Xykon's Acid-born shark

[Edhelras]

I tried searching, but couldn't find any threads on this topic. It's very old, but interesting nonetheless:

In Comic 541 and around there, we see O-Chul and the torture Xykon is treating him with, just for fun (or to ameliorate his own boredom). One of his "games" is throwing O-Chul into the pool with the acid-breathing shark.
The roaches discuss this: "Is that an acid-breathing shark?" "Yeah. they'll let any old hack write a sourcebook these days."

I guess it must've been spotted before, by someone, but I just realized it now that I was wondering whether to buy the 3.5 sourcebook "Dungeonscape". To my surprise, Rich Burlew was one of the authors. And in the most scathing of the reviews (the majority of the reviews are kind, but somewhat bland), two reviewers deride the feature of the Acidborn Shark.

The book seems to have been issued before 2007. I'm not sure when Comic 542 was written, but probably after that. So - is this Rich's way of finally getting to prove that his beloved Acidborn shark can defend its place in the DnD ecology?

[Sarco_Phage]

No, Rich was pretty much taking a potshot at himself for kicks, as far as I remember.

[Edhelras]

The intriguing question would be: Was it Rich himself or Jason Bulmahn who came up with the idea/build for the Acidborn shark?

Heh... might be that this was a potshot (whatever that is?) at his old co-author, not at himself...? *conjures speculation over old, old intrigues*

The second question is perhaps more appropriate for the RPG forum - but has anyone tried out this shark in-game? Any personal experiences?

[martianmister]

541's date is 03.19.2008

[Querzis]

No Rich really created the Acidborn Shark. He was just making fun of himself. And no, I never really fought an acidborn shark in a D&D game. I did fight a dire camel in a swamp though (my DM read the comic too).

[Mr. Snuggles]

I would think the comment "they'll let any old hack write a sourcebook these days" would have made the joke loud and clear, but I guess not. What about the fact that the joke was made in the last panel where jokes always go?

[Edhelras]

Hm. I thought it was a funny joke, too. I just didn't know, until now, that it was a "real" Acid shark. So now it's even funnier, for me.

[pendell]

The relevant review

- Absurd Concepts. Two words: Acidborn Sharks. Now your dungeons can have sharks that have been magically engineered and bred to survive IN LAKES OF ACID. Why? Because too many people were swimming through the lakes of acid, so now they contain sharks to stop would-be adventurers. All these sharks need now are lasers attached to theirs heads and the insanity would be complete. :/

I guess this isn't the first bit of feedback the author got on that, and is having a good-natured poke at himself. That's good. I like an author who's willing to laugh at himself.

Although I am curious as to how an acidborn shark is intended to be used. Unless you live in an area that has an acid ecology, I can't imagine it as being anything other than a Bond Villain deathtrap.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Valley]

Originally Posted by pendell

I guess this isn't the first bit of feedback the author got on that, and is having a good-natured poke at himself. That's good. I like an author who's willing to laugh at himself.

Although I am curious as to how an acidborn shark is intended to be used. Unless you live in an area that has an acid ecology, I can't imagine it as being anything other than a Bond Villain deathtrap.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Well, most of the villains in Oots are much better than any of those Bond Villains...still, a acidborn shark with lasers WOULD be cool...but where would Redcloak get the lasers?

[Zeful]

Originally Posted by Valley

Well, most of the villains in Oots are much better than any of those Bond Villains...still, a acidborn shark with lasers WOULD be cool...but where would Redcloak get the lasers?

Fourth Edition.

[Narren]

Originally Posted by Edhelras

we see O-Chul and the torture Xykon is treating him with, just for fun (or to ameliorate his own boredom).

Originally Posted by Edhelras

Heh... might be that this was a potshot (whatever that is?)

You know what ameliorate means but not potshot?

[Lateral]

Originally Posted by Edhelras

two reviewers deride

...Most of those reviews call the Factotum unbalanced and the dungeoncrasher fighter 'too powerful.'

SWEET MERCIFUL FHARLANGHN WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME SO.

[Zeful]

Originally Posted by Lateral

...Most of those reviews call the Factotum unbalanced and the dungeoncrasher fighter 'too powerful.'

SWEET MERCIFUL FHARLANGHN WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME SO.

3.5 is pretty poorly balanced all around, you can pick one piece of material for a base line for balance and with certainty declare more than 50% of the material "unblanaced" from that perspective. Because of that alone I don't bother finding a place to stand, thus all of the material is unbalanced.

[Sarco_Phage]

Originally Posted by Zeful

3.5 is pretty poorly balanced all around, you can pick one piece of material for a base line for balance and with certainty declare more than 50% of the material "unblanaced" from that perspective. Because of that alone I don't bother finding a place to stand, thus all of the material is unbalanced.

And when everything's unbalanced...



Nothing will be.

[Zeful]

Originally Posted by Sarco_Phage

And when everything's unbalanced...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CaoIcsWZxl...ncredibles.jpg

Nothing will be.

Cute, but inaccurate. Balance is not a binary state, something not being balanced does not make it the same as everything else that is unbalanced.

[Sarco_Phage]

Huzzah! I'm cute. :3

[Swordpriest]

The Acid-born shark actually appears in a sourcebook? I'm impressed -- and that makes it rather amusing, too!

[Dr. Simon]

Huh! You'd think that those reviewers would figure that the sentence "the only thing better than a giant pit of acid is a giant pit of acid with a shark in it" was tongue-in-cheek, but I guess not

[Jay R]

Originally Posted by pendell

Although I am curious as to how an acidborn shark is intended to be used. Unless you live in an area that has an acid ecology, I can't imagine it as being anything other than a Bond Villain deathtrap.

This is called "answering your own question." Obviously, it is intended to be used as a Bond Villain deathtrap.

That's how Xykon uses it, right? And this strip is written by the author of the Acidborn Shark, isn't it?

"No, Mr. O-Chul, I expect you to live, but with negative hit points."

[Popertop]

The only question now is what the lasers would do.

A disjunction-laser-wielding Acidborne Shark might be my new favorite thing.

[The Giant]

I created the acidborn shark, and I was making fun of myself.

I've never read any reviews about Dungeonscape, but I would point out that the acidborn shark was intended to be ridiculous and over-the-top, because sometimes that's fun. It's specifically stated that it was only bred to be used in dungeon deathtraps. The reviewer quoted clearly wants his D&D to be Serious Business, but screw that. If I thought I could have slipped laser-headed sharks through the WOTC editing staff, I would have.

The factotum was all Jason, though, as was the dungeoncrasher.

[Sarco_Phage]

You could have always given a shark a scorching ray SLA at-will.

[The Giant]

Originally Posted by Sarco_Phage

You could have always given a shark a scorching ray SLA at-will.

They would have figured it out and nixed the whole monster. Trust me, some of my favorite parts of that book never made it into print.

[Sarco_Phage]

Will you ever be sharing the zanier ideas that never made it into print?

[The Giant]

Originally Posted by Sarco_Phage

Will you ever be sharing the zanier ideas that never made it into print?

No. I've asked if I could throw them up on the website and been told that I can't. I'm contractually bound not to publish them. They're owned by WOTC now even if they never see the light of day, along with my Setting Search setting.

[Sarco_Phage]

Awww, that's hardly fair.

[Dr. Simon]

Originally Posted by The Giant

The reviewer quoted clearly wants his D&D to be Serious Business, but screw that.

So... only using core monsters like the Gelatinous Cube and the Rust Monster, then, and characters called Fonkin Hoddypeak and Gweek Benders of Croodle I don't think Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and co. took the game too seriously either.

Originally Posted by The Giant

If I thought I could have slipped laser-headed sharks through the WOTC editing staff, I would have.

Monte Cook beat you to it, with a sly reference in the 3.0 DMG.

[suszterpatt]

Originally Posted by The Giant

No. I've asked if I could throw them up on the website and been told that I can't. I'm contractually bound not to publish them. They're owned by WOTC now even if they never see the light of day, along with my Setting Search setting.

So which WOTC exec's address do we send the angry mob friendly requests to petition a release?

[pendell]

Originally Posted by The Giant

I created the acidborn shark, and I was making fun of myself.

I've never read any reviews about Dungeonscape, but I would point out that the acidborn shark was intended to be ridiculous and over-the-top, because sometimes that's fun. It's specifically stated that it was only bred to be used in dungeon deathtraps. The reviewer quoted clearly wants his D&D to be Serious Business, but screw that. If I thought I could have slipped laser-headed sharks through the WOTC editing staff, I would have.

The factotum was all Jason, though, as was the dungeoncrasher.

So.. the reviewer was complaining that a monster which was designed to be ridiculous and over the top was ... ridiculous and over the top?

Oooh-kay.

Thanks for the clarification :)

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Edhelras]

Originally Posted by The Giant

I created the acidborn shark, and I was making fun of myself.

I've never read any reviews about Dungeonscape, but I would point out that the acidborn shark was intended to be ridiculous and over-the-top, because sometimes that's fun. It's specifically stated that it was only bred to be used in dungeon deathtraps. The reviewer quoted clearly wants his D&D to be Serious Business, but screw that. If I thought I could have slipped laser-headed sharks through the WOTC editing staff, I would have.

The factotum was all Jason, though, as was the dungeoncrasher.

That's it for me! I'm buying this book - now!!

....

Eh.... turns out Amazon.com won't ship it to Norway, where I live...

Honestly, it wasn't the Acid shark I was interested in from Dungeonscape, more the traps and dungeon ideas. But thinking about it... wouldn't it be just cool to have your own acid-breathing shark, swimming happily in your pool of... acid... just waiting for someone to... hop in... in the acid....

One thing I'd like to read more about is the biology of the acid-breathing shark. Like, how does it eat, or rather, how does its food survive long enough in the acid for the shark to eat it? And when the food enters the stomach, is the food already pre-dissolved by the acid, or does the shark have an ever stronger acidic gastric juice to dissolve its acid-resistant food? So many questions...
But if I could get to throw my players into a pool of acid, and on top of that have them fight a shark, I think biology issues would be the least of their problems!