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2012-01-11, 12:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
I re-read part of Start of Darkness last night, and was reminded of something that bothered me.
SpoilerThe Paladins who wiped out most of Redcloak's family and friends were on a mission to defeat the Wearer of the Crimson Mantle, so it appears that they knew something about the Crimson Mantle as a dangerous artifact, even if they did not know the whole Secret Plan of the Dark One that goes along with it.
Redcloak's mentor passed the Crimson Mantle to Redcloak, and he escaped with it and has been wearing it ever since.
Why did the Paladins not continue to hunt the Crimson Mantle after this?
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2012-01-11, 12:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- England. Ish.
- Gender
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Who says they haven't?
Miko immediately identified Redcloak by the Crimson Mantle, and immediately went Miko on him.Warning: This posting may contain wit, wisdom, pathos, irony, satire, sarcasm and puns. And traces of nut.
"The main skill of a good ruler seems to be not preventing the conflagrations but rather keeping them contained enough they rate more as campfires." Rogar Demonblud
"Hold on just a d*** second. UK has spam callers that try to get you to buy conservatories?!? Even y'alls spammers are higher class than ours!" Peelee
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2012-01-11, 12:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- UK
- Gender
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
I got the impression the Paladins were actively continuing the fight against the Crimson Mantle at least up until Redcloak partnered himself with Xykon.
SpoilerIn the scene the goblins meet Xykon, Redcloak talks about the Paladins driving them into swamps (which is why they're attacking the fort). Assuming the swamps were in the same general area as the original goblin village, it seems to me they must have continued their crusade against goblins, and Redcloak himself specifically, until they lost track of him when he ran off with Xykon.
Miko's reaction when she met Redcloak shows that even in the years that followed when they (presumably) had no word of the Crimson Mantle, new Paladins were told its significance.Last edited by fergo; 2012-01-11 at 12:35 PM.
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2012-01-11, 01:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
They have. But it's not like the goblins are shouting "Hey, here's the Crimson Mantle! Over here, Paladins!"
They're in hiding. The paladins found them that time. Red Cloak has been hiding ever since, making sure to keep the whole "Crimson Mantle" thing on the down low. For all anyone knows, he's a random goblin cleric. Only a member of the Sapphire Guard would recognize the mantle on sight. (as we saw with Miko)
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2012-01-11, 01:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Given the amount of the that he spend with Xykon, it is possible that they (and by they I mean Shojo) sensible decided that this was a job for only the paladins he felt would be better suited far away from Azure city (and thereby not annoying him ever again).
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2012-01-11, 01:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Northern Ireland
- Gender
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
I figured they just lost track of where the Crimson Mantle was until its Bearer decided to break down the front door of one of their fortresses.
"They couldn't know that the points from the mainline to the siding were frozen, and the signal should have been set at 'DANGER', but snow had forced it down."
- The Flying Kipper
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2012-01-11, 06:42 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
- Olympia, WA
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
My Crimson Mantle question is different but no less spoileriffic.
What would happen to its (or Redcloak's) divine power if the Dark One were killed?
SpoilerBy Xykon, let's say.The Giant says: Yes, I am aware TV Tropes exists as a website. ... No, I have never decided to do something in the comic because it was listed on TV Tropes. I don't use it as a checklist for ideas ... and I have never intentionally referenced it in any way.
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2012-01-11, 06:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Depends on the artefact and the story that Rich wants to tell.
And I don't mean depends choose A or B, or ever 1 to 10, literally anything could happen to it subject to the story.
Perhaps the most likely options are:
The Dark One uses it as a phylactery and returns unharmed.
It stops functioning.
It rips a whole into the Snarls prison as a final revenge.
Nothing changes.
But that is the only four out of all possible changes, and from a story telling perspective perhaps not even the four most likely.
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2012-01-11, 07:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
- Olympia, WA
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
I assume at the very least, Redcloak would have no spells, were his god to be killed, yes?
The Giant says: Yes, I am aware TV Tropes exists as a website. ... No, I have never decided to do something in the comic because it was listed on TV Tropes. I don't use it as a checklist for ideas ... and I have never intentionally referenced it in any way.
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2012-01-11, 07:19 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Again it depends (assuming that the Dark One is dead and gone, say eaten by the Snarl), you can in theory get spells from a cause, as such Redcloak could get the spells from the cause of Goblins Equality.
However many settings require a deity to provide the spells, but some don't need the deity to approve the clerics (being to busy to deal wit everything).
For Redcloak I would say he would lose them, subject (as is everything) to narrative requirements.
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2012-01-12, 02:18 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2006
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Another thing which bothered me about the Crimson Mantle was that the paladins did not keep hold of it when they killed the previous Bearer.
I mean, they could easily check that it was magical and it would be prudent to keep it away from the rest of the goblins -- even if only for the purpose of preventing goblins from using a magic item.
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2012-01-12, 06:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Location
- Canberra, Australia
- Gender
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Probably not, as a D&D Cleric can get spells without a god. He'd have a very minor reduction in power, in that any Domains the Dark One offers that Redcloak hasn't taken still put spells on Redcloak's spell list - he can't cast them, but can read them from scrolls etc. But that's really minor.
Nothing to see here, citizen...
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2012-01-12, 09:13 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Xykon can't kill a god. It's just not done.
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2012-01-12, 10:56 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- England. Ish.
- Gender
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Warning: This posting may contain wit, wisdom, pathos, irony, satire, sarcasm and puns. And traces of nut.
"The main skill of a good ruler seems to be not preventing the conflagrations but rather keeping them contained enough they rate more as campfires." Rogar Demonblud
"Hold on just a d*** second. UK has spam callers that try to get you to buy conservatories?!? Even y'alls spammers are higher class than ours!" Peelee
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2012-01-12, 03:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
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2012-01-12, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
D&D is full of dead gods and stuff they left. All kinds of things can happen - or not. It's "plot magic" and as such does all kinds of magic in the name of a (hopefully) good plot. Or it just vanishes, if that is the plot the author wants to tell.
What happens to Redcloak's power if the Dark One dies? This is pretty simple to figure out: A cleric gets his spells from his god. What happens without that god? The cleric becomes a lame fighter without powers, spells and bonus feats but a lot of pointless wisdom and probably a big identity crisis.Last edited by Ancalagon; 2012-01-12 at 04:12 PM.
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2012-01-12, 04:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Some D&D novels with clerics of dead (or missing, or depowered) deities have them retain all their spells- but be unable to prepare any new ones.
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2012-01-12, 04:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Interesting. But in the end 0,00001 is very, very close to 0.
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2012-01-12, 05:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
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2012-01-12, 10:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
Oddly in D&D there's no need for a Cleric or Paladin to have a god. It's not something you see very often, especially in fiction, but it's legal.
We're deep into "no rules" for what happens to Redcloak if TDO dies. Could RC rededicate himself to some other evil god? Perhaps even the concepts of Law and Destruction?
EDIT:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/cleric.htm
If a cleric is not devoted to a particular deity, he still selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities. The restriction on alignment domains still applies.....
Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells
A cleric can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one)....Last edited by Dark Matter; 2012-01-12 at 10:05 PM.
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2012-01-12, 10:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2003
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA
- Gender
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
It is not generally known by non-goblins that the physical cloak itself is the source of the power. To the paladins, the title "Bearer of the Crimson Mantle" just means that the guy who wants to destroy reality gets to wear a red cloak. Since they don't know that the cloak is what they are actually seeking, they have never actually "gotten hold of it" at all, not in any meaningful way. It has always been passed down just before being captured. It's only existed for about 60 years, remember, and Redcloak has owned it for half of that. So it's only been passed along 3-4 times. In all of those cases, either the goblins managed to swipe it off of the corpse of the old Bearer before the paladins noticed, or they stole it back before the paladins could identify its significance.
Rich Burlew
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2012-01-13, 12:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
- Olympia, WA
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
The Giant says: Yes, I am aware TV Tropes exists as a website. ... No, I have never decided to do something in the comic because it was listed on TV Tropes. I don't use it as a checklist for ideas ... and I have never intentionally referenced it in any way.
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2012-01-13, 12:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
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2012-01-13, 03:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
You can really annihilate deities by hitting them with a pointy stick. However that requires you to be of a sufficient level and Xykon is nowhere near that level.
It's not that they can't be killed, it's that Xykon is not powerful enough by a huge marginLast edited by SoC175; 2012-01-13 at 03:12 PM.
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2012-01-13, 03:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
- Olympia, WA
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
I'm asking what would happen if someone or something killed a cleric's god, not necessarily Xykon. Please stop obsessing on the whodunit, when what I'm asking is the whathappensnext. :)
The Giant says: Yes, I am aware TV Tropes exists as a website. ... No, I have never decided to do something in the comic because it was listed on TV Tropes. I don't use it as a checklist for ideas ... and I have never intentionally referenced it in any way.
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2012-01-13, 03:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Spoileriffic Musing about the Crimson Mantle
We have no knowledge of that, prior to cloister we may have thought he was not Epic, prior to Maximised Meteor Swarm we may have assumed 21st (which there are ways it may still be accurate).
Xykon is as powerful as he needs to be for Rich's story, if that requires him to be on the level of the Gods (or the Gods to be on a fairly low level compared to some other worlds), then so be it.
Finally Xykon is a, if he is happy he has his phylactery (which he does not currently), he can create a spell that bypasses any real chance of spell resistance, allows no real chance of a save, does enough to kill every god in the game world, and target each of them (no matter where they hid), etc as needed.
And suffer the backlash.
And regenerate in 1D10 days.
If he can research the spell he is golden, hell he could probably use the exact same spell to target every target with greater then 5 HD so that no one can challenge him, and cast it once every two months.
Epic Magic is not simply a pointy stick, it is the equivalent of cheating.
Now note I do not believe that Rich is going to use Epic Magic like this (it may negatively impact the story).
However for Xykon the Epic Sorcerer Lich (un)living in the world without having to consider narrative causality it is a possibility.
EDIT:
Just reread the Epic rules, it is not quite as potent as use take as much damage as you want.
However you could still kill an individual god easily enough at relatively low level (for epic).Last edited by dancrilis; 2012-01-13 at 03:42 PM.