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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    BarbarianGuy

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    Default 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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    Colossus in the Playground
     
    Kish's Avatar

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    Default 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.

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    MesiDoomstalker's Avatar

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    Default 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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    Ogre in the Playground
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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Kish View Post
    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.
    One other note on the clasp: It's activated by rubbing it. Thus, Mr. Scruffy was able to trigger it accidentally by pawing at Belkar.

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    BarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Y'all rock. Thanks!

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    RedKnightGirl

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    Default 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--"
    -Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

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    Orc in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Belkar's clasp is also used in #996, mentioned in #1104, and used again in #1105.
    Last edited by Elanasaurus; 2018-07-31 at 12:11 AM.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Pixie in the Playground
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    Default 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.

  9. - Top - End - #9
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Sm3gl View Post
    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.
    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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    Orc in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Negative HP if you include non-lethal damage?


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    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Takver View Post
    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.)
    I've never noticed that Haley said the exact same words about the Boots of Speed to Vaarsuvius and Celia... Nice conservation of detail

  12. - Top - End - #12
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    Grey_Wolf_c's Avatar

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Elanasaurus View Post
    Negative HP if you include non-lethal damage?
    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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    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
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    Default 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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    Grey_Wolf_c's Avatar

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Rogar Demonblud View Post
    Easier to just say it trips the 'recover your level in NLD once per hour' rule.
    It hasn't been an hour, though. It's been about 30 seconds to a minute.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
    Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est

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    Default 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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    Grey_Wolf_c's Avatar

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    Default Re: Um...I don't get it

    Quote Originally Posted by Rogar Demonblud View Post
    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.
    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".

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    Last edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2018-07-31 at 11:37 AM.
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    There is a world of imagination
    Deep in the corners of your mind
    Where reality is an intruder
    And myth and legend thrive
    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
    Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est

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    Default 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.

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