OOTS #352 - The Discussion Thread

[Mr_Samedi]

Durkon proceeds to add another piece of evidence as to why he is, in my opinion, the most powerful member of the Order of the Stick.

[Yogi]

I think it's probably a modified control weather which deals sonic damage. Of course, this is a heck of a lot of sonic damage with a .8 mile radius (despite what Leeky said, 4 seconds = .8 miles.) Probably a Miracle.

And thus Julia finds the only man (besides her brother) who isn't attracted to her. Ah, the dramatic possibilities.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

It has been shown in past comics that the verbal component for any spell is the name of the spell. In the one panel we can read, Durkon says -- or finishes saying -- "Control Weather" seven times. There are seven other panels in which Durkon is doing nothing other than, presumably, saying "Control Weather". Which means that Durkon has likely cast Control Weather at least 49 times. I'd say that's more than enough to do what he did. The real question is where he got enough slots to cast Control Weather 49 times.

No, control weather has a casting time of 10 minutes. Since spells with a duration of instantaneous (or one round, as we've seen from Pompey) only need the name to be said once, it makes perfect sense for Durkon to have been chanting for the last 7 comics.

V is smiling because he made his Spellcraft check. However, I'm surprised he doesn't cover his sensitive elvish ears...

Of course, nothing that that druid could do would be capable of granting the treants total immunity. Durkon would probably be able to handle them all with a single casting of call lightning.
Oh, right, Durkon uses lightning bolts like V.

[xyzchyx]

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.

One word... Magic.

[denelian]

[glow=red,2,300]BOOM![/glow]


hehehehe ;D

EDIT - Durkon was casting from a scroll

[TinSoldier]

V is smiling because he made his Spellcraft check. However, I'm surprised he doesn't cover his sensitive elvish ears...

He does cover his ears in the last panel. Just look at V.

[reorith]

these recent comics remind me of the power codzilla... *works on cleric build*

[Hyrael]

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.

Roy's still pretty self-absorbed, just less so than the rest of his family. But he carrys it off well, and it doesnt stop him from being likable or a ok person.

[Lykan]

This... Is my favourite... OotS... Ever...

Control Weather FTW, beyotch!

[Hyrael]

It has been shown in past comics that the verbal component for any spell is the name of the spell. In the one panel we can read, Durkon says -- or finishes saying -- "Control Weather" seven times. There are seven other panels in which Durkon is doing nothing other than, presumably, saying "Control Weather". Which means that Durkon has likely cast Control Weather at least 49 times. I'd say that's more than enough to do what he did. The real question is where he got enough slots to cast Control Weather 49 times.

Like someone else said, i think he made a special deal with the DM, and blew every spell slot he has for the day, to cast the spell.

[EscherEnigma]

Hey. The gay dwarf line is funny. On a side note, I actually frustrated a DM once because he had an NPC try to get my character (who WAS in fact gay) distracted by just such a thing.

Oh, and as for my take on what the heck just happened: another vote for the 'too cool NOT to have worked'

[gooddragon1]

@ the guy with the inverse square law citation: true, but you have to realize that most lightning strikes aren't strong enough to cause a tidal wave or span a city, this one should by rites have deafened everyone in the city who was outdoors and caused some of the people in the blimps to go into shock.

Kinda reminds me of the designator from incoming: final conflict, does no damage on impact... 3... 2... 1... Strange humming noise... massive disintegration. this also came to mind

[tiroskassie]

Oh SNAP!

The dwarf just got bad ass on us! :o

[Fri]

I might say HOLY CRAP!

that was the greatest turnaround ever after the turnaround in the battle of pelennor field with that legendary rooster.

[Devils_Advocate]

Sorry for posting again in the same thread, but I just noticed something: The lighting shaters Leeky's staff. This might have dispelled the protection from fire and lightning, thus making the trees vulnerable.

Nah, that wouldn't have any effect on spells already cast from the staff. Besides, it's THUNDER, not lightning! The lightning is way off in the distance!

Still, if is a magic staff, losing it should be a signinficant hindrance to Leeky.

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.

Casting off of scrolls of a caster level slightly higher than your own isn't really all that dangerous. Durkon has at least a 90% (probably 95%) chance of making the caster level check; and even if he failed it, he'd still have at least a 90% chance of avoiding a mishap. So that's at worst a 1% chance of a mishap. And even if there were one, it wouldn't be any more powerful an effect than a spell of that level, so a group of characters one of whom will be able to cast such a spell himself in a few levels have a pretty good chance of being able to weather (heh) such an effect.

Now, in this particular case, one of the potential mishaps might be a random change in the weather. But given the unlikelihood of a mishap happening at all, and then the further unlikelihood of the mishap being a random weather change, and then the further unlikelihood of the random change being seriously harmful... Well, multiply it all out, and it's (guesstimating here) something like a 1 in 10,000 chance of leveling the city with a tornado versus a 100% chance of the city being invaded by an army of trees.

I don't think we have to guess at which one Durkon would regard as the greater risk. ;)

Here's my explanation for how the sound did so much damage in a localized area:

Constructive interference.

The sound waves from the multiple bolts, reflecting off of buildings and other objects, all added up to one big freakin' BOOM right at that spot. As Thor is a God, he can set up the situation so that he gets as big a BOOM as he feels like.

Ah, yes, I remember Thor working through such "coincidences" in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul as well. That WOULD be just like him. ;)

Roy's still pretty self-absorbed, just less so than the rest of his family. But he carrys it off well, and it doesnt stop him from being likable or a ok person.

Hmm. I think you might be on to something there. As Haley has pointed out, Roy generally uses the party to fulfill his personal quests... including their current mission to rescue Julia, come to think of it. After all, he's the leader of the team, and the one who hired them all to help him in the first place. And yet, unlike Eugene and Julia, he manages not to be a huge jerk.

... Y'know, Roy is actually a pretty good leader, now that I think about it.

[Illsbane]

Best Durkon moment EVER! XD Whoo, now that was mixing great power and great scientific knowledge. Go, go, Durkon!

[CockroachTeaParty]

I personally liked the part where Durkon's eyes turned white when he finally opened them. Reminded me of X-men. Sweetness.

[Dragon_Rider]

I never noticed that, thanks CTP! Its does make it looke like Storm from X-men.

[Calamity]

Woah! :o

Mental note:
Don't ever mess with Durkon.... ever...

good comic ;D

[Martok]

YEAH!!! Go Durkon!!

Also I loved the little smile on V's face. I think he knew what was about to happen.... ;)

[Nerd-o-rama]

I always wondered what a spell with a ten minute casting time would look like in OotS's Verbal Component=Name format.

This combined with boobs, an X-Men sight reference, and physics (as well as extra length) makes this an excellent comic.

[Adeptus]

Go Durkon!!

[Natsilani]

I think I might have woken up our neighbours laughing! ;D

Edit: I love the fact that V seems to realize what is about to happen, judging by the smile on his/her face.

[mmm_grape_juice]

So someone finally found a way to use sonic damage. Genious, absolutely genious. Especially the white eyes thing, like Storm from X-Men.

[verloren]

Durkon saves the day again.

Check out the grin of V's face, he knew what was comming.

[Pheldagriff]

Control weather doesn't do THAT much damage :)

EDIT: It also can't do sonic damage. Weather cannot produce sonic effects. I'm kind of wondering how that worked.

omg, a magical lighting doesn't have a thunder. Magical water isn't wet...

omg, the giant cares about his story contradicting the rules

[Jachra]

ps this is not to discount what a stupid effect "sonic damage" is. . . friggin WOTCers played too much Street Fighter 2, if you aks me.

Welllll, one could take the definition of sound to a higher conclusion and say it's the level of disruption on par with shock waves that rend living things to pieces. What that'd do to the town and the people in it...

Remember, kids, it isn't 1 mile per second. Lightning is always a helluva lot closer. As I recall, it's only 1/5 of a mile per second.

[TheDRaconicLord]

2 words to describe this comic:

HOLY CRAP!!!


I need no more to discuss the TOTAL PWNAGE this comic was. I rest my case.

[Hototo]

Hilarious. But I'm thinkin that Roy's sis is just a little too hung up on her boobs.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Hilarious. But I'm thinkin that Roy's sis is just a little too hung up on her boobs.

In case you hadn't noticed, those things can get their possessor pretty much anything she wants. Especially on the internet...but I digress. Julia's simply used to using her appearance to get what she wants, like many attractive amoral people.