|
greatn posted:You can't just respec your specialization like that can you? I thought that was a lifelong choice. His/her specialization is evocation, that doesn't change, but he/she nevertheless can still cast Abjuration and Transmutation spells and can simply choose to memorize more of those each day; specialization means that V has an additional spellslot for evocation spells for each spell level.
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 15:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 17:47 |
|
|
Wrong, you pick 2 forbidden schools to earn your specialist school. In pathfinder, "forbidden" just means preparing it takes two spell slots, in D&D I'm pretty sure forbidden means forbidden. We know conjuration is one of V's forbidden schools because of teleport shortages. We know transmutation isn't because of haste.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 16:31
|
|
|
I'm not sure how that makes any of what they said wrong. V's barred schools are conjuration and necromancy, since we've seen V use spells from every other school.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 16:39
|
|
|
Kajeesus posted:I'm not sure how that makes any of what they said wrong. V's barred schools are conjuration and necromancy, since we've seen V use spells from every other school. Yeah I'm a little confused myself whether ikanreed is referring to me or not. It's possibly a correct interpretation that V switched to prepping less Evocation spells and more Utility/Buffs/Debuffs/Crowd Control instead that aren't of Conjuration or Necromancy; what V can't do in 3.5 is switch from specializing in Evocation to a different one or mulligan your barred schools.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 17:03
|
|
|
ikanreed posted:Wrong, you pick 2 forbidden schools to earn your specialist school. In pathfinder, "forbidden" just means preparing it takes two spell slots, in D&D I'm pretty sure forbidden means forbidden. Yep.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 17:15
|
|
|
V's barred schools are Conjuration and Necromancy.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 18:23
|
|
|
Elan's bard schools are elocution and rhetoric.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 18:27
|
|
|
Raenir Salazar posted:Yeah I'm a little confused myself whether ikanreed is referring to me or not. It's possibly a correct interpretation that V switched to prepping less Evocation spells and more Utility/Buffs/Debuffs/Crowd Control instead that aren't of Conjuration or Necromancy; what V can't do in 3.5 is switch from specializing in Evocation to a different one or mulligan your barred schools. I think he's saying it's wrong that specialization only means you get extra spells.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 19:01
|
|
|
greatn posted:Elan's bard schools are elocution and rhetoric. This pun is chaotic evil.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 19:15
|
|
|
That pun is so bad I'm surprised it hasn't been in the comic.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 19:35
|
|
|
Cat Mattress posted:This pun is chaotic evil. It's too early to begin the summoning ritual.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 19:48
|
|
|
Yeah, rich is doing fine. No gaping thumb wounds or anything.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 20:10
|
|
|
Taciturn Tactician posted:I think he's saying it's wrong that specialization only means you get extra spells. It's the primary benefit.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 21:37
|
|
|
Since we've given over to a specialization derail, here, what is the in-character explanation for barred schools? I can see someone deciding to study extra-hard and really focus on their Evocation, but I don't understand why, at the very same time, they'd say "I'm probably never going to bother learning how to do these really useful spells like teleport, I guess." Phenotype fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Dec 1, 2015 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:22
|
|
|
Phenotype posted:Since we've given over to a specialization derail, here, what is the in-character explanation for barred schools? I can see someone deciding to study extra-hard and really focus on their Evocation, but I don't understand why, at the very same time, they'd say "I don't give a poo poo if we're dying of thirst in the desert, I REFUSE to ever conjure water!" Why can't the fighter just conjure water? Because he never learned how. That's all prohibited schools represent, something you never bothered to learn. Unrelated fun fact: there's a forgotten realms-specific mage class called a "Red Wizard of Thay" that has even more forbidden schools for even more bonus spells of their favored type.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:28
|
|
|
Dragonlance went a little further, that Magi couldn't actually learn spells of the other Orders unless you were very old and powerful except for the Red Robes who could learn some of both White and Black.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:30
|
|
|
Phenotype posted:Since we've given over to a specialization derail, here, what is the in-character explanation for barred schools? I can see someone deciding to study extra-hard and really focus on their Evocation, but I don't understand why, at the very same time, they'd say "I'm probably never going to bother learning how to do these really useful spells like teleport, I guess." The Player's Handbook for 3.5 says that "Essentially, the wizard gains exceptional mastery over a single school by neglecting the study of other schools." In practice, you just accept it as part of the fiction necessitated by the design of the game mechanics. If you're in the sort of group that needs a compelling in-world explanation for that sort of thing, which I've never seen happen, you'd presumably just make one up that fits with the larger fiction. Justifying mechanics is a basic part of roleplaying.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:35
|
|
|
Phenotype posted:Since we've given over to a specialization derail, here, what is the in-character explanation for barred schools? I can see someone deciding to study extra-hard and really focus on their Evocation, but I don't understand why, at the very same time, they'd say "I'm probably never going to bother learning how to do these really useful spells like teleport, I guess." D&D doesn't demand you specialise utterly, since you only have to give up two other schools and not the whole lot, but it still asks you to represent the fact that you have a narrower focus than the normal wizard. Just not the time in the day to study everything. A totally 'real' wizard might set aside research time for something like Teleport he thinks is indispensible from a school he's otherwise rejected, but there's only so much granularity you can reasonably ask the game system to depict.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:46
|
|
|
Am I dreaming that AD&D2e actually had the schools arranged in a wheel so that when you picked a specialist, there was a corresponding denied school that you had to forsake? I think that was based on a vague idea that perfecting arts in one field made you inherently badly suited to practicing the opposed school in some magic-y way, but I am pretty sure that it was also ensured that all specialists were basically the same.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:50
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 22:56
|
|
|
In 3E Teleport was Transmutation. In 3.5, it was moved to Conjuration. V complains about this somewhere along the line in No Cure for the Paladin Blues.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 23:26
|
|
|
greatn posted:You can't just respec your specialization like that can you? I thought that was a lifelong choice. What he has feats for and what he does are two different things. He's not as powerful an alteration as he could have been if he started from the beginning, but alteration spells are by and large way more powerful than any evocation. Fireball goes boom once, haste makes everyone on your side go boom and extra bit every round.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 23:54
|
|
|
Rygar201 posted:In 3E Teleport was Transmutation. In 3.5, it was moved to Conjuration. V complains about this somewhere along the line in No Cure for the Paladin Blues. "It is hardly my fault the universal laws have been revised since then!" Quickly scrolling down the archive made me realize just how long the whole Blood storyline was. I thought the strip spent a long time dominated by various shades of blue, but that was nothing compared to the desert motif's turn.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2015 23:56
|
|
|
greatn posted:You can't just respec your specialization like that can you? I thought that was a lifelong choice. You can do anything you can convince the DM to approve.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2015 01:00
|
|
|
Carrasco posted:"It is hardly my fault the universal laws have been revised since then!" I still think it's hard to swallow that long form comics are expected to take decades to complete their narrative. I was in loving high school when I started reading this and I'm already old enough to hate the next generation.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2015 03:16
|
|
|
Same here. And that's with one guy doing it! Erfworld has had four different illustrator at this point, and has still had to do text updates to keep it moving. It's more noticeable in stuff like Questionable Content, where the events of a day may take months to a year to unfold. Jacques has gotten better about this at least.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2015 04:06
|
|
|
Wow, I get to say New Strip
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 04:19
|
|
|
Dead kitty means dead Belkar, I'm thinking.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 04:21
|
|
|
I went back and reread the comic before this one, and I noticed that Vaarsuvius refers to Blackwing as "he". Did we know that before? I guess I always just read Blackwing as gender-indeterminate, like their wizard.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 04:54
|
|
|
The vampire didn't even try to drink the cat's blood... Yet invoked the "person" loophole with the tiger... Hm...
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 04:57
|
|
|
my dad posted:The vampire didn't even try to drink the cat's blood... Yet invoked the "person" loophole with the tiger... Hm... A small cat weighs like 6 lbs. That's barely two swallows' worth of blood. Not worth the effort.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 05:01
|
|
|
Can you imagine the vitriol on their forums if the cat dies? Also the bird is was and will be the best character
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 05:07
|
|
|
Eifert Posting posted:Can you imagine the vitriol on their forums if the cat dies? That was Rich's assessment in "Blood runs in the family" filling in a crucial class of punchline delivery that he didn't even know he was missing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 06:42
|
|
|
Tiger has an empathic link with whatshername, right? Not that it'll be particularly useful.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 07:56
|
|
|
Eifert Posting posted:Can you imagine the vitriol on their forums if the cat dies? Calling it now, the cat lives and will function as Belkar's spirit medium for the remainder of the comic. Belkar becomes an invisible stalker. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 08:35
|
|
|
That would actually be a very cool way to resolve the whole prophecy situation.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 08:57
|
|
|
Wulfolme posted:I still think it's hard to swallow that long form comics are expected to take decades to complete their narrative. I was in loving high school when I started reading this and I'm already old enough to hate the next generation. Honestly, Order of the Stick is something of a special case. There are lots of webcomics that have run for a long time, but they tend to be either gag-a-day or, if they have plots, they just write their stories one arc at a time without thinking too much about completing an overall narrative. Questionable Content, since it was mentioned, comes off as some bizarre eternal summer where the characters' pop culture references stay fresh but they're otherwise locked in neverending 20-something doldrums. Order of the Stick has a long-term story arc with an overall ending that's been in the cards since very early on, and despite a lot of bumps in the road Rich is still on the way to achieving it. Most others either aim for a shorter, self-contained story they can tell in a couple years or else fail to go the distance. Homestuck definitely had a touch of the "candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long" going on, and most just have to settle for running out of steam. Experience with OotS makes me leery of other long-form comics. Paranatural is a great read but it just spent half a year resolving one game of Oh, and as for that update, I'd be impressed if Rich had the guts to kill the animals. He's no G. R. R. Martin but he hasn't shied away from deaths or gut-punches. It might signal things are heading toward a dark place if the various mascot characters all bite it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 09:09
|
|
|
Wouldn't that empathic link V has with Blackwing still be in play? Kind of hard to misinterpret 'pain and fear for your life and the life of your friends' for comedic effect.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 15:16
|
|
|
MikeJF posted:Tiger has an empathic link with whatshername, right? Not that it'll be particularly useful. No. Druids and rangers are just friends with animals, and have no special bond above and beyond that. The tiger would gain HD and attack bonuses, though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2015 16:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 17:47 |
|
|
ikanreed posted:No. Druids and rangers are just friends with animals, and have no special bond above and beyond that. The tiger would gain HD and attack bonuses, though. Isn't he a favored soul, so the tiger is just a tiger and thus weak enough that someone could kill it accidently?
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2015 19:31
|
|
