Why the Xykon "power" speech is great

[Wizard_Lizard]

I think it shows his int and wis scores as well as his cha score, in that he takes a pretty basic concept (the idea that there are many different types of power) and makes it sound like a huge revelation.

add enough big long words and you can appear intelligent and wise.

[deuterio12]

I would not call Xykon wise. Intelligent? Sure. He's smart as a whip, on top of being possibly the most dangerous man undead. But prudent and of sound judgement he ain't. This is the man whose planning skills amount to "Screw planning".

That was just a bluff, he considers it worth to go the extra mile.

Why blast the paladins from a safe distance when you can make them all go insane and start killing each other?

[Wizard_Lizard]

That was just a bluff, he considers it worth to go the extra mile.

Why blast the paladins from a safe distance when you can make them all go insane and start killing each other?

because it's fun?

[deuterio12]

because it's fun?

And as you grow older, you learn that fun is something that demands a certain amount of planning. Just blasting your load right away loses its luster pretty fast.

So in this case instead of shooting his stuff as fast as possible with no foreplay, Xykon went through the trouble of carving insanity glyphs in a bouncy ball for that extra fun.

Or how Xykon later started planning all kind of nasty scenarios to test just how badass O'Chul was also just for the fun of it.

[sleepy hedgehog]

I really like his speech too.

I use a slightly modified version of it for describing MtG's black color philosophy.
And how it differs from blue, since everyone seems to confuse those two colors.

[woweedd]

And as you grow older, you learn that fun is something that demands a certain amount of planning. Just blasting your load right away loses its luster pretty fast.

So in this case instead of shooting his stuff as fast as possible with no foreplay, Xykon went through the trouble of carving insanity glyphs in a bouncy ball for that extra fun.

Or how Xykon later started planning all kind of nasty scenarios to test just how badass O'Chul was also just for the fun of it.

Not terribly pragmatic, though.

[Kelenius]

I think it's also worth noting that in one particular case for V, power took form of a lawful evil outsider that made a promise to help her, a friendly cleric with prepared resurrection and a scroll of sending, and a high-level wizard she knew.

[Kish]

Durkon wasn't at the fleet. The "alternate plan" was explicitly called out as ridiculous by Qarr. So I'm not sure where you're going with that, beyond that it seems to hinge on treating something that wouldn't have worked as though it would have.

[Jannoire]

And even if Durkon was there, the ten minutes it would've taken to resurrect V would've been too long. The dragon would be long gone...

[zimmerwald1915]

And even if Durkon was there, the ten minutes it would've taken to resurrect V would've been too long. The dragon would be long gone...

Twenty minutes. Sending has a ten-minute casting time too.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Twenty minutes.

Not in OotS. But sending is indeed ten minutes. Which means this page took a really long time (or is it quicker from scrolls?).

Grey Wolf

[woweedd]

Not in OotS. But sending is indeed ten minutes. Which means this page took a really long time (or is it quicker from scrolls?).

Grey Wolf

...10 minutes to Resurrect V, 10 more to Send.

[zimmerwald1915]

...10 minutes to Resurrect V, 10 more to Send.

Eeeeee-yup.

[Kelenius]

It is, at least in OOTS, faster from scrolls. As the fiends themselves say in 634: "Don't worry about the casting time, your friend has been saving a scroll for just such an emergency". So the plan could work. It is ridiculous, but it could work.

[Fyraltari]

Not in OotS. But sending is indeed ten minutes. Which means this page took a really long time (or is it quicker from scrolls?).

Grey Wolf

Then again, it doesn't always does so.

[Wizard_Lizard]

Then again, it doesn't always does so.

inconsistencies.

[martianmister]

It is, at least in OOTS, faster from scrolls. As the fiends themselves say in 634: "Don't worry about the casting time, your friend has been saving a scroll for just such an emergency". So the plan could work. It is ridiculous, but it could work.

And Durkon confirmed that he really saving some scrolls, regularly.

[Jannoire]

It is, at least in OOTS, faster from scrolls. As the fiends themselves say in 634: "Don't worry about the casting time, your friend has been saving a scroll for just such an emergency". So the plan could work. It is ridiculous, but it could work.

Or the fiends lied to V because xhe (is that the right word?) doesn't know sh*t about divine magic...

[martianmister]

Or the fiends lied to V because xhe (is that the right word?) doesn't know sh*t about divine magic...

Check out Fyraltari's post above.

[hroþila]

Personal theory: either there's two variants of the Sending spell making the rounds in the OOTS world, or casting as a prepared spell takes 10 minutes, casting from a scroll is instantaneous (or nearly so), and we don't see the scroll Vampire Durkon used in #1109 because of some reason or another.

[Kish]

It is, at least in OOTS, faster from scrolls. As the fiends themselves say in 634: "Don't worry about the casting time, your friend has been saving a scroll for just such an emergency". So the plan could work. It is ridiculous, but it could work.

Again, Durkon wasn't at the fleet.

Thanks for demonstrating exactly why I went straight to the one bit of explicit information that no one's ever tried to argue about when pushing the idea that the plan could work, instead of throwing in the other reasons it wouldn't work. Now please actually address it this time instead of ignoring it.

[Kelenius]

Again, Durkon wasn't at the fleet.

Thanks for demonstrating exactly why I went straight to the one bit of explicit information that no one's ever tried to argue about when pushing the idea that the plan could work, instead of throwing in the other reasons it wouldn't work. Now please actually address it this time instead of ignoring it.

Couldn't the imp just teleport to wherever he is, then?

[Fyraltari]

Couldn't the imp just teleport to wherever he is, then?

How would Qarr know where to find him (which, remember is ‘‘moving at high speed and altitude’’) and why would he?

[Kelenius]

Hmm, yeah, seems that it wouldn't work.

Then I don't get why the fiends brought up that plan in the first place.

[Fyraltari]

Hmm, yeah, seems that it wouldn't work.

Then I don't get why the fiends brought up that plan in the first place.

Because V did believe that it would work. And they wanted him to, because that way they don’t have the excuse of ‘‘It was the only way to save my family’’. It was, but V thought there was another option that did not require making a deal with fiends but required owning up to their mistakes. As to why the fiends did that? They’re fiends, if they can be dickish with no consequences, they will be.

Edit: Moreover, if V did it, telling to themselves ‘I’m only doing this to save my family’ there was a chance they wouldn’t fight Xykon. But by the time Inkyrius told them to give up the splice, that ship had sailed.

[hroþila]

Personally, I think they didn't need V to quite believe it, all they needed was a millisecond of "But then it wouldn't be me doing it!" for the rationalization to crack, whether or not V realized later that the suggested plan wouldn't work. But given V's state of exhaustion and distress, V might well have believed, at least until they stopped to think it through, long after losing the splice.

[woweedd]

They did in order to twist V's motivation. They want to make V turn Evil, and so, by, presenting a plausible alternative, turning their motivation from "saving my family" to "defending my own ego", they're shifting V's motives, just enough to increase the chances V will end up in one of their realms down the line, and, for a spellcaster of their level, that's a hell of a find, no pun intended. Taking a demonic/devilish/daemonic deal to save your family could be justified, doing it to save your ego cannot be.

[Peelee]

And Durkon confirmed that he really saving some scrolls, regularly.

I must be missing something, because I'm not seeing a word about having scrolls there. Just that Durkon regularly preps Sendings.

[zimmerwald1915]

Taking a demonic/devilish/daemonic deal to save your family could be justified

Eh, not really, particularly where, as here, one's family is conceived of as an extension of oneself, or one's property.

[Fyraltari]

Eh, not really, particularly where, as here, one's family is conceived of as an extension of oneself, or one's property.

I’m sorry, what?