Results 1 to 30 of 30
Thread: Legs or no?
-
2013-07-29, 10:55 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2005
- Location
- Montreal
- Gender
Legs or no?
Now that Malack's dead, I wish to know the answer to one thing (actually, I wish to know many things, but this is the only one relevant to this thread and one I actually feel I have at least a minor chance of getting an answer):
Did Malack actually have legs? At any point? Was he a Lizardfolk or was he a snake creature like a Yuan-Ti this entire time?
-
2013-07-29, 11:09 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
Re: Legs or no?
Snake creature, this is not ambiguous.
-
2013-07-29, 11:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
Re: Legs or no?
It's extremely clear during the Durkon fight that he's a snake person without legs. Besides seeing him supporting himself on his tail, when he grapples Durkon we can clearly see up to his waist with no legs. When he's upside down it's clear he has no feet as well.
Last edited by NerdyKris; 2013-07-29 at 11:30 AM.
-
2013-07-29, 11:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- MO, USA
Re: Legs or no?
I never really noticed his lack of feet. I just assumed he had a prehensile tail.
-
2013-07-29, 04:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Turkey
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
I think he has legs. There is no reason to hide his real race, considering his death.
Last edited by martianmister; 2013-07-29 at 04:12 PM.
Spoiler
-
2013-07-29, 04:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Location
- Lost in the Hinterlands
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
He was a white worm.
Last edited by Giggling Ghast; 2013-07-29 at 04:17 PM.
A father taken by time, a brother dead by my own hand.
With this work behold my grief, in Stone and shifting sand.
-
2013-07-29, 04:24 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- Seattle
- Gender
-
2013-07-29, 04:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
I say he's a yuan-ti abomination. It's the only way he could have both the Craft Staff feat and an obvious inability to cast Level 7 Spells.
-
2013-07-29, 07:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
-
2013-07-29, 07:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2005
- Location
- Montreal
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
I guess I want to know, is he a snake creature, or is he a lizardfolk, whose "lizard" happens to be based on assorted limbless lizards?
-
2013-07-29, 07:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
Re: Legs or no?
Well let's just hope nobody tries to call him a Yuan-ti, or else the lawyers might have to show up again. And nobody wants that.
-
2013-07-29, 08:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: Legs or no?
My guesses are still:
-Half-dragon lizardfolk. Girard's half-dragon aunt was a snake-like. This allows for his comment to Durkon about being a lizardfolk to be true.
-Yuan-Ti, but he called himself a lizardfolk because he doesn't want the Lawyers to show up.
-An extinct race, so he calls himself a lizardfolk to prevent people from wondering how he's still alive. Could go along with Yuan-Ti.
I don't think we'll ever know, because to Malack his living species is irrelevant. He considered "vampire" to be his true identity, to the point that he's perfectly willing to add halflings and dwarves to his "family." Plus it could be a subtle jab from Rich about how many snakeperson monsters there are.
-
2013-07-29, 10:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Location
- 3 inches from yesterday
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
Thanks Uncle Festy for the wonderful Ashling Avatar
I make music
-
2013-07-29, 11:07 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
Re: Legs or no?
Without the ability to discern the exact location of his pelvis or vestigal pelvis-analogue, I'm not real sure that distinction is particularly meaningful. And since whatever Terrestrial animal's body plan his species is "based on" has had major modifications (those opposable thumbs didn't get there by themselves), it's probably less than productive to use Terrestrial animals as a starting point for this speculation. Although on the other hand, Anguisfolk is slightly easier to say than Yuan-ti, and requires a little more knowledge of herpetology to make any sense out of. To say nothing of the lawyers.
-
2013-07-29, 11:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2013
- Location
- New Jersey
Re: Legs or no?
The comic explicitly refers to him as a lizardfolk.
I also image a snake-like creature couldn't sit in a chair like this. A "sitting" snake would have to have its tail coiled under it, not dangling out like this.
Furthermore, Malack is not the only lizardfolk in the comic. The desert is FILLED with them, from the lizardfolk where's to the soldiers in Tarquin's army. Malack's artwork is consistent with the height, size, and shape of those lizardfolk, he's just in a robe. There hasn't been a single Yuan-ti seen ANYWHERE.
-
2013-07-30, 12:07 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
We have seen Malack without legs. If he is a lizardman, he is a legless lizardman. I think it's more likely that "lizardfolk," contrary to standard D&D usage, is a generic term for a range of species, like "humanoid."
I also image a snake-like creature couldn't sit in a chair like this. A "sitting" snake would have to have its tail coiled under it, not dangling out like this.
-
2013-07-30, 12:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Turkey
- Gender
-
2013-07-30, 12:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
Last edited by jere7my; 2013-07-30 at 12:33 AM.
-
2013-07-30, 06:06 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- California
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
Yes, but Durkon refers to him as a "lizard." I suppose it's possible that lizard is just a short name for lizardfolk and that lizardfolk is also a shorthand for reptilian humanoid, but I'd imagine a lawful cleric (I assume he's lawful considering the company he keeps) would politely correct an emissary who incorrectly identified his species instead of going along with it and saying "us lizardfolk." Being a snakefolk isn't like being a vampire, he wouldn't feel the need to hide it from Durkon.
-
2013-07-30, 07:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2004
Re: Legs or no?
Being a member of a lizardfolk subrace that died out two hundred years ago is something Malack might feel the need to hide from anyone he doesn't want to tell he's a vampire.
And Durkon also called Malack a "snake," shortly before Malack killed him.Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
-
2013-07-30, 09:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
Re: Legs or no?
It's clearly a tail for his body. Not once when his robes are lifted up past his waist, have we seen legs. Why would you continue to insist that his legs are constantly being tucked up against his chest every time? We've linked to two strips that clearly show his robe out of the way. Look at the image. His robe only goes to his waist, with his cloak dropping to the floor behind him. The previous strip shows it even more clearly. If you think he has legs, explain why they'd be hidden behind the cloak he's wearing on his back.
-
2013-07-30, 07:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2011
- Location
- USA
-
2013-07-30, 08:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- MO, USA
Re: Legs or no?
Since he can't use Yuan-Ti, and we don't know of any "snakefolk" maybe he just groups himself with Lizardfolk.
-
2013-07-30, 09:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
-
2013-07-30, 09:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Location
- Chicago
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
-
2013-07-30, 09:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
Re: Legs or no?
I believe Rich specifically identified the greenskins in #571 as troglodytes, which are distinct from lizardfolk but are also considered the "reptilian humanoid" subtype. In any event, it does seem likely that Malack would simply pretend to be a lizardfolk full-time to avoid problematic questions about his own species, especially if snakefolk or anguisfolk or whatever he is are no longer extant.
-
2013-07-30, 09:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
Re: Legs or no?
"Legs or no?"
Not anymore.I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums.
I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that. -- ChubbyRain
Current Design Project: Legacy, a game of masters and apprentices for two players and a GM.
-
2013-07-30, 10:18 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2011
- Location
- USA
Re: Legs or no?
*High five*.
If Malack is using lizardfolk as a general category, it would have to be a category that excludes kobolds.
"She prefers the kobolds to us lizardfolk."
-
2013-07-30, 10:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
- Location
- Chicago
- Gender
Re: Legs or no?
Note that in 413, however, it is strongly implied that the guys at the end are "lizardfolk".
-
2013-07-30, 11:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: Legs or no?
Maybe "lizardfolk" in OOTS means non-draconic repitilian humanoids in general (i.e. not kobolds and the like). Though I think it's just that Rich didn't settle on what exactly lizardfolk were until Book 5.