Vaarsuvius has trouble obtaining a good Fly spell.
Cast
- Haley Starshine ◀ ▶
- Vaarsuvius ◀ ▶
- Sabine ◀ ▶
- Zz'dtri ◀ ▶
- Gnome Wizard with blue robe
- The proprietor of Ye Olde Magick Shoppe
Transcript
- Panel 1
Vaarsuvius, Haley, Sabine, and Zz'dtri are traveling stage left
Haley: OK, so how are we going to fight a whole bunch of flying creatures that are guarding this stupid Air Sigil?
Sabine: Zz'dtri can cast Fly on all of us.
- Panel 2
Vaarsuvius: Ahh, but the Fly spell now only lasts a few minutes.
Sabine: Nah, he's got a 3.0 version that was house-ruled in.
- Panel 3
Vaarsuvius: I very much would like to copy that spell from your spellbook, Mr. Zz'dtri. I would trade you a mighty Fireball spell for it.
Zz'dtri: No.
- Panel 4
Vaarsuvius: How about a Lightning Bolt?
Zz'dtri: No.
Vaarsuvius: Dispel Magic?
Zz'dtri: No.
- Panel 5
Vaarsuvius: Vampiric Touch?
Zz'dtri: No.
Vaarsuvius: Haste?
Zz'dtri: Sucks now.
- Panel 6
Vaarsuvius: Time Stop? Meteor Swarm? Wish??
Zz'dtri: No.
- Panel 7
Vaarsuvius: Blast! It is no wonder your people were banished from the sunlit realms—you were hogging all the good spells!
- Panel 8
Haley: V, if you wanted a Fly spell so badly, why didn't you buy one in town?
- Panel 9
V: I attempted to do that very thing. Miss Starshine, but was thwarted by the store's odd policies...
- Panel 10
Flashback to Vaarsuvius in 'Ye Olde Magick Shoppe' selling 'Wizard Spells Starter Set's and 'Xtreme Evocation Booster Pack's
Shopkeeper: Sorry, we don't sell individual spells anymore. Too much hassle. Now we only sell randomized spell "booster packs."
Gnome Wizard: Crap! Another "Feather Fall"? This totally sucks!
D&D Context
- Fly is a mid level utility spell, Vaarsuvius first offers equal deals and in the end is offering some of the most powerful spells in the game like Time Stop and Wish.
- This comic references the previous version of D&D, like the first strip did. In the upgrade from 3.0 to 3.5 both the Haste and Fly spell were balanced to be less powerful: Haste was altered from providing an extra partial action, meaning it enabled a spellcaster to cast two spells in a single turn, to providing an extra attack, while Fly had its duration reduced from ten minutes per caster level to one minute per caster level.
- A "house-rule" is a rule created by the DM for his own group that deviates from the rules as written.
- Feather Fall is a low-level spell of limited use. It allows objects or people to fall slower than normal.
Trivia
- The Gnome Wizard in blue robes in the shop at the end of the comic appears again in the bonus material is also used as an OoTS avatar on the forums of GitP. This is the only appearance of the Gnome Wizard in blue robes in the main comic.
- The booster pack gag is a reference to trading card games, particularly Magic: The Gathering, which offer randomized booster packs as the primary method of gaining cards.