, but wouldn't go as far as to tell the exact moment when it'll happen.

Sheer experience might explain it, but if so, that's all that's at work here. Unless he has good spot or something like that, of course.

[MrBanana]

The fact that he used the word "feel" makes me suspect that it is not, in fact, spot. He could have ranks in skill(battle intuition) or some other made up skill as appropriate.

Grey Wolf

Or he's a barbarian? The greataxe supports this.

[Kish]

Unlikely. We have no current indications that he was ever any non-Lawful alignment. There is no mechanical reason why a greataxe is better for a barbarian than it is for a fighter, and Tarquin clearly isn't a stereotypical barbarian whether he has ex-barbarian levels or not.

[SavageWombat]

There is a psionic power (somewhere) that lets you know when someone's watching you...

[oppyu]

I'm not sure I buy Savviness as an explanation. Savviness might tell him to expect an ambush at some point, but wouldn't go as far as to tell the exact moment when it'll happen.

Sheer experience might explain it, but if so, that's all that's at work here. Unless he has good spot or something like that, of course.

"Relax... trust your dramatic instincts, Elan. The scene calls out to you, asking you to arrive in the nick of time. You just need to feel it..."
"The inn! Haley's room! There! Second floor!"
More evidence that Tarquin is some kind of evil Dashing Swordsman.

[Felixc-91]

"Relax... trust your dramatic instincts, Elan. The scene calls out to you, asking you to arrive in the nick of time. You just need to feel it..."
"The inn! Haley's room! There! Second floor!"
More evidence that Tarquin is some kind of evil Dashing Swordsman.

Or has a well-developed sense of drama and a fine tuned understanding of how stories are told. Elan was able to do things just like Tarquin just did way before he became a dashing swordsman.

[EmperorSarda]

"Relax... trust your dramatic instincts, Elan. The scene calls out to you, asking you to arrive in the nick of time. You just need to feel it..."
"The inn! Haley's room! There! Second floor!"
More evidence that Tarquin is some kind of evil Dashing Swordsman.

While that is certainly a possibility, given that the Dashing Swordsman is a made up prestige class by the Giant, lets not go making up our own prestige class to grant Tarquin this ability.

[SpykeMH]

possible explanation for Tarquin's detection of the surprise attack?

Feat from Races of War

Danger Sense [Combat]
Maybe Spiders tell you what's up. You certainly react to danger with uncanny effectiveness.

Benefits: This is a combat feat that scales with your Base Attack Bonus.

+0: You get a +3 bonus on Initiative checks.
+1: For the purpose of Search, Spot, and Listen, you are always considered to be "actively searching". You also get Uncanny Dodge.
+6: You may take 10 on Listen, Spot, and Search checks.
+11: You may make a Sense Motive check (opposed by your opponent's Bluff check) immediately whenever any creature approaches within 60' of you with harmful intent. If you succeed, you know the location of the creature even if you cannot see it.
+16: You are never surprised and always act on the first round of any combat.

[Douglas]

That is a third party feat from an author that was intentionally attempting to increase the power of non-casting classes and is therefore vastly overpowered by normal 3.5 standards. The chance of The Giant ever actually using it in the comic is extremely low.

[Enlong]

I think this was just a gut feeling on Tarquin's part. "This is too easy" or somesuch.

[EmperorSarda]

Tarquin does not have Trap Sense. Tarquin simply made a very difficult Spot check against Haley's Hide when no one else did, and was able to deduce from that what was about to happen.

I don't usually bother making fun of mechanics anymore, but if I do, I'm not that subtle about it.

So we know it is Spot now. However, this does raise more questions about how Tarquin is composed since Spot is not a class skill for a fighter. He could have high intelligence, have another class where spot is a class skill or rolled super well in combination with those choices.

Either way, Tarquin has spot.

[RMS Oceanic]

Yeah, I'm happy saying he has ranks in spot, since the check in question was almost certainly an opposed check against Haley's hide skill.

[Felixc-91]

the link to Tarquin's spot is broken. There apears to be an issue with the [/url] part.

[Felixc-91]

On a completely unrelated topic, have we taken into consideration the fact that V no longer wears a head band? I belive its the one we list as a headband on intelect +4, and the last time we saw it was when (s)he accepted the deal the IFCC offered. Its not on him/her now, and hasn't been there for some time. Just wondering if it's been discussed or is considered relevant.

[Gift Jeraff]

S/he's using it for his/her ponytail.

[ti'esar]

Based on recent discussion in the "Xykon and Girard's Gate" thread, I've just realized that either O-Chul or Lien probably has ranks in Use Magic Device.

[RMS Oceanic]

Can you elaborate? I see discussion that Hinjo wouldn't be able to personally Send a message (the capital S is deliberate ) to Roy without ranks in UMD, which is true. How does O-Chul or Lien enter into the conversation?

[ti'esar]

The same strip linked to there also establishes that O-Chul and Lien will be staying in touch with Hinjo and the Order by Sending. Since the other groups were suggested to be the ones normally initiating contact (not Hinjo), that indicates that either O-Chul or Lien must also have UMD.

It's not a certainty, though, which is why I said "might". But since I noticed there were stats for them both here, I figured it was at least worth a mention.

[EmperorSarda]

To back up O-Chul or Lein having UMD, every instance where Hinjo and sending are mentioned, Hinjo is the one contacted. (or has someone Send on his behalf) So since Hinjo is waiting to be contacted by the Elves, Resistance and Order, then it makes sense that O-Chul or Lein must have UMD to keep Hinjo in the loop of what is happening with them as well.

[Psyren]

Before we update Tarquin's level, I vote we wait to see if he's faking being affected by the Holy Word or not.

[RMS Oceanic]

Effects of Holy Word (Cumulative):

HD > CL: Nothing
HD = CL: Deafened
CL-1 >= HD > CL-5: Blinded
CL-5 >= HD > CL-10: Paralyzed
HD <= CL-10: Dead

Of those affected I can see Nale, Sabine and Z clutching both their ears, so it's likely at this stage their level doesn't exceed Durkon's caster level. Nale, Sabine and Z are also squinting, suggesting they may also have been blinded, suggesting a lower level than Durkon. Apart from surprise, Kilkil doesn't seem to have reacted to the Holy Word, which would mean either his level is greater than Durkon's CL, or his level is between 5 and 9 levels lower than Durkon's CL and his non-reaction is a sign of being paralyzed. Tarquin is holding one ear but has held on to his axe. He might be deafened, or even if you suffer no ill effects it may just be very loud and he is high enough level to shrug it off.

This is not conclusive of course, and will depend on the next comic, but it's interesting stuff.

[zimmerwald1915]

Overland Flight (level 5) x4
Greater Dispel Magic (level 6)
Passwall (level 5)
Quickened Expeditious Retreat (level 5)

Breakdown:
1 level 6 spelle
6 level 5 spells

Since neither Overland Flight nor Greater Dispel Magic is Evocation, it is impossible for a level 15 Vaarsuvius with 23 INT to have cast this many level 5 spells. It is also too many for a Vaarsuvius with 16 levels and either 24 or 26 INT. Possible explanations include my miscounting the number of Overland Flights, Overland Flight being able to affect more than one person (we already know it’s not the PHB Overland Flight, since that can only be cast on oneself), the spell that they’re under actually being Fly rather than Overland Flight, or Vaarsuvius having prepared at least one Overland Flight in a sixth-level slot. This last is the most likely, since it does not depend on human error or houseruling. With this in mind, V's Breakdown now looks like this:

2 level 6 spells
5 level 5 spells


Find the Path (level 6)
Extended True Seeing (level 6)
Detect Poison (level 0)
Resurrection (level 7) x2
Speak With Dead (level 3)
True Seeing (level 5)
Mass Resist Energy (level 3)
Dispel Magic (level 3)
Hold Person (level 2)
Heal (level 6)
some healing spell (level unknown)
Stone Shape (level 3)
Holy Word (level 7)

Breakdown:
3 level 7 spells
3 level 6 spells
1 level 5 spell
4 level 3 spells
1 level 2 spell
1 level 0 spell
1 spell of unknown level

Discounting the spell of unknown level, Durkon could cast all these spells with 13 levels and a 24 Wisdom – the stats he has in the OP – without even touching his domain spells. Well, now that he's cast Holy Word, he can't have any more level 7 spells with those stats. Even if the spell he cast on Belkar was Heal, this could be accounted for by making Heal the level 6 Thor Domain spell.


Vitriolic Sphere (level 5, possibly higher)
Empowered Vitriolic Sphere (level 7)

Breakdown:
1 level 7 spell
1 level 5 (possibly higher due to metamagic) spell

Even if Z’s first Vitriolic Sphere was metamagic’d, the spells he’s cast have not pushed his level floor up any.


Control Winds (level 5, scroll)
Flame Strike (level 5)
Create Undead (level 6, staff) x6

Breakdown:
1 level 5 spell

We've learned a couple things since this was posted, so I'm reposting it with edits. The mummies came from a staff, so Malack's Magnificent Mummy-Making Spell no longer exists. Durkon has cast Stone Shape and Holy Word.