#080

So no colour today because I thought it was Thursday. It's not. So instead you get a rush job, but I think it's worth it for the look on Bear Bait's face.

If I had a highlight real of all our D&D experiences, it'd be a montage of the party shrugging away their problems..

Tamaki has obviously never heard of science fiction, which is actually pretty fair considering the setting.

#079

Today's episode actually gives me a fair bit to write about. Where to begin?

The Crescent's Edge main pantheon consists of thirteen deities. As a rogue, Tamaki invoked the Rascal earlier. In order to create a more real setting, any time that I would want to say "Holy crap!" I try to replace it with some other blasphemy. Want to use the Rascal in your campaign? He is chaotic neutral, champion of rogues, bards, and other swashbuckling adventurers, and his domains are Trickery, Luck, and Travel.

Thomas' player has a bit of a temper, which was often reflected in Thomas' character. Of course, as a battle cleric, it's not like he had to take the Hippocratic Oath anyway. He's completely morally justified in refusing medical or magical aid.

Even though the old goblin insulted Vrogdish, even yelled in his face, Vrogdish still considers him to be a nice person. Perhaps Vrogdish recognized him as the caretaker for the injured goblins. Although it's equally likely that his definition of 'nice' is similar to 'non-threatening'.

Tamaki has obviously never heard of science fiction, which is actually pretty fair considering the setting.

Inside my Sketchbook - Chainmail

Traditional European 4 in 1 chainmail pattern

Halloween's coming, and recently I decided I wanted some chainmail for my costume. It's a bit close to the date to make anything like a full coat, but I thought maybe I could have some poking out under my sleeves, or a coif, or something. For my costume I'm using pop tabs, they're about the right size, and you can make them look halfway authentic to the casual observer.

I've always understood that making chainmail was a relatively easy process, it was just incredibly time consuming. Consider, all you require is a lot of rings. Taken individually, that's a pretty easy job (although you can see from my sketch, even something as simple as a circle can be tricky for some). The hard part is clipping them together to form a weave you can work with.

I think it was good to practice drawing it though. Whenever I draw chainmail, either for Crescent's Edge or just a sketch, I never go to this level of detail. There's really no need for it, because unless the comic becomes about Medieval Haute Couture,  what the characters are wearing will never be the focus of the episode (that's a lie though, Vrogdish recently found some spiffy armour, and Valdren made a point before about polishing his).

Drawing the pattern is actually very simple. You start with a ring. Then you add another ring. And another. Then you repeat a thousand times over until you get it all finished. It's very relaxing though, and I think it's probably good practice for people like myself who struggle with visualizing complex shapes or patterns. That said, this sketch took as long to draw (it was my first time, so that always takes longer) as tomorrow's comic did.

#078

So after a couple months without forwarding the story because I didn't want to draw repetitive figures, I moved to a new apartment. Somewhere between here and there, I realized that I could just draw a single image for this particular episode. Go figure.

I also thought I'd experiment a little with mixing my tools. I used pencil crayons on top of the marker layer to add light and shadow.

Just writing this now I realized I mixed up Thomas' left and right sides again. I do this a lot, and I think it's because I often visualize objects as if I'm looking at them through a mirror. It's a habit I need to break, considering Thomas' left side should have more elaborate pauldrons and steel hip fauld.

#077

Even when a player is running a character with below average intelligence, they always seem to have a knack for finding legal loopholes.

#076

I liked Garrul. But it's the players' job to kill the things I love. On the lighter side, Garrul managed to go out on a joke.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this move performed in Soul Calibur. The idea is to make your opponent dizzy before you finish them off.

#075

Looks like Thomas is in a bit of trouble. Or as Joseph would probably say, "We're in the pickles now, boys!" Vrogdish has to arrive pretty soon or it could be lights out for Thomas. Now that Garrul is armed, Thomas would provoke an attack of opportunity by either drawing his weapon or standing up. Not to mention that Garrul has a +4 attack bonus because Thomas is prone.

This round's turn order:
Thomas escapes the pin, then breaks out of the grapple. Garrul trips Thomas and recovers his weapon. Vrogdish makes a Strength check to escape the tent and moves towards the fight.

Today's goof (as I'm sure you've noticed, there's always at least one) is that Garrul doesn't have any legs in the first panel. Whoops!

#074

So I got some fancy new markers that I wanted to try out, and I must say I'm pleased with the result. I'm also just pleased with this episode. The tent ghost was a memorable, if short lived, role that is part of Vrogdish' rich character profile.

I've also decided that Vrogdish is a much more dapper person when you translate his barbaric wailing.

#073

Grappling is a heck of a thing. Typically it means less damage is dealt, and often times it's nonlethal. But it also slows down a combat, and it can effectively remove an opponent from an encounter.

On Thomas' turn he attempts to pin Garrul but fails. What you don't see is that he moves the grapple closer to Vrogdish (a mere five feet, but it's something). Garrul spends his round attacking Thomas with his shield (which counts as a light weapon). Oh, and Tamaki has failed to stabilize his wounds and receives a point of damage.

You know, they almost look like a couple. Holding hands and hugging each other and all.

#072

I drew this one in a real hurry, but oddly it doesn't look like my worst work yet. Glass half full guy says that means I'm improving.

It's really difficult to separate player knowledge from character knowledge. For instance, I usually know the immunities and damage reductions of a monster I'm fighting, but often it doesn't make sense for my character to know that only a cold iron wrought weapon can damage a certain creature, or that skeletons don't take damage from cold spells.

#071

The only thing more dangerous to throw in Garrul's face than his words is your own face.

Disarming a fighter is a pretty risky gambit for a cleric to undertake, but in this case it paid off. Since Garrul missed on his attack of opportunity, and Thomas was unarmed, so Thomas succeeds in taking the weapon from him. Garrul is no longer armed, and does not threaten areas around him.

However, Thomas isn't proficient with longswords, so he chose to get rid of it. Strictly speaking, he should not be allowed to throw it with his remaining move action. However, since he isn't aiming at anything in particular, I figured it's fair to let a character throw an item 1d6 x 5 feet as a move action. Normally dropping the weapon would be a good idea for Thomas. If he was armed, he gets an attack of opportunity against Garrul when he picks it up. However, since Thomas is not armed, it wouldn't benefit him to simply drop the weapon. Garrul could just pick up the weapon with no penalty and follow up with an attack.

#070

No doors were harmed in the making of this comic.

#069

Uh oh, that sure doesn't look good for Tamaki. Of course, that was on the cover page of this adventure, so it shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Of course, his total damage taken should be 1d8 + 1d3 + twice Garrul's strength score. With his 1d6 hit die, Tamaki should only be sort of dying.

Because I'm choreographing the fights using the rules for D&D, I feel I ought to explain exactly what's happened here. Tamaki attacks Garrul. Thomas takes a five foot step away from Garrul (so he's out of threatened areas) and puts on his shield. Garrul makes a full attack, striking Tamaki with his off-hand first, takes a five foot step toward Thomas, and attacks Thomas with his longsword.

Garrul has a higher Challenge Rating than the party (which is at half fighting force right now), so caution must be taken when fighting him. Thomas chose to spend his round equipping his shield, which isn't necessarily a bad move. The defense bonus will help him in the coming rounds (he was able to draw a weapon as well, but has decided not to, we'll see why later). An alternative play the party could have made here is outlined below:

Tamaki delays his turn until after Thomas'. Thomas draws his morningstar and shield (provoking an attack of opportunity, but his high AC should mitigate that). Tamaki attacks Garrul, and since Thomas is now armed and flanking, he adds his Sneak Attack damage.

However, the alternative round could have also gone poorly for the party. If Garrul had succeeded on his attack of opportunity, Thomas would be low on hit points (or possibly disabled). So all in all, there's no exceptionally good tactics for tackling the boss with only two party members.

#068

Players will often surprise you when they choose to attempt the impossible. Often times they believe that any obstacle can be overcome if they try hard enough. Vrogdish has dramatically improved his Strength score and even obtained a bonus on his first attempt to break down the gate. However, the high DC of the task suggests that he has a very low probability to succeed. Fortunately, Vrogdish isn't very good at math and has a poor understanding of probability.

I'm not super happy with the quality of this comic; I sort of forgot about it until it was about due, and I'd been short on sleep when I threw it together. However, I'd also been spending some time working on another comic that should be out later this week, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. So it's really give and take here.

#067

This is the party's first time meeting Garrul Bladestorm and vice versa. He's also clearly mistaken them for somebody else. Who is Kiriaedis? Why would does Garrul fear he's being targeted by assassins (although since the party is here to kill him, it's a valid concern)? These are questions I want the reader to be considering, and they're ones the party doesn't have an answer for.

Of course, since currently most of my readers have played D&D with me, or know somebody who has, it stands to reason that you already know who Kiriaedis is and what his motives are. It kind of makes the suspense here moot.

A note on gameplay: Thomas is now seriously disadvantaged in coming rounds of combat. He's been disarmed, which has some pretty dire ramifications for first level adventurers. Normally, he'd simply be able to recover his weapon by spending a move action to pick it up. But not only does this cost him a move-equivalent action, he's exposing himself to an attack of opportunity. At first level, he doesn't have a lot of hitpoints to play around with. Additionally, he is no longer considered to be armed. This means that he's no longer able to take attacks of opportunity, and it also means he's not able to flank Garrul with Tamaki. Flanking is a very big deal, especially at first level for a number of reasons. First, it grants a bonus when attacking a flanked target. Second, it allows rogues like Tamaki to deal extra damage. Being denied these bonuses puts the party at a serious disadvantage when facing Garrul, whose Challenge Rating is higher than the party's (doubly so since the party is at half fighting force). In short, the party needs reinforcements.

Author's note: Thomas wouldn't normally call someone a clown. However, Tamaki is pretty badly hurt, and if it weren't for magical healing and the often campy nature of Dungeons and Dragons he'd be in very serious danger of losing his right arm. So he's lightening the mood. Sort of like a doctor telling a corny joke before explaining why you have less than even odds of surviving a procedure.

#066

I picture Vrogdish talking to himself like this a lot. In reality, he's played mostly as "Vrogdish smash" sort of misanthrope.

I would also believe he has a grim, dark back story. It was a dark and stormy night when doors killed his family.

#065

It's important to be clear about exactly what has happened, or else your party might become wary of tent monsters. Interesting note: the player did make Tamaki drop his dagger when he was struck in the shoulder. It was a nice bit of roleplay, even though that puts Tamaki at an incredibly disadvantage in the coming rounds of combat.

#064

Crescent's Edge was a campaign that benefited from having a shadowy character behind the scenes pulling strings. Who is the elf? What are his motives? Truthfully, at this point in the party's adventuring career, that doesn't really matter. The shadowy puppet master is two-fold: the adventures become connected, and the party feels that they are part of a much larger story.

Having an antagonist who is never present with the party is also useful. I've had recurring villains that always flee the party when they're overwhelmed, and the biggest complaint I've heard is that the party is robbed of the kill. Your typical adventurer doesn't really care if they get to see a villain more than once, they'd rather just kill it. With the puppet master, the party never has to physically meet the antagonist, so they don't have to feel robbed.

#063

Thomas is already breaking a bunch of rules with his religion by sneaking around and ninja-ing people, so making a little money on the side shouldn't be too bad, right?

#062

I think that first goblin has a point. Why build a wall if you're just going to keep the gate open?