The Order of the Stick: Rules Discussion

As far as I know, no he didn't, unless I missed it mentioned in a speech bubble somewhere.

Not to mention that he doesn't automatically fail his saving throws against level loss.

It's 1 level per 6 seconds, so I guess that's a maximum of, what, five?

edited 9th Mar '12 7:31:30 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

"It's better to use exposition to cover stuff no one saw. Like those restoration spells Durkon cast on him and me."

Okay, yeah, I forgot about that one. Fair's fair.

As for the armor I think he mentioned that back when Haley was shopping for a new armor that it interferes with his class abilities though I have no idea which one. I know that Dashing Swordsman was built specifically so Elan could contribute in combat but would Bards be capable of going toe-to-toe with someone aggressively in-game with out it?.

edited 10th Mar '12 4:44:51 AM by dazai

The way I see it, having a bard in the party is effectively everyone being able to perform as if they were two levels higher, as well as a handy get-out-of-social-encounters-free card.

A bard on his own in an actual fight, however, is pretty much a free kill for anything level-appropriate. No armour better then chainmail, which also happens to screw up his already limited arcane spellcasting, as well as low hitpoints.

That's just core, though. I'm sure there are plenty of splatbooks that up his effectiveness in those areas. Though to be honest, playing a bard as anything other then a social mastermind and moral support kind of misses the point of being a bard in the first place.

edited 10th Mar '12 4:45:21 AM by Kayeka

Once V dings 15, unless they're retarded-oh wait, they are!-Elan's bard powers will be useless. Why? Because they're morale bonuses, and really, when you hit 15th level as a wizard, it's time to break out the Mind Blank.

Isn't Protection from Evil almost just as good as Mind Blank, as long as your enemies are evil?

Good point-Circle of Protection from Evil (or whatever it's called) is probably superior.

I tend to favor all-day spells to temporary buffs because you don't need to use a round to cast em in combat, and it protects against surprise attacks, but, well, 8th level spell slots...

V already is level 15, in any case.

I thought he was 13th level. When has he ever cast an 8th level spell?

Durkon cast Mass Death Ward, but Rich admitted that he didn't know it already existed, and was estimating 7th level, not 8th.

edited 10th Mar '12 10:28:36 AM by TheyCallMeTomu

In the fight with Ganji and Enor.

Yeah, there. I distinctly recall having this same basic exchange with you before.

The reason it mattered that Mass Death Ward was 7th level instead of 8th was that Durkon had just been hit with Enervation, and therefore probably lost his 8th level spell slots.

Ahhh, cool.

Well, I TYPICALLY tend to prefer to get immunity to mental effects as opposed to stacking up on circumstantially super useful spells, but that's just my play style-being prepared for anything defensively versus offensively.

And I guess that when you're lower level, it's useless because the enemy caster can just dispel your hard earned Mind Blank anyway.

True and V was never the brightest when it came to spells anyway.

Yeah. I mean, V got a "My spell selection is useless" moment, and instead of thinking "Well maybe I should learn to pick spells better" he instead got "Maybe I should deliberately avoid using my specialization and instead take enchantment spells and shit."

Oiy Vey V, oiy vey. Well, to be fair, Power Word Stun IS pretty effective on the types of enemies they fight. No save allowed is pretty useful.

Specialization in 3.5 was pretty meh anyway, due to wizards being pigeonholed into "blasters" (because no other class can reach that level of damage except sorcerer) and the spells needed for that being scattered across three or four different spell schools.

Personally, I always thought wizards would be a lot more appealing if there weren't so many things immune to mind-affecting spells, since there are some really cool things you can do if focus exclusively on Enchantment and Illusion schools.

Save or Die was the way to go, but if you wanted to be a blaster, conjuration was best for single target due to the orb spells, but only if you have access to the Spell Compendium.

But V being shortsighted as always banned that school.

Well, Save or Die works well enough in a story like Order of the Stick (where the randomness of it allows for convenient plot devices). In an actual game, it's not nearly as good with an intelligent DM, who will stack the monsters just so problems can't be solved just by Disintegrating (or whatever spell of choice gets used) everything.

Bear in mind V chose his stuff before 3.5. His choices weren't optimal at first, but they weren't awful either.

Virtually nothing is immune to Disintegrate, but Disintegrate is no longer save or die.

Its save or get hurt really badly and possibly die.

Well sure, but only a couple of times as much as an average evocation spell.

True but its not a bad spell by any means.