OOTS #1163 - The Discussion Thread

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Theory: This guy's actually not a Dwarf at all. Through a complex series of events, he's actually a very small Frost Giant.

Like a wise man once said:

I would say that's the dumbest theory Grey_Wolf's heard, but, let's be honest: It's Grey_Wolf. He's probably heard dumber theories today. Point is, neat idea, but it's a real stretch.

Grey Wolf

[schmunzel]

Okay, now I'm really curious to find out who that is... And I don't really buy that story. A guy that mysterious won't be just a relative of a relative twice removed...

<snip..>

family...


sch

[woweedd]

Like a wise man once said:


Grey Wolf

And that man...WAS ME.

[hamishspence]

Theory: This guy's actually not a Dwarf at all. Through a complex series of events, he's actually a Giant. A VERY SMALL Giant.

Planar Handbook does have "Frost Dwarves" at least. Maybe he's one of those?

Spoiler: Frost Dwarf

Show

Glowing eyes - check. Massive horns on helmet - check.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

And that man...WAS ME.

I am quite aware. That was the point of the joke, in fact. I'd not have used that quote otherwise.

Frog: well dissected.

Grey Wolf

[woweedd]

Planar Handbook does have "Frost Dwarves" at least. Maybe he's one of those?

Spoiler: Frost Dwarf

Show

Glowing eyes - check. Massive horns on helmet - check.

Theory: He's a Half-Halfling, Half-Giant. It evens out as identical to a Dwarf

I am quite aware. That was the point of the joke, in fact. I'd not have used that quote otherwise.

Frog: well dissected.

Grey Wolf

Dead horse: BEATEN TO A PULP.

[bc56]

How do we know that this guy isn't Thad in disguise?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

How do we know that this guy isn't Thad in disguise?

Durkon's family doesn't lie to family, and he didn't introduce himself as Thad.

Grey Wolf

[Larre Gannd]

It's a reference to this scene from Spaceballs, parodying The Empire Strikes Back:

Dark Helmet: Before you die, there is something you should know about us, Lone Starr.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: [confused] What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become. Prepare to die.

I am beginning to suspect hive mind

[hamishspence]

Frost giants speak blue-on-blue, rather than white-on-blue

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1075.html

so this guy's blue bubble may not be because of just an affinity with Cold.

[littlebum2002]

Theory: This guy's actually not a Dwarf at all. Through a complex series of events, he's actually a Giant. A VERY SMALL Giant.

That's unlikely, considering the MitD is a very small giant.

[woweedd]

That's unlikely, considering the MitD is a very small giant.

And MITD is an Earth-shaking badass, so...

[hamishspence]

The speech bubble matches Celia's better than any other so far - so I think this guy is most likely to have something to do with the Plane of Air.

[Tundar]

It's a reference to this scene from Spaceballs, parodying The Empire Strikes Back:

Dark Helmet: Before you die, there is something you should know about us, Lone Starr.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: [confused] What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become. Prepare to die.

Bugger me, I had all forgotten about that specific dialogue. Bloody awesome movie, too!
And thank you.

[woweedd]

The speech bubble matches Celia's better than any other so far - so I think this guy is most likely to have something to do with the Plane of Air.

Planetouched Psion?

[zimmerwald1915]

Was that a soulknife???

I don't think so. The last time we saw one, she had an ordinary humanoid speech bubble.

[HandofShadows]

That was great. Hi, By!

[theinsulabot]

I can’t believe I am the first one to speculate that’s durkon’s father. Yes I know he is dead, didn’t stop soon.

[woweedd]

I don't think so. The last time we saw one, she had an ordinary humanoid speech bubble.

It's possible he has some template, like Planetouched, in addition to the powers.

[Hekko]

As Grey_Wolf_c pointed out colored speech balloons usually mean some kind of outsider. Cousin's brother-in-law's niece's fiancé (Cbilnf for short) has the same color scheme in his speech balloons as Celia (example) so maybe he's got a connection to the elemental plane of air, or maybe that's the generic color for all good-aligned outsiders. Unlike Celia, Cbilnf gets a different font than everyone else when he speaks. That may be significant, or it may just be that we haven't seen Celia (I think) since the latest art upgrade.

I prefer to call him not-Thad, in a loving memory of Thog's speech pattern.

[Aveline]

I can’t believe I am the first one to speculate that’s durkon’s father. Yes I know he is dead, didn’t stop soon.

Risen to engage his wife's friend's child's spouse's brother's spouse's sibling's daughter for marriage?

[Cicciograna]

... I think that guys an incarnate. Blue auras, a longsword incarnate weapon would indicate a Law Incarnate... There are definitely soulmelds that would result in an affected voice and glowing eyes... Dwarves make great ones... Yeah the number of soulmelds is kind of light but I wouldn't expect Rich to render all of them, that's unreasonable to ask.

I suspect this is a cameo from ze Kickstarter or such, someone wanting to see an incarnum user.

You know, for some reason I always had the impression that Incarnum was a childe of Rich's. I seem to remember that the Giant admitted coming up with a very specific mechanics for the 3.5 Edition but that for copyright reasons he's not allowed to mention it in his comic...except that there have been a couple of slips, one of them HUGE (Azure City and all that color), and a mention to an 18th level Incarnum user who was left there, hanging, never touched again.

Or maybe I'm totaly wrong, who knows

[woweedd]

You know, for some reason I always had the impression that Incarnum was a childe of Rich's. I seem to remember that the Giant admitted coming up with a very specific mechanics for the 3.5 Edition but that for copyright reasons he's not allowed to mention it in his comic...except that there have been a couple of slips, one of them HUGE (Azure City and all that color), and a mention to an 18th level Incarnum user who was left there, hanging, never touched again.

Or maybe I'm totaly wrong, who knows

...That line was a joke about how useless Incarnum is*, so...

*"That leaves us a bushel of fortune cookies, an 18th-level Incarnum user, and a magic 8-ball" "Bring up the cookies, keep the 8-ball on standby".

[137beth]

Ah, right. The current generation of dwarves also have heroes.

[JackPhoenix]

You know, for some reason I always had the impression that Incarnum was a childe of Rich's. I seem to remember that the Giant admitted coming up with a very specific mechanics for the 3.5 Edition but that for copyright reasons he's not allowed to mention it in his comic...except that there have been a couple of slips, one of them HUGE (Azure City and all that color), and a mention to an 18th level Incarnum user who was left there, hanging, never touched again.

Or maybe I'm totaly wrong, who knows

That's easy to check: if Rich was working on MoI, he would be mentioned in the credits. If he's trully not allowed to mention the mechanics he came up with, it's more likely it was never published. And considering how long it was since 3.5 ceased being supported, it never will.

I wouldn't put much weight on Azure City or off-hand mention of a specific 3.5 thing... the later isn't uncommon in the comic.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

So, does anyone with more 3.5 knowledge than me happen to know what that guy‘s deal is? Also, the title of this strip is quite possibly one of my favorites.

Am I the only one who giggled like a middle-schooler at Belkar's "beating the worm hand-to-hand" joke?

No, there’s at least one other.

[Hardcore]

It's a reference to this scene from Spaceballs, parodying The Empire Strikes Back:

Dark Helmet: Before you die, there is something you should know about us, Lone Starr.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: [confused] What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing! Which is what you are about to become. Prepare to die.

Thanks! I was thinking too literally and thought it was something in the older strips.

[HouseRules]

Half-Celestial Dwarf?

[Awakeninfinity]

Half-Celestial Dwarf?

That is what I think he is; also maybe a self-buffing Gish or psychic warrior.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Ok, Durkon, I know you liked Thad, but the new guy is clearly pretty awesome. You should give him a chance.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure he's a soulknife. They look awesome, but their class features make them about as useful a monk or an expert or a fiii...never mind.

If he hasn't been mentioned before, that doesn't mean he didn't exist, he just hadn't been mentioned so far. It was just a passing reference to drive home how Durkon has so many distant relatives he knows about and keeps track of.

Which, despite Elan's assumptions, makes him basically the opposite of a bard who doesn't even know where his immediate family is until they get into a plotline together.

I'm actually suprised most by the fact that Durkon knows the family member he's talking about by that description. I can't even follow that much in my own family.

I'm more surprised that he only has one cousin's brother-in-law's niece.

Guess it's only me who went straight to Tarquin in disguise?

Tarquin's taller and doesn't use those cool energy sword things. And if he could, he would, because dang does that guy like his Star Wars references.