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Thread: Um...I don't get it
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2018-07-30, 06:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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Um...I don't get it
Hello all. First post here, and in it I will display my obvious ignorance...
I don't understand what happened in 1130 with Belkar. What is it about his cloak clasp that revived/possessed him? What's the significance of the green flames surrounding him? Is he indeed possessed by or channeling someone, and if so, whom? And while you're lining me out, maybe you can tell me why those same flames are around Haley's boots in 1127...
Hate to be dense, but there it is. And thanks in advance.
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2018-07-30, 06:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2004
Re: Um...I don't get it
Belkar's clasp, which he purchased at Gnometown, has a Protection from Evil effect. This renders him temporarily immune to mind control, and because he's evil it causes him pain. He is not possessed.
Haley's boots are Boots of Speed. They glow green when she uses them, such as when she Sneak Attacked Roy one more time than she would normally have been able to in one round.Orth Plays: Currently Baldur's Gate II
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2018-07-30, 09:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Um...I don't get it
To add on to what Kish said, it is likely the pain of the Clasp's effect that woke him up from unconsciousness. By the rules, that isn't a thing that can happen but The Giant doesn't let that get in the way of storytelling.
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2018-07-30, 10:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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2018-07-30, 10:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2018
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Re: Um...I don't get it
Y'all rock. Thanks!
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2018-07-30, 10:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2008
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Re: Um...I don't get it
OP, your questions have been answered, but I thought I'd provide a few links for your convenience, to the earlier strip where these details were established.
969: Belkar buys his Protection From Evil clasp; when activated, it hurts him and gives him a yellow aura.
979: Haley uses the Boots of Speed on-panel for the first time; they turn from brown to lime green when activated.
675: Haley gets the Boots of Speed dyed brown, so she can finally wear them without looking tacky.
3: First mention of the Boots of Speed and why Haley won't wear them, making them one of the longest-running gags in the comic. (They also get mentioned in 573 and shown in 608.)"Ah! your talk, your damned philosophy!"
"Talk? It's not talk. It's not reason. It's hand's touch. I touch the wholeness, I hold it. Which is moonlight, which is Takver? How shall I fear death? When I hold it, when I hold in my hands the light--"
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2018-07-31, 12:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2017
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- Singapore
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2018-07-31, 01:50 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2016
Re: Um...I don't get it
I read it that the protection from evil affect that was activated broke the domination thus allowing use of the rage ability temporarily giving Belkar positive hitpoints.
Pretty sure that rage can be used while unconscious. In which case HP will drop to 0 or below again when the rage ends unless Belkar uses a potion.
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2018-07-31, 02:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Um...I don't get it
I don't think Bekar was in negative hit points. He didn't show any signs of damage, for a start, and Roy was explicitly using non-lethal force when he was fighting Haley and Elan (he says "I am going to do my best to pull my punches" in #1128), so I don't see why he would have been using lethal force against Belkar either.
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2018-07-31, 03:05 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Um...I don't get it
Negative HP if you include non-lethal damage?
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2018-07-31, 05:55 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2016
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2018-07-31, 09:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: Um...I don't get it
Non-lethal damage doesn't subtract from HP. It builds up from 0, and if it ever surpasses your HP total, you become unconscious. There is no RAW about waking an unconscious individual with pain (because non-lethal damage is NOT well thought out, and unconscious usually means that you are between -1 and -9 HP), but it'd have to be a weird DM that doesn't allow it for non-negative HP characters, since that's how you wake people from being knocked out. It is hardly a stretch.
Now, could it be that the pain allowed Belkar to rage while unconscious, and that gave him enough extra HP to rise out of unconsciousness, and when the rage is over he'll just fall back down? yes, I could see that working. But if I were a DM, I would say that pain drops your non-lethal damage by X amount (a slap: 1d4 non-lethal damage removed. Pinch of the arm, 1d6. Etc.)
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2018-07-31, 10:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: Um...I don't get it
Easier to just say it trips the 'recover your level in NLD once per hour' rule.
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2018-07-31, 10:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: Um...I don't get it
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2018-07-31, 11:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: Um...I don't get it
Except the rules don't say "Wait an hour". Just that it happens once an hour.
Really, you'd get a new edition of D&D if you just went through the rules to put everything in natural language and spell out the unspoken assumptions.
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2018-07-31, 11:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: Um...I don't get it
OK, but it's not easier to say "despite the obvious RAI, Belkar woke up because it is o'clock and some of his non-lethal damage was recovered naturally coincidentally at the exact same time as his cat brushed the clasp" than "His cat woke him by activating the clasp because pain wakes unconscious people in RL, despite RAW being mute on the subject".
Grey WolfLast edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2018-07-31 at 11:37 AM.
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2018-07-31, 11:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: Um...I don't get it
Well, you were trying to figure out how to mechanically represent someone slapping awake a character unconscious due to NLD. I though my suggestion would be simple and workable.