MitD X: If I told you, you wouldn't believe me

[woweedd]

She would need to be a minimum paladin level of 14 to cast Holy Sword--and that's if she has a Wisdom of 18+. If her Wisdom is 14-17 she'd need to be paladin level 15 to cast it, which would mean that, to also have Evasion as a monk, she'd need to be character level 17+. If her Wisdom is less than 14 she could never cast Holy Sword.

Miko does not strike me as particularly Wise. A Wise person would have realized "Hey, if The Gods whom I have sworn my fate to personally appear in the sky to expel me from their service because I screwed that badly, maybe I should think about the possibly I may not have made the correct choice." Then again, she also, according to WOG, (I cast Summon Banana!) has high Charisma, in spite of being standoffish, rude, and, in terms of likeability, rates far lower then, say, O-Chul.

[Fish]

It's also possible that Kodrog thought he knew what the MitD was, but was actually wrong.

Kodrog = Gordok spelled backwards. Gordok = World of Warcraft reference?

[b_jonas]

Quick question. Do we know if the hobgoblin in #699 is anyone we know? Is he the same as the hobgoblin who asks the MitD to pull the rope in #701? Does he have a name I can use? I previously identified him as Jirix, but that's almost certainly wrong. I'm asking because I'm trying to clean up my summary of all appearances of the MitD, as well as add the appearances in SoD.

[Peelee]

Quick question. Do we know if the hobgoblin in #699 is anyone we know? Is he the same as the hobgoblin who asks the MitD to pull the rope in #701? Does he have a name I can use? I previously identified him as Jirix, but that's almost certainly wrong. I'm asking because I'm trying to clean up my summary of all appearances of the MitD, as well as add the appearances in SoD.

Doubtful. Jirix has a headband.

[knag]

Quick question. Do we know if the hobgoblin in #699 is anyone we know? Is he the same as the hobgoblin who asks the MitD to pull the rope in #701? Does he have a name I can use? I previously identified him as Jirix, but that's almost certainly wrong. I'm asking because I'm trying to clean up my summary of all appearances of the MitD, as well as add the appearances in SoD.

In the character appearances thread at the time, Wrecan didn't think he was anything more than a generic hobgoblin mook. He looks identical to all other hobgoblin soldiers, so whether he's the same guy as any other hobgoblin in another strip would really be just speculation.

This page has a list of all the strips which MitD appears in, including SoD, BRF, and DSP, though not yet including bonus material from the other three books if he has any.

[Quartz]

Going back to the issue of the paper cut, the letter was written by the High Priest of Thor so was possibly Holy; do we have any evidence that the High Priest was of Epic level and thus the scroll was thus possibly Epic and Holy?

[Kish]

Only the high priest of Odin was even able to cast a seventh-level spell a few decades ago. The new priest of Thor might have seriously powerleveled since then, but...she appeared pretty far short of Epic to me in the fight.

[zimmerwald1915]

Going back to the issue of the paper cut, the letter was written by the High Priest of Thor so was possibly Holy; do we have any evidence that the High Priest was of Epic level and thus the scroll was thus possibly Epic and Holy?

Putting aside how groundless this speculation is . . .

The letter took a few minutes for Rubyrock to write. Creating an Epic, Holy magic item would surely take much, much longer.

[Quartz]

Putting aside how groundless this speculation is . . .

The letter took a few minutes for Rubyrock to write. Creating an Epic, Holy magic item would surely take much, much longer.

Epic spells with a DC of 0 can be created spontaneously (ELH p.88-89)

[hamishspence]

Epic spells with a DC of 0 can be created spontaneously (ELH p.88-89)

But magic items containing epic spells cannot - any magic item capable of casting/mimicking an epic spell, is a major artifact:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/magicItems/basics.htm

Epic magic items are not artifacts. They are not unique, though they are certainly very rare, and anyone with the proper item creation feats can build them. Even an epic magic item can never grant a dodge bonus, and the maximum inherent bonus that can be applied to an ability score is +5. An epic magic item cannot be created that uses or mimics an epic spell. A major artifact might be able to mimic such a spell, however.

That said, it is possible to inscribe an epic spell on a stone tablet so that another caster can learn it without going through the Development Process:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/developingEpicSpells.htm

In order to overcome damage reduction x/epic, the scroll would need to somehow be a +6 weapon - those take a long time to make.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbi...amageReduction

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/magicItems/weapons.htm

[Dragolord]

In order to overcome damage reduction x/epic, the scroll would need to somehow be a +6 weapon - those take a long time to make.

That's what Persisted Time Stop in a time-slowed personal demiplane is for. Do we have any textual evidence to show that the High Priest isn't also an Epic Incantatrix?

[Kornaki]

That's what Persisted Time Stop in a time-slowed personal demiplane is for. Do we have any textual evidence to show that the High Priest isn't also an Epic Incantatrix?

Almost. If you take every fifth letter of the note to Durkon it reads "level twenty eight inbantatrix"
But since we can't assume misspelled class name is just an error all we know is the high priest is epic level in some unknown homebrew class...

[Qwertystop]

Almost. If you take every fifth letter of the note to Durkon it reads "level twenty eight inbantatrix"
But since we can't assume misspelled class name is just an error all we know is the high priest is epic level in some unknown homebrew class...

...please let that be a joke and not actually a part of the letter.

[Emanick]

...please let that be a joke and not actually a part of the letter.

I hate myself for checking, but yes, that is not really part of the letter.

[Crusher]

I hate myself for checking, but yes, that is not really part of the letter.

Ha. I was just about to do that myself. I was pretty sure the letter wasn't long enough to have enough letters for that to work, but you can never be sure!

Edit - Yeah, I don't think Epic is going to be doable. But Holy or Good might be possible, though not probable.

[Riftwolf]

Possible (facetious) thought: the letter was an important element to someone else's story, right. The MitD could have DR/plot.

[D.One]

Possible (facetious) thought: the letter was an important element to someone else's story, right. The MitD could have DR/plot.

Or, more probable DR/"paper cut joke"

[Dragolord]

Ha. I was just about to do that myself. I was pretty sure the letter wasn't long enough to have enough letters for that to work, but you can never be sure!

Edit - Yeah, I don't think Epic is going to be doable. But Holy or Good might be possible, though not probable.

Oh, I don't know about that. There isn't really any reason for the High Priest of Thor not to have a signet ring or something that blesses whatever paper it's used on. At worst, it makes correspondence with Loki's clergy awkward. At best, it might keep information out of the hands of anyone who can kill or capture, say, a single paladin travelling alone for hundreds of miles.

[Manty5]

I think the real identity of the MITD is Serini Toormuck, polymorphed. Reason? Conservation of detail.

She was actively looking for the most powerful creatures around, and she finally found one that was too powerful for her to crate back to the gate, so she found a way to become a young (whatever it is). That would explain the diminutive stature compared to the adult version, and explain where she's been all this time.

Obviously, it would have to be a epic level of polymorph/shapechange/whatever, but all the OTHER gate defenses were created by an epic version of a class. And she did mention she had the CHA needed for multiclassing to Paladin, so she might have multiclassed to a casting or prestige class that used CHA and allowed her to do the change.

[Magentamist]

I think the real identity of the MITD is Serini Toormuck, polymorphed. Reason? Conservation of detail.

She was actively looking for the most powerful creatures around, and she finally found one that was too powerful for her to crate back to the gate, so she found a way to become a young (whatever it is). That would explain the diminutive stature compared to the adult version, and explain where she's been all this time.

Obviously, it would have to be a epic level of polymorph/shapechange/whatever, but all the OTHER gate defenses were created by an epic version of a class. And she did mention she had the CHA needed for multiclassing to Paladin, so she might have multiclassed to a casting or prestige class that used CHA and allowed her to do the change.

This is a good idea, but how did polymorphed Serini end up in the jungle where the hunters found her? And how did she lose (some of?) her memories?

[Emanick]

Interesting idea, but seems extremely far-fetched to me. For starters, the MitD identifies as male - even if you polymorphed yourself and lost literally all of your memories, I’m unsure why your gender identity would change.

[Darth Paul]

Furthermore, even if Serini is the MitD, it doesn't answer the question of what species the MitD actually is. Which is what we've spent all this digital ink on.

[Peelee]

I think the real identity of the MITD is Serini Toormuck, polymorphed. Reason? Conservation of detail.

"Conservation of Detail is overrated." - The Giant.

[Kish]

The concept's being seriously misused here anyway. Just as "Occam's razor" doesn't mean "the theory with the smallest number of words is right," "conservation of detail" doesn't mean "the theory that results in the smallest number of characters is right, even if it requires an explanation for how one background character became a completely different character."

[D.One]

Oh, I don't know about that. There isn't really any reason for the High Priest of Thor not to have a signet ring or something that blesses whatever paper it's used on. At worst, it makes correspondence with Loki's clergy awkward. At best, it might keep information out of the hands of anyone who can kill or capture, say, a single paladin travelling alone for hundreds of miles.

No reason besides the fact that an item that blesses (as in "turns into "capital H" Holy") permanently other itens would be extremely difficult and expensive to create. I'd say such resources could be better used in, for example, useful magical itens, because just making a paper Holy Paper wouldn't confer to it the capacity to kill evildoers who touched it, maybe cause some disconfort, but that's it. Unless... the High Priest of Thor expects such paper to be robbed by the clumsiest evil thieves ever, who would not only get some paper cuts from it, but get enough paper cuts to die from holy paper cut...

Hummm...

Ok, now I realize you must be joking about the whole blessing signet ring thing...

[Manty5]

Furthermore, even if Serini is the MitD, it doesn't answer the question of what species the MitD actually is. Which is what we've spent all this digital ink on.

No, it would just solve one of the issues, meaning how it got here... Toormuck was actively seeking out powerful monsters to move to the caves.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

No, it would just solve one of the issues, meaning how it got here... Toormuck was actively seeking out powerful monsters to move to the caves.

No, she was actively getting them shipped to her, as we saw. Also, your statement in no way answers Darth Paul's objection: that we'd still want to figure out what MitD's species is.

GW

[Crusher]

No reason besides the fact that an item that blesses (as in "turns into "capital H" Holy") permanently other itens would be extremely difficult and expensive to create. I'd say such resources could be better used in, for example, useful magical itens, because just making a paper Holy Paper wouldn't confer to it the capacity to kill evildoers who touched it, maybe cause some disconfort, but that's it. Unless... the High Priest of Thor expects such paper to be robbed by the clumsiest evil thieves ever, who would not only get some paper cuts from it, but get enough paper cuts to die from holy paper cut...

Hummm...

Ok, now I realize you must be joking about the whole blessing signet ring thing...

Out of curiosity, how hard *would* it be to make a signet ring that auto-imbues things as Holy? And does it matter if something is a one-use "disposable" item (like a scroll) rather than a persistent piece of gear like a sword?

[Kish]

Permanently? By D&D rules, I think it would have to be epic. The "Holy" trait is equivalent in power/cost to a +2 weapon bonus; adding that feature to a weapon you're crafting requires: the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, eight days, 8,000 GP--and the weapon has to be masterwork to begin with.

At best, an exceptionally generous DM might allow it to be done by Limited Wish. Which means the ring would "merely" need to be imbued with a 7th-level spell...and drain 300 XP from the High Priest whenever she wrote a letter.

[Qwertystop]

Permanently? By D&D rules, I think it would have to be epic. The "Holy" trait is equivalent in power/cost to a +2 weapon bonus; adding that feature to a weapon you're crafting requires: the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, eight days, 8,000 GP--and the weapon has to be masterwork to begin with.

At best, an exceptionally generous DM might allow it to be done by Limited Wish. Which means the ring would "merely" need to be imbued with a 7th-level spell...and drain 300 XP from the High priest whenever she wrote a letter.

On the other hand, there are weaker things that "holy" could be interpreted as in this context – Bless Water and Bless Weapon are both 1st-level spells, and Align Weapon is a 2nd-level spell (that's strictly worse than Bless Weapon for Good-aligning, but Clerics don't get Bless Weapon).

A custom spell having a thematically similar effect for written correspondence probably isn't going to be much higher-level than that, depending on whether that's all it does or just a side-effect.