The Order of the Stick

Technically, destroying Durkon's undead body is what would banish the spirit; resurrection would bring the real Durkon back to inhabit it.

So apparently this new elf character is a Kickstarter cameo thing? Anybody know anything else about it?

Yeah I mean the whole process.

What else is there to know? Someone paid 5000 bucks to get their own D&D character into the comic as a cameo, Rich said "I know just the place to put them!" and two years later we get a divine caster with a bit too many background details for her role.

Clarste: It seemed fanficcy to me because she's adored by a goddess so much that the goddess gives her super magical powers to use as she pleases with no apparent effort on her part. However, if that's just how the Favored Soul class works then I retract that.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised that a being with apparently little true identity before becoming a vampire might be susceptible to outside influences changing its behavior.

Roy and the priestess probably couldn't be Dominated, but Wrecan might have a low Will save. That would turn it into a two on two battle or at least force her to blow some spells and rounds to keep him neutralized/friendly.

Some clerics do know the true nature of vampires. The first temple they went to had a low level initiate try to explain things to Roy, but his Will save was too low and Durkula stopped him. This may have happened at other temples as well. There's no reason the priestess is particularly likely to be ignorant on this subject.

Seen here.

But given her "Feign it 'til they ordain it" approach, it's entirely possible that she might not have a lot of the Knowledge (Religion) one might expect of a Cleric.

edited 22nd May '15 7:33:02 AM by TobiasDrake

Agreed; there's no inherent reason for a Favored Soul to take a lot of Knowledge ranks. The story does seem to be going out of its way to avoid tipping Roy off about Durkon's true nature, though.

She's the Spider-Man of Clerics; she was handed her powers, rather than acquiring them through intense study and rigorous mental discipline.

I wouldn't say the story is, necessarily; Roy's avoided tip-offs because he has Durkula with him while he's searching. Having a vampire capable of dominating wills as a traveling companion is not conducive to learning things the vampire doesn't want you to know.

The story's made attempts and Durkula's smacked them down. If he'd left Durkula on the airship, this would have gone entirely differently.

edited 22nd May '15 7:35:01 AM by TobiasDrake

Just curious- how is female!V (the Favored Soul elf) different in character build/class than the Oracle?

Also, I don't think that other people are more knowledgeable than Roy of vampires (in particular, no one except for the vampires themselves seems to know about the whole Demonic Possession thing). However, I do get the impression that even so, it's not exactly normal or common to pal around with a vampire the way Roy is.

edited 22nd May '15 10:00:08 AM by Hodor2

That.

So far, we have only seen one person who explicitly had the required knowledge to inform Roy about the actual mechanics regarding vampirism, and that person was abruptly shut down by Durkula.

The Oracle is technically an Expert, which is an NPC class. He can do what he does because he can do what he does.

wut

When asked why he can predict the future he says it's a gift from Tiamat. When asked again how he does it he says fairy dust then changes his answer when it's pointed out you can't use fairy dust like that. So basically he's the Oracle because the plot says so. It's certainly not a part of his class.

No, The Oracle is a ''class' from Pathfinder- it replaces Favored Soul as the spontaneous divine caster.

Does the Oracle (the character) belong to this class?

Most likely not. OOTS is based on 3.5 Dn D, which has no such class to my knowledge.

The Oracle is an oddity. While the Expert class can pick and choose from a wide menu of abilities, precognition is not one of them.

There may be a class called Oracle, but it's not the class of the Oracle.

Gotcha. Thanks.

It's interesting to think about the differences between a Cleric and Favored Soul.

A Cleric basically wakes up every day and asks for a bunch specific miracles in a can that he can pull out later on.

While a Favored Soul just gets a chunk of power and a list of preapproved miracles.

With how lazy gods can be, it's amazing that there aren't more Favored Souls. They seem like way less paperwork.

It's probably more of an investment to create a Favored Soul then a Cleric. Clerics do all the work of studying, meditating, cloistering, passing trials: etc all on their own. The Deity has to invest a large chunk of power into a mortal that might not make it past 4th level in order to make a Favored Soul, plus you are basically declaring them a mini-chosen one. If they don't meet the right criteria or go left field there is no way to stop them. Oracles/Favored Souls can't fall like Clerics can, their power is -theirs-.

edited 22nd May '15 11:47:01 AM by LMage

Can you be the Favored Soul of an abstract concept, like Clerics can?

The way the Oracle described it Tiamat just picked a random Kobold and gave him precognition powers. There's probably some kind of obscure class that fits that.

That's why I was confused (not just because of the Pathfinder class)- because that sounds like a (second rate version of) the Favored Soul class. I'm sure the Oracle wishes he had received healing powers.

I am amused by the fact that there actually is a class that allows for a Parody Sue character.

Like, maybe... Favoured Soul, perchance?

He got instant Diviner, just add obfuscation. *shrugs*

edited 22nd May '15 12:42:49 PM by Euodiachloris