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Thread: What is Blackwing?
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2014-07-22, 01:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2013
What is Blackwing?
I'll confess that Blackwing is not very high on my list of favorite characters. I'd like to understand him better, but I'm not familiar with the lore behind familiars. What is he, exactly? What links him to Vaarsuvius, and what drives his personality? Why does he seem to be completely and selflessly devoted to the team's quest? He often comes across as a cheerleader in his interactions.
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2014-07-22, 01:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
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Re: What is Blackwing?
A familiar is an animal or other small creature magically bound to a wizard. There is a telepathic link, but it also gifts animals with greater intelligence. The wizard in turn gains some abilities from the familiar.
Blackwing is V's raven familiar, which means that he can communicate telepathically with him over short distances, and gives him Alertness (apparently) when in close proximity.
Perhaps most importantly, the bond between them means that one's death or injury is detrimental to the other. If blackwing dies V loses all the benefits he brought plus some. If V dies, I believe blackwing is killed by the shock.Last edited by Keltest; 2014-07-22 at 01:26 PM.
“Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit, I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”
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2014-07-22, 01:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
Re: What is Blackwing?
SRD goes into some detail on familiars:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/so....htm#familiars
The most relevant bits:
A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a sorcerer or wizard.
The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.
Familiars start at INT 6 and scale up from there. Raven familiars can speak one language.
At V's current level, Blackwing is smarter than the average human.Marut-2 Avatar by Serpentine
New Marut Avatar by Linkele
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2014-07-22, 01:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: What is Blackwing?
To wit, Elan and Belkar. Blackwing may also be smarter than Mr. Scruffy as well.
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2014-07-22, 03:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: What is Blackwing?
I think most of what you mention as part of his personality don't have much to do with his being a familiar (aside from the heightened intelligence) but are just part of who he is. For whatever reason, he is very much a team player and tries to support the Order.
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2014-07-22, 05:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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2014-07-22, 05:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
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- empty space
Re: What is Blackwing?
Also note that the fact that he disappears and reappears is a joke about how real players treat their familiar (it only exists when it's relevant, heh), and not an actual comes-from-another-plane mechanic like summon monster x or the paladin mounts. He's just a talking bird.
I like semicolons; they make me feel smart.
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2014-07-22, 06:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2013
Re: What is Blackwing?
So his personality, knowledge, and insight start at an ordinary animal level and scale themselves up as V improves? In a sense, V is his parent, responsible for everything Blackwing has grown into to the same extent a parent influences their children?
Does the magic creating a familiar bestow outside knowledge onto it? Or is the familiar relatively ignorant until it's had a chance to learn through experience? With V, that wouldn't make much difference, since they've presumably been together for many years before the events of the comic. Blackwing would have picked up a lot of knowledge simply from hanging around V for so long.
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2014-07-22, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2011
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- USA
Re: What is Blackwing?
Not exactly. The familiar of a 1st level wizard is probably smarter than Thog, but dumber than Elan. (We don't know Thog and Elan's intelligence exactly, but that would be my estimate.) I don't know about the rest. I think the knowledge thing might depend on the DM (or the author, in this case).
Last edited by ORione; 2014-07-22 at 08:11 PM.
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2014-07-22, 09:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2009
Re: What is Blackwing?
He is probably evil and has ulterior motives:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...9#post15667889
Note the omission of Blackwing...
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2014-07-22, 10:03 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
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- Skyron, Andromeda
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2014-07-22, 10:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2011
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- Wisconsin, USA
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Re: What is Blackwing?
Familiars have been part of the lore of witches, warlocks, and wizards for centuries. Black cats, toads, ravens, homunculi, imps, blah blah. I'm fairly sure there are even treatises written on the subject by various witchfinders and the like. Many of the animals were probably actually just pets taken as "proof" of sorcery by various power-mad loons.
The D&D familiar is an attempt to port this concept over to a game format, minus the demonic elements frequently present in the original concepts.
So, if you're looking for the reasons behind familiars existing, you're going to need to look far beyond D&D into the distant mists of real-world myth.
Here's an introduction if you're curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spiritLast edited by Bulldog Psion; 2014-07-22 at 10:29 PM.
Spoiler
So the song runs on, with shift and change,
Through the years that have no name,
And the late notes soar to a higher range,
But the theme is still the same.
Man's battle-cry and the guns' reply
Blend in with the old, old rhyme
That was traced in the score of the strata marks
While millenniums winked like campfire sparks
Down the winds of unguessed time. -- 4th Stanza, The Bad Lands, Badger Clark
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2014-07-23, 10:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2014
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Re: What is Blackwing?
It seems you may have missed out on quite a bit of the character developement between V and Blackwing. Blackwing actually began as a nameless bird, Haley gave him the name (Vaarsuvius' comment was along the lines of "Do you name all of your class features?"). Blackwing actually disappeared back into "familiarspace" rather than act as a diversion in one instance, leaving V hanging. So, the relationship has not always been friendly.
It was only after a lot of turmoil- basically, the events of "Don't Split the Party" (strips #485-672)- that Blackwing and V bonded and the relationship became as we see it now. Blackwing was also quite the deadpan snarker for a while after that as well, not so much a cheerleader.
I believe that B is devoted to V's goals, rather than the party's. But, since Vaarsuvius is dedicated to the party's goal, the distinction is currently meaningless. That could change someday.
Under the D&D 3.5 rules, I'm not sure whether the familiar is magically created or just mystically called and bonded to a master. If it's the latter, then Blackwing began life as a perfectly ordinary raven, until V summoned him to the heroic life. Now there's a thought.
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2014-07-23, 11:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
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2014-07-24, 02:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
Re: What is Blackwing?
Not specifically, but yes, in a way it does.
a) It gets smarter. Higher Int means better results on Knowledge skills, means more knowledge.
b) Familiars use either their own ranks in a skill (for example Fly in Blackwings case), or they use their Master's skillranks if it's higher. They use their own Ability modifier etc still. However this means Blackwing can make Knowledge checks in every Knowledge skill that V has points in, and have a fairly good chance of succeeding.
So, while there's no "infusion with knowledge" explicitly happening, the endresult is that, yes Familiars know a lot more than the base creature.
Considering V got lots of points in Knowledge (arcana) for example, it's quite possible that Blackwing understands the nature of the Gates far better than anyone in the party save for V himself. (Not completely though, because I believe V hasn't put a single rank into Knowledge (religion))
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2014-07-24, 09:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2014
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Re: What is Blackwing?
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2014-07-24, 11:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
Re: What is Blackwing?
What still bugs me a bit is how since Sandsedge nobody in the party seems to understand that Blackwing is a familiar, where before this was not a problem. I still consider that a major plot hint of some sort. Assuming it's not just a retcon (for the sake of a throwaway joke? Seems odd) something happened between Wooden Forest and Sandsedge that erased details about Blackwing from their heads.
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2014-07-25, 12:21 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2005
Re: What is Blackwing?
Haley's Bluff check just beat your Sense Motive check is all. Belkar also was likely pretending not to remember in order to be a jerk; he's feigned ignorance in order to mess with Roy more than once, after all! Durkon healed Blackwing but seems to have forgotten about this; his Int probably isn't that high though, so it seems likely enough that he just forgot it. Elan acts stupid because he is stupid, plus I don't recall him ever really being introduced to V's familiar before anyway. Blackwing was mentioned to Roy, but Roy doesn't seem to have taken much notice of him.
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2014-07-25, 12:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
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- Auckland, NZ
Re: What is Blackwing?
I don't know why people keep insisting "It can't possibly be just a throwaway joke! It must be a plot point somehow!" about the Order's forgetfulness regarding Blackwing, even months after The Giant himself explained that, yes, it is, in fact, just a throwaway joke.
Spoiler: Out-of-context quotes
Azurite Name Inspirations
Rich is a better writer than that!
Free speech?
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2014-07-25, 12:39 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
Re: What is Blackwing?
Actually, Rich has indicated that Durkon was in on the joke and Belkar was the one who had forgotten.
(And yeah, he also explicitly confirms that there was no big secret behind the party "forgetting" Blackwing).
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2014-07-25, 05:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-07-25, 07:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
Re: What is Blackwing?
Well I can't speak for anyone else who assumed this, but when this sort of thing occurs in fiction I tend to first hypothesize "the author is being clever and devious here" rather than "the author made an awkward retcon here." Heck, the Giant also states it's a "ridiculous contrivance" in that post linked above.
Furthermore, consider that there's precedent in the comic for throwaway jokes being actual foreshadowing. Recall it was a throwaway joke when the Thing in the Shadows claimed to be able to make things happen by wishing really hard... until he showed he was able to actually do it!
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2014-07-25, 12:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: What is Blackwing?
Apart from what you have already mentioned, Blackwing is also secretly an Animagus stuck in raven form when she accidentally remained transformed for more than an hour, and the long lost fater of the MitD.
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2014-07-25, 12:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: What is Blackwing?
Blackwing was able to identify Malack's mummy as a mummy. Knowledge (religion) is the skill used to identify undead creatures. Familiars use the base skill ranks of a normal animal of their kind, or their masters' ranks, whichever is higher. Base ravens do not have ranks in Knowledge (religion). Knowledge (religion) is a trained-only skill. Thus, for Blackwing to make a Knowledge (religion) check, V must have ranks in that skill. Not enough to reliably make all checks, but some.
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2014-07-25, 01:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
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Re: What is Blackwing?
It would be in-character for Vaarsuvius to have 1 rank in many different Knowledge disciplines.
I like semicolons; they make me feel smart.
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2014-07-25, 03:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
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2014-07-26, 06:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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2014-07-26, 06:29 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: What is Blackwing?
Nonono, Mr. Scruffy is the avatar of Cat, former member of the
Chinese ZodiacSouthern Pantheon. Or at least that's one of the theories bouncing around the forums.
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2014-07-26, 06:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: What is Blackwing?
Blackwing isn't just magically bound, he's soul-bound to V. If V knew of this, it implies that he didn't care enough about the soul of his familiar while making a deal which would have damned it more or less temporarily to hell. I don't know what else it can imply, but, if I had to look for an explanation, I'd say there's a contract between V and BW, in which V gave BW more power than a common bird could have and BW accepted to use it in V's service. For the exchange to be made, the souls had to be bound. But if V had known this, would BW also have known?
Anyway, you can understand that BW is a magical raven by his yellow beak. That's where his magic lies hidden! It's a shared trait with Mr Poe, Magica de Spell's brother and familiar. Normal ravens have a black beak.Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2014-07-27, 04:19 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
Re: What is Blackwing?
Ah nice catch, yes that would indicate he has at least a few ranks in there. I mean one could argue it's a DC 10 or less to identify mummies, which he could do untrained, but fairly sure it would be higher. Mummies are not that common.
I was going by his "this isn't real magic" comment to assume he doesn't give a damn about religion knowledge as it's probably "not real knowledge". But maybe that changed after the encounter with Xykon or he always had ranks in most knowledges, just usually not enough to be useful for higher level things.