OOTS #1084 - The Discussion Thread

[Svata]

I thought Greg took the Exarch and left the others at the Godsmoot? Where did the 3rd one come from?

There's 4 of them. See the second panel here.

[dtilque]

I thought Greg took the Exarch and left the others at the Godsmoot? Where did the 3rd one come from?

He took three others, since those were the only ones who managed to make it to him past Roy and the priests.

ETA: ninja'd, dammit.

[White Magic]

Hel says Undurkon "pulls his weight" of 160-180 lbs. How much should Thrym pull to do the same?

[xroads]

Awesome! So the plot thickens. The heroes are being spied on and the villains are ahead of the game.

Also, for now on, whenever my phone is experiencing difficulties, I'm going to assume it's because of an epic battle involving Thor's worshipers. That is just some cool imagery.

[hamishspence]

Hel says Undurkon "pulls his weight" of 160-180 lbs. How much should Thrym pull to do the same?

Nearly 20 times as much - 2800 lb is standard for frost giants:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giant.htm#frostGiant

[Skull the Troll]

I would expect the resignation was a formality only. And if Hel wanted to re-appoint that vampire to the position, I see no reason she couldn't.

I hate every second this villain is on-panel and the sooner he gets his comeuppance, the happier I will be.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Ok yeah I'm going there.

If Durkon is the actual high priest then Hel's vote has been invalidated at the godsmoot. All the High Priests must remain at the moot. That's why he resigned in the first place. She's a evil being so shenanigans are to be expected but it would be interesting if anyone else found out. That said I don't think that's much of a resolution to this arc so I doubt that's the direction the Giant is going.

[White Magic]

Nearly 20 times as much - 2800 lb is standard for frost giants:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giant.htm#frostGiant

Thrym isn't a frost giant, he's a "Gargantuan Outsider Deity" weighing in at 32000 to 250000 lbs per "Deities and Demigods" Is there anything more precise for Thrym's weight?

[KorvinStarmast]

She's a evil being so shenanigans are to be expected ..

We have an accord.

[runeghost]

Of course, these are just names. The vampire at the Godsmoot may hold the title of High Priest as far as the other attendees are concerned, but to Hel, Durkula is still her High Priest and so she calls him that.

I have not perused the books for many years, but my recollection of early D&D was that 'High Priest' was the title applied to any sufficiently high-level cleric, much like 18th level Magic-Users were Archmages. So Hel would have a High Priest of her religion which would be a designated political (theocratic?) office, and any high-leveled clerics in her service would also have the rank of High Priest that reflects their abilities.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Well, I'm still going to call him the High Priest of Hel. It can't possibly be more confusing than Greg.

I love how Thrym is still trying to get onto Hel's good side.

Those poor dwarves. I wonder what Durkon is thinking about right now.

[White Magic]

'High Priest' was the title applied to any sufficiently high-level cleric, much like 18th level Magic-Users were Archmages. So Hel would have a High Priest of her religion which would be a designated political (theocratic?) office, and any high-leveled clerics in her service would also have the rank of High Priest that reflects their abilities.

Nice. in D&D Edition 1 (I admit to playing that decades ago), "High Priest" is any cleric above level 8. Undurkon could still legitimately be called HPoH.

[Kish]

I have not perused the books for many years, but my recollection of early D&D was that 'High Priest' was the title applied to any sufficiently high-level cleric, much like 18th level Magic-Users were Archmages. So Hel would have a High Priest of her religion which would be a designated political (theocratic?) office, and any high-leveled clerics in her service would also have the rank of High Priest that reflects their abilities.

Immaterial. In that edition Durkon, as a subhuman, couldn't possibly be the level he is now and it'd be a crazy sadistic DM who let a monster also be a high-level cleric. (Much less someone who was two monsters at once--I mean, lizardmen, and no they weren't called lizardfolk, with class levels, much less vampire lizardfolkmen? Madness! MADNESS!)

[anonynos]

Nice. in D&D Edition 1 (I admit to playing that decades ago), "High Priest" is any cleric above level 8. Undurkon could still legitimately be called HPoH.

So he's more /a/ High Priest of Hel, not /the/ High Priest of Hel. On on hand this seems the kind of technical thing that is more in Loki's camp than Hel's, but in this case maybe she's taking after her dad...

[JumboWheat01]

"Well at least SOMEBODY is pulling their weight around here."
"Not fair! He's very tiny, his weight is a lot less than mine!"

I may have giggled at that exchange a little more than I probably should have.

Also, dwarven wizard! YAY! I love me some dwarven wizards.

[Samzat]

Im predicting a 90% chance that the OOTS will get there just before the vote is cast to stop Durkula

[Kish]

Also, dwarven wizard! YAY! I love me some dwarven wizards.

I can relate to that enough to regret to say that he's probably a cleric of Thor and that's Thor's Lightning.

[Anonymouswizard]

So he's more /a/ High Priest of Hel, not /the/ High Priest of Hel. On on hand this seems the kind of technical thing that is more in Loki's camp than Hel's, but in this case maybe she's taking after her dad...

I personally read it as Greg not actually having a name, and so Hel just uses his (ex) title. Of course, it's also possible that he holds the rank of high priest due to their level.

Or potentially he's high priest of this congregation dedicated to Hel, but not The High Priest of Hel, which is a separate rank. Same technicalities, but one I see most deities using for their hierarchies.

Im predicting a 90% chance that the OOTS will get there just before the vote is cast to stop Durkula

Please, Elan wouldn't let them arrive any earlier.

[Avianmosquito]

It seems like Durkula's new outfit would be less suitable for combat than the previous armour?

Armor is completely useless at his level anyway. Roy's got to be at LEAST level 15, so with all his stuff he's going to have about a +30 attack. How high of quality is Durkon's armor, anyway? He hasn't changed it since the comic started, so +1? He also almost certainly doesn't have a dex bonus, and his shield is also unlikely to be anything special. So his AC in total is what, at BEST 21 or 22, Roy's attacks have a 95%, 95% and 90% chance to hit. The rest of the party's a little worse in attack but not enough for that armor to do anything anyway, especially since Vaarsuvius is the main damage dealer and heshe ignores AC entirely. Armor isn't worth using at his level. At all.

[Keltest]

Armor is completely useless at his level anyway. Roy's got to be at LEAST level 15, so with all his stuff he's going to have about a +30 attack. How high of quality is Durkon's armor, anyway? He hasn't changed it since the comic started, so +1? He also almost certainly doesn't have a dex bonus, and his shield is also unlikely to be anything special. So his AC in total is what, at BEST 21 or 22, Roy's attacks have a 95%, 95% and 90% chance to hit. The rest of the party's a little worse in attack but not enough for that armor to do anything anyway, especially since Vaarsuvius is the main damage dealer and heshe ignores AC entirely. Armor isn't worth using at his level. At all.

I seem to recall all of Durkon's equipment being ancestral, so it could be anything from +1 to +5. I also seem to recall Roy's equally ancestral sword being a +3 before it was broken and reforged, but I don't remember for sure.

[Quebbster]

We've seen the high priest of the twelve gods before, and then during the Godsmoot we saw other, presumably high, priests of the twelve gods. It's not that strange that the church of Hel might have similar title structures.
The real problem is that the vampire has no real name, so even Hel is forced to refer to him by title.

[ManuelSacha]

Wait.
Did Durkon* mean "contingency" (plan) or "contingency" (spell)?
Or both?

[Keltest]

Wait.
Did Durkon* mean "contingency" (plan) or "contingency" (spell)?
Or both?

the plan, probably. I hope that OOTS never gets silly about the contingency spell.

[woweedd]

We've seen the high priest of the twelve gods before, and then during the Godsmoot we saw other, presumably high, priests of the twelve gods. It's not that strange that the church of Hel might have similar title structures.
The real problem is that the vampire has no real name, so even Hel is forced to refer to him by title.

OK, firstly, The High Priest of the Twelve Gods isn't in that comic. He's in this one.

Secondly, He was the High Priest of the pantheon as a whole, whereas the guys we saw at the Southern Godsmoot were presumably the High Priests of each individual God. Notice how they're laid out in a wheel, like the Twelve Gods are when they strike down Miko? That, presumably ,shows which God each represents. It makes sense for the Southe to have this system since, unlike the North, it appears that Most Southerners don't so much worship any particular God. Rather, they worship the Pantheon as a whole. Notably, even characters of vastly different Alignments can seemingly worship and even derive power from the Pantheon without issue. The High Priest is presumably Good, but Tsukiko also gets her powers from the Twelve Gods and she's Evil. It's an odd system, to be sure.

[Quebbster]

Note to self: Never post links from my phone. I have no idea why that link got pasted in after I found the correct strip and copied the adress. No, I don't think Elan is the twelve's high priest.

[JumboWheat01]

Note to self: Never post links from my phone. I have no idea why that link got pasted in after I found the correct strip and copied the adress. No, I don't think Elan is the twelve's high priest.

But he is the High Priest of Banjo!

[Shining Wrath]

But he is the High Priest of Banjo!

And therefore can break the tie at the Godsmoot!

Smacks self.

[Hardcore]

Greg. I don't get it. Why is that funny?

[are]

Interesting how it's only Greg who seems fixated on killing Roy. Hel doesn't actually seem to care if the Order live or die, but Greg is the one who uses the words "kill Greenhilt" instead of "secure the meeting" or other phrasing.

5 bucks says this fixation will be the cause of his downfall. For all his talk at the Godsmoot of being Hel's chosen servant and sublimating his desires for the plan, he's really got a chip on his shoulder about making sure Roy knows he's more powerful.

Though he hasn't actually fought the whole Order at full power, and the only thing stopping Roy from continuing to wipe the floor with him post-green-fire was the antilife shell.

[woweedd]

Interesting how it's only Greg who seems fixated on killing Roy. Hel doesn't actually seem to care if the Order live or die, but Greg is the one who uses the words "kill Greenhilt" instead of "secure the meeting" or other phrasing.

5 bucks says this fixation will be the cause of his downfall. For all his talk at the Godsmoot of being Hel's chosen servant and sublimating his desires for the plan, he's really got a chip on his shoulder about making sure Roy knows he's more powerful.

Though he hasn't actually fought the whole Order at full power, and the only thing stopping Roy from continuing to wipe the floor with him post-green-fire was the antilife shell.

And, now, the anti-life shell will do somewhere between "diddly" and "squat."

[Avianmosquito]

And, now, the anti-life shell will do somewhere between "diddly" and "squat."

I wouldn't go that far. It'll stop Roy and Belkar, and Elan if he failed to learn offensive spells. It just won't stop Haley (who won't do much without her sneak attack) and Vaarsuvies (who will batter him good).