OOTS #352 - The Discussion Thread

[Solara]

"Look! Boobs!"

"Don't you like boobs? Don't you want to pay attention to the girl with boobs?"

ROFL! I am very tempted to make that a sig. I absolutely love Julia...talk about the complete opposite of Roy, and for a True Neutral she sure does remind me of Belkar on occasion. (Er...except for the fact that she's never brutally murdered anyone for fun. And Belkar wouldn't be able to effectively use the boobs joke as an attention getting device, though it's just bizarre enough to be hilarious to imagine him trying...)

The 'catatonic gay dwarf' line was pretty good too. :D

And I have to admit that Durkon's usually my least favorite of the bunch, but wow did he really get his moment to shine here! :) At first I assumed he was paralyzed with fear and muttering about scary trees that wanted to eat him or something.

When the lightning hit I'm ashamed to say it took me a second to figure out what the point was, but then I saw Durkon counting and remembered how the thunder delay worked.

In hindsight that smug little smile on V's face when the druid mentioned the four miles was even more awesome. That's some very quick thinking there, though I wonder if he thought of the fact that he was already injured and lying directly under all these heavy trees that were fixin' to be asploding into hundreds of pointy pieces...

[5tephen]

Durkon.
Da-Man.

(I am worried about collateral damage to the city, though. A thunderclap lour enough to splinter wood at 4 miles? Yeesh.)

[The Demented One]

Holy hell, that was amazing.

[evileeyore]

Durkon has rocketed right up to number 2 on my favorite main character list, just below Vaarsuvius. He just needs to get a few more lines and he might the top.

[Felistor]

Booyah! Durkon is my new hero. Who da DWARF!

[TarSheva]

Scroll in one hand and holy symbol in the other... And Durkon saves the day! Outstanding! :o

Abso-freaking-lutely loved V's expression! Perfect!

[Winged One]

I love it when nobody spots foreshadowing. :)

[oowatie]

YES!! Now THAT'S the way to illicit a sonic attack! Go Durkon!

Loved V's grinning when the lightning struck. And the "Look! Boobs!" line was classic ;D

Excellent comic, Mr. Giant.

[Fishybugs]

Finally....

Durkon gets a chance to kick some serious tree butt.

Loved it.

Thanks Giant.

[ElfLad]

So... where in OotS-land is this "Mississippi?"

Also, this was so Durkon's moment in the sun/overcast thunderstorm. Durkon's been my favorite character for ages, so this was awesome.

[Cain_Maris]

That was freaking brilliant.

Also loud.

This comic rocks.

And Mississipi (it's plural) are probably found in the bestiary, not atlas.

[Sky_Schemer]

Wow. This is quite possibly the most beautiful strip to date. It's just rich with detail. The gradual darkening of the sky. Durkon's low mumbling and still pose. The look in his eyes as the spell takes effect. The lightning and then the thunder. V's expression before it hits.

Absolutely stunning.

[Shatteredtower]

Um, while it was impressive and all... how would it avoid causing massive property damage to the city?

Also, if it's doing that kind of damage to trees, what's it doing to low-level types, such as the average member of the local constabulary?

I don't mind taking myself out of the rulebooks for the purpose of the comic strip, nor out of the realm of realistic physics for that purpose, but when a sonic burst of energy can shred wood, not even humour explains why nothing and no one else is seriously hurt.

Eh, I guess I'll just chalk it up to DM ex machina: If the DM thinks it would be fun to allow it and wants to ignore the full consequences that come from allowing it, just let it go.

[Flame_Drake]

HOLY CRAP!!

Giant, you just made my day.

Drake

[ElfLad]

Just noticed, Leeky's staff got sundered.

And Giant, thanks a lot for the timing on this one. I'd just made a splash panel in my latest comic that I was reasonably proud of, and you had to go and draw at least two awesome splash panels in this strip. Damn your superior skills!

[humanpylon]

Ok so the rules part of me admits yeah Weather Control probably can't do that. However the part of me that loves a good story says FREAKIN SWEET!!!!! And that part's a lot louder right now ;D

I loved the smile on V's face especially. And I loved Durkon's eyes going white. I can almost here a "click" when it happens.

Also I agree with whoever says that Julia is like the typical annoying high school girl that we all hated...although mostly because she never showed us (or me anyways) any attention. Now that I'm older of course I see that I'm better off without, but at teen years it's a different story.

[Destro_Yersul]

Wow. Just wow. That was awesome on so many levels. I particularily liked that the sky kept getting darker and Julia didn't even notice.

[fusama]

Totally awesome comic!

I do wonder what the concentration check must have been to avoid being distracted by Julia...

[firespitter]

I love OOTS. Great comics, Giant. I look forward to each strip the way I used to look forward to Bill Waterson comic strips. Stiring and funny. And as always, clever enough to make me ROOT FOR THE OOT!

[Ironers]

Durkon is the best, hands down.

And Julia looks to be cut from the same cloth as her father. Roy is coming across now as the black sheep in a family full of self-absorbed ingrates.

[Felinoid]

Can't believe I'm the first to trot this out...
Roy's sister has boobies! :D

Reminds me a bit of another webcomic strip where the end of the conversation went something like this:
Girlfriend: You're doing all the chores this week for scaring me like that.
Boyfriend: What?! You can't do that!
Girlfriend: Boobs.
Boyfriend: Okay, you can do that!

As for the time mistake, I contend that the bolt struck less than a mile out and the gnome just doesn't have a good sense of distance / wasn't looking when it happened / whatever.

And finally, a small quibble. Somehow, this just doesn't seem like it should be taking up two pages, but I can't really find anywhere to snip it. There are the action panels, Julia's ranting extends the character, the panels where Julia just stands there show the waiting for a response (instead of just demanding an answer non-stop without leaving a space for an answer as some women are prone to do), and even the over-sized panels can't be shrunk because they're meant to impress upon you the size of the lightning and the size of the sound. The only thing I can really point at is the very first panel being a bit extraneous, but taking out one panel messes up the scheme, and as it is, it kind of fits.

[kits.dm]

Giant, brilliant comic. [1]

Love your work.



[1] I have this theory that Durkon doesn't actually cast Weather control, but Miracle instead. And y'know Miracle is one of those wonderful plot fixing spells. ;)

[wellington]

Either the DM is giving Durkon major license, or else Durkon and his player are doing some brilliant rules-lawyering. Time for a bit of dorkery.

According to the inverse-square law, ANY undirected blast of sound would have negligible effects on the trees from such a great distance; it would be spread out over a wide area.

However, what does the phrase "Control Weather" mean? You can manipulate a lightning bolt, which is a discharge caused by the weather, not an atmospheric condition in itself. So shouldn't you be able to manipulate the thunder, too?

Therefore, a caster with either great skill or divine aid could direct it to an area of his or her choice. Why should an electric discharge be favored over the sound?

Ye gods. I'm channeling Vaarsuvius.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Umm... isn't Weather Control like a 7th level spell? As in you need to be like 13th to be able to cast it? Granted, he had a scroll, but IIRC, casting off of higher-than-you-can-cast scrolls can lead to some extremely unplesant effects if you screw it up.

Then again, it was great joke, so the fudge on the rules is more than negated by the funny-factor.

EDIT: I wonder if Roy's Sister has the Great Cleave feat as well? That would account for her great cleavage...

[battleburn]

Wow...


That was totally wicked!!!11


They aren't going to be to happy. I doubt the city buildings have such a good protection from sonic themselves.

Ow, Leeky's staff broke :o wow again

[EmeraldRose]

oh......wow...........wow............wow.......... ..oh man!


did I say wow?




wow.....



(also, per my husband...more wow)

[Elcaz]

Loved V's smile too. S/He just knew what was coming one second before it happened. Though Julia did the funny bit in this one and the last panel had no punchline it can't all be just jokes. At some point there has to be action and plot advancement. Great job giant.

[Krytha]

damn.. I had something to say but then I was blown away by huge thunder bolts and I lost it. Durkon rocks? This is a lot less exciting than what I was going to write. Oh yeah.

WHAT WOULD THOR DO??!!!


Holy moley.

Anyway, V looked particularily pleased in the second to last panel and of course, Durkon is not going to let anyone forget how real a threat trees are.

[Fillbert]

Wow.... where do I even begin..... wow.......

Take that you stupid trees.....

[Mr._Blinky]

That was awesome! But really, at that distance would the thunder actually be enough to split tree trunks? I mean, I'm no expert on physics, but that seems highly unlikely to me.