Vaarsuvius comes up with a plan, but there are some flaws in it.
Cast
- The Order of the Stick
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Belkar Bitterleaf ◀ ▶
- Durkon Thundershield ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius (as a lizard) ◀ ▶
- Young Adult Black Dragon ◀ ▶
Transcript
- Panel 1
The black dragon blasts the Order with its acid breath.
Elan: Gonna wake up any second now.
- Panel 2
Vaarsuvius: There is a part of me—a not inconsequential part, I might add—that is greatly enjoying watching this dragon mop the proverbial floor with my neglectful colleagues here.
- Panel 3
Black Dragon: These stupid humanoids are your allies??
Vaarsuvius: You... can understand my speech?
- Panel 4
Black Dragon: Well yes. My mom taught me Lizard, said it was important to study other cultures.
Vaarsuvius: Fascinating.
- Panel 5
Vaarsuvius: In that case...
Vaarsuvius: Suggestion!
- Panel 6
Black Dragon: No.
Vaarsuvius: Suggestion!
- Panel 7
Black Dragon: My willpower is too strong to be broken by such an enchantment.
Vaarsuvius: You will still roll a natural 1 on your Will save eventually.
Vaarsuvius: Suggestion!
- Panel 8
Vaarsuvius: I have a Ring of Wizardry, no other spells above third level prepared, and nothing better to do with my actions.
Vaarsuvius: The laws of probability dictate that you will fail a Will save before I run out of Suggestion spells.
Vaarsuvius: Suggestion!
- Panel 9
Black Dragon: Clever.
Black Dragon: However, there's one number you've failed to include in your analysis.
- Panel 10
The black dragon bites Vaarsuvius.
Black Dragon: Your hit point total.
D&D Context
- Suggestion is a 3rd-level Wizard spell that hypnotizes a character if they fail a Will save.
- The black dragon is making his Will save to negate the spell.
- A "natural 1" means rolling "1" on a 20-sided dice before any of your character modifiers are added. In the case of saving throws, a natural 1 means an automatic failure, regardless of how high a character's modifiers might be.
- A Ring of Wizardry doubles the number of spells for a single spell level a magic user can cast per day.
- Hit points measure how much damage a character or creature can take. V in lizard form has very few.
- Vaarsuvius is probably 11th level and had 22 intelligence at the time of this strip. V could have had as many as 18 Suggestion spells prepared,[discuss] including the increased spells from the Ring of Wizardry and the fact that casters can fill a higher level spell slot with a lower level spell.
Trivia
- Vaarsuvius mentions the Ring of Wizardry they acquired in Itempalooza.