Bringin' Down the House

posted by Jordan on 2008/10/25 (Comics)

Whew. Sorry for the delay in uploading today. I was going to finish it last night, but got caught up playing LotR Online for far longer than I probably should have. Oh well, I still managed to finish it.

The next update may not be until Tuesday too, since it could end up being another double-issue. And I believe I have an assignment to do this weekend as well, so I won't have as much time as I'd like to work on it. Either way, here's today's comic.

And for anyone who hasn't noticed yet, you can check what BB code and smilies you can use by clicking on the link just below the white box to post a new comment. If you have any troubles making it display, let us know and we'll fix them as soon as we can.

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Comments

WJS - 2016/10/6
Wait, you can't use plus signs or and signs in these comments? Who writes such crappy software?
Jon - 2010/7/25
It's too bad neither of them have levels in Dashing Swordsman, could have gotten immunity to debris based damage Wink.

ALSO: The D&D wiki (well, one of them anyway, googling reveals at least three) has a bunch of homebrew stuff, including actual rules for being a DS. Apparently a DS needs such an immunity to do dramatic smashing-through-window scenes.
Amaretto - 2008/10/31
Happy

Very happy

Sad

Worried

XD

=P


need new comic....
L! - 2008/10/30
LOL! Love it! Btw row 3 first comic Aldran's speech comes from nowhere. You might want to fix that! Otherwise great!
WhatCouldBe - 2008/10/30
When was the last update?

...need...new...comic...
Battleship789 - 2008/10/29
Yea, I found out you couldn't use a plus symbol on my block of text down below.

I also agree with the "Guestimate Plot-Need bonus," theroy. They have enough hit points to achieve the story. My psuedocalculations are an attempt to quantify those story totals by a person who sometimes needs to have concrete numbers. Tongue
moleytov - 2008/10/29
so you can't use a Plus symbol... lame.
moleytov - 2008/10/29
Guestimate Plot-need sorry...
moleytov - 2008/10/29
of course, their Hit points need not be that high if each of them had any relevent damage reduction...

although my bet is they have Hit points = Guestimate Plot-Need bonus.
Battleship789 - 2008/10/28
Just fyi: Meteor Swarm does 32d6 against a single target: 2d6 each for 4 meteors(bludgeoning dmg) and 6d6 each meteor (fire dmg). Better check your calculations for hit points, level, etc..(Of course this is assuming we are using 3.5, which I believe to be the case.)

I would take a guess that both Aldran and Eldhin are high twenties to low thirties, same level. Since they are obviously "PC" rather than "NPC" we assume they have more gold(and by this, better magic items), better stats, and more hit points per roll than the average character. Based on my hand-wavium calculations I would estimate that Eldhin has around 300-350 hit points and Aldran 175-200 hitpoints. This would give Eldhin around 10 hit points per level and Aldran around 6.5 per level, which is a perfectly acceptable range for epic level characters.

(Fighter/cleric- average (PC) roll of 6-7 with a 3 or 4 con. Wizard/cleric, average (PC) roll 3-5, with a 2 or 3 con)

This would probably give the correct amounts of hit points to damage recieved viewed in the comic, give or take a few tens of hps.
WhatCouldBe - 2008/10/28
He's got to be at least level 40 and had to have used all of his ability bonuses on Int to have 40 Int. Or he could have a magic item or a Int-boosting race.(only have core rulebooks)

This is a seriously epic comic.
Monty - 2008/10/28
Kobold-Bard, when you calculated Aldran's level, did you account for the fact that he could have bonus spells from a high Intelligence? It only takes Int 28 to get a bonus 9th level spell.
cookie - 2008/10/28
woah. epic
Doopliss - 2008/10/27
"That's 160 health". Apparantly I fail at basic addition. Sigh
Doopliss - 2008/10/27
Assuming complete averages, two 20d6 hits averages out to 140 damage. Ten levels of cleric, on average, gives 45 HP. (probably 47-48, assuming it was his first level) Ten fighter levels would give on average 55 HP. Add to that a Con score of 16, pretty modest for an epic-level Cleric/Fighter, and that's 60 more health absolutely. That's 150 health at Cleric 10/Fighter 10, and enough that with "average" rolls he will survive a couple of meteor swarms.

...Of course, we know he's stronger than that due to his higher-level cleric spells, and he also took a point-blank Sunburst and Empowered Fireball, just trying to point out that hit points aren't particularly hard to come by.
Valahuir - 2008/10/27
While I'm inclind to agree with you Kobold-Bard, I should point out that as its phrazed 'Epic necromancer' that implys he has a minimum of 21 levels in wizard, and also, acording to a member of my group, on of the 3.5 source books, I'm not sure which, actualy has rules for wizards learning divine spells, I'd have to see the book to know the exact details though.

Also out of those, the level 32 option for Eldin makes sence considering he took 2 direct hits from meteor swarm at 20d6 damage each, due to the shear amount of HP you'd need to still be standing after that, but thats just my opinion.

Oh, and Aldran has no ranks in bluff, remeber? Wink
Doopliss - 2008/10/27
Sounds completely logical. Thanks for the number-crunching. Happy

I thought the dialogue suggested none of the Ivory Veil were actually Paladins, though...
Kobold-Bard - 2008/10/27
Aldran (according to his bio) is an Epic Level Necromancer.
From the Comic we confirm that he is at least level 21 because he can revive the dead as vampires. We know that has at least 19 wizard levels (1x Time Stop, 2x Meteor Swarms) and if the third Meteor Swarm wasn't a bluff then he has 20 levels.
We also know that he has at least 13 Cleric levels because he can use Destruction.
This means that he is a minimum of level 32 (19 13), unless he has dual-caster class levels. Wiz 3/Cle 3/Mystic Theurge 10/Wiz 6 gets him what I suggested above for a character level of 22.

Eldin on the other hand must have a minimum of 16 Cleric Levels (1x Stormrage, 1x Earthquake) and would make up the difference in levels in a martial class (explaining his higher Hit Point total).

Meaning that if they were the same level when they fought last they would have been a minimum of 6th level because Aldran didn't know about Eldin's Cleric training. However since this seems quite low for such an important duel I am guessing that they must both be higher level than I have suggested as their minimums, possibly Aldran has no Dual-Caster training and they are both in fact in their level 30's.

I personally believe that rather than being a Fighter, he would have started his career as a Paladin, otherwise why would he be in a Paladin group. But thats just me thinking out loud.

Sorry that this wasn't particularly succinct. Its just my theory on the matter of levels.
Amaretto - 2008/10/26
I thought that Eldin was higher level because they were the same level once( back when they fought the first time and while Aldran was on the run, Eldin probly gained some levels)
moleytov - 2008/10/26
As for Aldran being a higher caster level than Eldhin, see strip 121 - panel 3: Eldrin is a fighter/cleric... hardly the best way to get an awesome spellcaster level.
Doopliss - 2008/10/26
I suspect Eldhin didn't want to waste a round curing himself that could be used trying to hurt Aldran. Also, I thought we had Word of God that Aldran was an epic level wizard(or sorceror)/cleric, which basically means giving up swordsmanship for twice Eldhin's spell count. Also, Aldran used level-9 spells and Eldhin apparantly didn't. Why do you think he's higher level?
ddm - 2008/10/26
Aldran is probably higher level... After all, he dosn't care who he kills to train.
Amaretto - 2008/10/26
Hmmmm.... good comic, but left me thinking.

Eldin must not be very good..... Because he should be higher level than Aldran (right?) and still lost. Also, he has healing, so why not keep healing until Aldran runs out of spells? From my experience, Clerics can own Wizards if they are half-decent...
WhatCouldBe - 2008/10/26
"Eldhen!? Good Gods, you're like a construct or something"
Love that line.
Captain Weebo - 2008/10/26
Bravo!

Long Time reader
First time writing

Great fan of your work!
Monty - 2008/10/25
Plane Shift. The answer to any local problems.
Doopliss - 2008/10/25
FoE: I figured they were more about alignment than deity. I mean, they only have one alignment open to them regardless of their patron deity's alignment, and they don't get domain spells.

...Of course, Ivory Veil isn't made up of paladins, so it's moot. Also remember that every OotS Paladin aside from Miko was cool. Happy
Jordan - 2008/10/25
“Was this intentional, or just a happy accident?”

Actually, just an accident. When I open the Illustrator files in Photoshop, it converts black to that off black. I was going to change it at first, but it's kind of grown on me, so I stuck with it.
Uncle Festy - 2008/10/25
Ack, the
“Was this intentional”
got in there twice. :/
Anyways, nice new comic!
… so what happens to the airship?
Uncle Festy - 2008/10/25
…
I just figured out what it is about your style that seems different then any other OotS style author out there (in a good way). All of your lines (and your "blacks") are just off black! Look at the intersection between any line and the panel borders – it's subtle, but the difference is definitely there.
Was this intentional, or just a happy accident?
Was this intentional,
Face of Evil - 2008/10/25
I don't know, quite a few paladins have been villains in my adventures. They're basically religious zealots.
Adrilimos - 2008/10/25
Just kill Eldhin, he is clearly a recurring villain good guy.
Memnarch - 2008/10/25
And if you've notice, Earthquake isn't exactly something a Paladin would know. A Cleric does.
FrankNorman - 2008/10/25
Eldrin is not technically a Paladin, it seems...
Dave Rapp - 2008/10/25
The "bad guy" is the protagonist and the "good guy" is the antagonist. Seems original, but ultimately it's been done before. I'm tired of the stuck up paladin stereotype, and even more tired of the stereotype of the paladin doing nothing but questionably good actions that accomplish only bad things. Is a paladin that's actually both lawful and good too much to ask for?
Doopliss - 2008/10/25
I can't decide whether I'm more curious or frustrated by their speeches hinting at plot-points I know nothing about. Tongue
Also, it looked like Aldran was taking his brother seriously for a moment there, which suggests he has an at least partly legitimate reason for trying to kill Aldran. And I suppose that Aldran doesn't particularly want to kill Eldhin, since he had plenty of time for a finishing blow instead of the speech.
genitalic - 2008/10/25
Win Win Win
Memnarch - 2008/10/25
Ooo! Can't wait to see where they're off to! Happy
Lira - 2008/10/25
Epic. Very happy
Another great comic, Zarah.
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