The Order of the Stick

And this was how Belkar died, skewered by the falling Greenhilt sword.

...I wouldn't mind that.

But I doubt it will be that anti-climactic.

...right?

Seems like a very survivable injury to someone of Belkar's level.

Is there any chance the living giant could grab one of the ballistae and shoot at the Mechane with it?

If they weren't completely out of sight by now, sure. Also, the giant would have to figure out how the ballista works, and it needs to be undamaged in the fall. Also, those things are supposedly real sensitive to moisture, so the snow probably messed it up real good.

Assuming she survives the fall in the first place.

In 3.5, the maximum damage you'd get for falling a mile is, at best, 20d10 (or was it d6?) damage, and you can still save for half.

Or, to put it in different terms: She'll live.

In fairness, it wasn't really their business anyway. This was an internal dispute among a set of contractors hired to perform a service for the Order. Since they're still performing that service, the mutiny is no more the Order's business than, say, a payroll dispute that the wizard who teleported them to Cliffport may have been having with the Sapphire Director of Human Resources.

It's 20d6, which means an average of ~80 damage. A baseline frost giant has 133 hp and she didn't take much damage in the fight with Roy, so it's extremely doubtful that the fall killed her. Not to mention that she's implied to have some class levels.

Well, if I were leading an expedition of this nature, it would be valuable to know that a mutiny occurred and was quelled while I was busy saving their asses from frost giants. Maybe it's just me...

edited 16th Jun '17 1:12:23 PM by Fighteer

Valuable to you, not so much to the contractors...

@Tobias: Yeah, but they're *PC's*. Getting muddled into everyone and their cats' social lives and fixing all their personal problems is what they do.

Like so.

When Roy died from falling damage, was he just on low HP to begin with or was that an instance of the Chunky Salsa Rule?

Also, when did we last see Belkar?

Low on HP.

He states mid-fall that if he had a healing potion he might be able to survive the falling damage.

/ Ah, right.

Belkar was mopping up after V and Haley here, but they were stationary for a while and he didn't catch up to them then.

Come to think of it, are they still fighting that cleric??

More questions: do polymorphed creatures retain their mass*? Because if so I'd really like to see Bandana's face when she finds out they ditched all their ballistae instead of the fully-grown Allosaurus belowdecks XD

*I know Rich homebrewed his own Polymorph rules, but I don't know if OOTS uses them.

The allosaurus was seen being carried by a raven.

edited 19th Jun '17 1:12:48 PM by Michael

Bloodfeast was hit with Baleful Polymorph, which causes him to take on all characteristics of his new shape except that he gets to keep his hit points, alignment, and memories of his previous self.

The effect is permanent and must be manually dispelled or reversed. After 24 hours, Bloodfeast has to make a Will save. If he fails, his mind and hit dice fade away, becoming normalized to his new form. He loses all memory of his life before and, functionally, is just the wild animal he was turned into forever.

The SRD does not say if this save has to be made every 24 hours or just once at the 24 hour mark but I'd assume the former. Whatever the case, that threshold has likely passed several times by now. It's unlikely Bloodfeast has any knowledge that he ever was an allosaurus.

His hit points and mind will return if the effect gets dispelled, however. That is still a thing that can happen.

EDIT: Also, it speaks very highly of that blue-scarfed caster on Tarquin's team that he was able to overcome Bloodfeast's probable +16 Fortitude bonus; the SRD has no stats on an Allosaurus, but he's not so different from a T-Rex. Don't f*ck with Epic characters, man.

edited 19th Jun '17 5:01:36 PM by TobiasDrake

Huh, interesting about the Shapeshifter Mode Lock angle, I'd been assuming all along that he was a Sealed Badass in a Can just waiting to be released (which admittedly raises the question of why not now?) — I wonder if Belkar has been thinking the same thing?

Well, he'd need access to break enchantment or something equivalently powerful, which is not a toy that a Ranger gets to play with naturally. I can't imagine that he's loaded down with ranks in Use Magic Device, either, so a wand or scroll would be more likely to backfire and turn him into an iguana.

edited 19th Jun '17 5:17:06 PM by Fighteer

He still is a Sealed Badass in a Can, he just doesn't know it. The moment they Break Enchantment on him, all of his memories will return.

It's a Chekhov's Gun waiting for its moment to fire.

A dispel should be well within V's capabilities, but V's not around at the moment. Also it might be a bad idea to try it without Belkar around to control him.

edited 19th Jun '17 5:24:49 PM by Gilphon

Well, they're not going to fire it now. The Frost Giants are off the ship and they're gaining altitude. There is no way in which the present situation can be improved by the sudden presence of a hungry dinosaur on deck.

Sure there is, it sets us up for a Jurassic Park 2 homage when the empty Mechane arrives in Firmament.