Shadow Geekery
This page collects scenes I feel show that Rich is still engaged with the rules.
The Rebrand
This includes posters for several lower planes, and reference the default setting for D\&D 3.5:
It won’t be a cold day in Hell: Nine Hells. Avernus and Dis are hot enough, but Phlegethos “most resembled the stereotype of a fiery world of eternal damnation, filled with active volcanoes, rivers of liquid fire, molten rock, ash hills, smoking pits, unbearable heat, all wracked by tremors and earthquakes.”
Ski Endless Slopes: Gehenna. “The four layers of Gehenna were infinite planes with gravity at a forty-five degree angle to the ground, making travelers feel as if they were on the side of a mountain with no base or peak.”
Forget Your Troubles: Gray Waste. “The three layers of Hades … were realms devoid of emotion, hope, and peace. Gray land and gray sky throughout, with no sun, moon or seasons to break the monotony. Any color other than shades of gray would be obvious against the background but would fade to gray in a week or two. And like bright colors, beings would begin to fade also. At first they would feel the drain of emotions leaving only sadness, ennui, and defeatism.”
Something New Everyday Literally Forever: Limbo? Limbo is the Chaotic Neutral plane, so it’s interesting to see it show up in a rebrand of evil planes. “This plane was supreme chaos, a twisting, quicksilver place filled with bits and pieces of rocks, trees, the four elements, entire landscapes, strong winds, and random pockets of liquid, solid, or gas.”
Rock on!: Pandemonium. “Pandemonium was made entirely of rock pierced by innumerable tunnels and caverns large and small. All open space was filled with howling winds that carried the sound of every word, shout, or scream uttered in the place.”
Was it Worth It?: Mount Celestia. “Celestia was the ultimate in law and good. All aspects of Celestia were beautiful and perfect; it was where the souls of many creatures of lawful good alignment went to after death.”
Taste the Rainbow: Limbo? This is a reference to hallucinogenic frogs that you can lick to get a high. The frog in this poster is a Slaad, native to Limbo, and the chaotic colors also feel Limbo-like.
Chains: This poster is covered up, so we can’t see the slogan, just all the chains. This may be Jangling Hiter: “The City of Chains was suspended by a network of thick, unfathomably long, slimy and razor-augmented chains connected to posts positioned throughout the metropolis. By this method, the lowest portions of Hiter just skimmed the seething swamp below.”
Strategic Dispel
V did an area dispel, which works like this:
“For each creature within the area that is the subject of one or more spells, you make a dispel check against the spell with the highest caster level. If that check fails, you make dispel checks against progressively weaker spells until you dispel one spell (which discharges the dispel magic spell so far as that target is concerned) or until you fail all your checks.”
Dispel Magic provides a maximum +10 bonus to the dispel check, whereas Greater Dispel Magic can reach up to +20.
Had V used Greater Dispel Magic, it likely would have stripped away his own enchantments while leaving Sunny’s lower-level effects on the party untouched.
Crystal’s Flesh Golem Traits
Crystal is explicitly identified as a Flesh Golem in 974, and multiple scenes afterward show effects consistent with that stat block.
- A golem usually follows its last instruction to the best of its ability, though if attacked it returns the attack. (974)
- Does not eat, sleep, or breathe (Construct type, 974)
- Damage Reduction 5/adamantine (976)
- Immunity to magic that allows spell resistance (973)
- Electricity heals, grants temporary HP, and removes slow (977)
- Flesh Golem cost: 20,000 gp. Crystal: 5× that (974), or 100,000 gp
The “supercharge” from the lightning bolt is highly stylized. If the Geekery thread considered house rules, it might suggest Crystal was granted Haste or bonus lightning damage. But under the working assumption that Rich is following the rules and communicating through them, the most supportable reading is that this scene visually represents, rather extravagantly, a flesh golem gaining temporary hit points from electricity.