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The only surprise is that Prestige didn't have a cold-based pun ready.

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Level 11: #25

Chapter: Level 11 — Castle Life
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Discussion (47) ¬

  1. Hogan
    May 18, 2022, 11:12 am | # | Reply

    Oh! She knows the importantness of a Double Whammer! XD

    8
    • Mary Catelli
      May 18, 2022, 9:17 pm | # | Reply

      OTOH, we may end up seeing Dorilys toppling a tower on something or someone precisely because Prestige is out of Ice Storm.

      4
  2. Keith
    May 18, 2022, 11:35 am | # | Reply

    Oh, Presti… that’s was cold…

    27
    • Brandon
      May 19, 2022, 11:44 pm | # | Reply

      At least she chose an ice spell.

      • Mary Catelli
        May 21, 2022, 6:57 pm | # | Reply

        Nasty spells are so much worse.

        1
        • Brandon
          May 26, 2022, 4:17 am | # | Reply

          Hopefully this freezer up to help Dorilys and Cube.

          4
          • Mary Catelli
            May 27, 2022, 9:08 pm | # | Reply

            That would be slick

  3. TGY
    May 18, 2022, 11:40 am | # | Reply

    Double-tap! Hit ’em a second time to make sure they don’t get up. As zombie efreets or elementals or Baked Alaskas or whatever.

    16
  4. Oldarmourer
    May 18, 2022, 11:44 am | # | Reply

    Oh look, she’s making lava sculptures for the castle garden

    8
  5. evileeyore
    May 18, 2022, 11:58 am | # | Reply

    No Presti, three Ice Storms is “safe”. Remember, if two attack spells is overkill, three is guaranteed kill.

    5
    • Mary Catelli
      May 18, 2022, 9:28 pm | # | Reply

      Also a guarantee she will need at least one later.

      12
  6. Burke
    May 18, 2022, 12:36 pm | # | Reply

    There is no overkill, there is “roll for initiative” and “I’m out of spell slots.”

    36
  7. Just some guy, y'know?
    May 18, 2022, 1:35 pm | # | Reply

    I noticed a long time ago that different energy types had unbalanced return on investment. To equal a fireball or lightning bolt (both 3rd level spells) with cold damage, you need a cone of cold (5th level spell). There was a feat in Complete Arcane called “Energy Substitution”, which proved extremely worthwhile for any spontaneous arcane caster.

    10
    • Puppeteen
      May 18, 2022, 2:27 pm | # | Reply

      Fire and lightning are the most commonly resisted elemental damage types. This, presumably, is also why sonic spells do the least damage.

      6
      • 627235
        May 19, 2022, 6:22 am | # | Reply

        And because no one uses sonic damage (least damage against non-resistant targets), no one shields against sonic. So which is the chicken and which is the egg?

        8
        • Just some guy, y'know?
          May 19, 2022, 8:04 am | # | Reply

          Most monsters were written without even taking sonic damage into consideration. At the time, not many direct damage sonic spells were published yet. (Exceptions include Destrachan and the Shout spell.) As more sonic spells were added, publishers realized that putting the damage on par with other spells would make the sonic spells too desirable. As I recall, the original published version of the Energy Substitution feat allowed sonic damage, but they revoked it in errata.

          The egg came first. Eggs existed for millions of years before chickens.

          10
          • 627235
            May 20, 2022, 3:11 am | # | Reply

            “The egg came first. Eggs existed for millions of years before chickens.” Exactly! I’ve been saying that for years.

            Wasn’t quite my point in this post… You win some, you lose some.

            1
            • Just some guy, y'know?
              May 20, 2022, 7:17 am | # | Reply

              Monsters are the egg. Sonic spells are the chicken. I should have been more opaque on that point. Plenty of monsters were published in the core rules, but only a few relatively unimpressive sonic damage spells (mainly to give bards some artillery), and only one monster that addressed sonic damage in any way.

              3
            • Ghalaghor
              May 26, 2022, 12:16 pm | # | Reply

              I’m sure dinosaurs existed before spells were a thing so they came before the egg.

  8. Bunnaroo
    May 18, 2022, 1:45 pm | # | Reply

    Okay, I was pretty sure this was a PG comic, BUT
    Talk of pajamas followed by “no innocents”? For a very quick moment, I was wondering what would require Presti to go au naturalle…

    2
    13
  9. Brandon
    May 18, 2022, 2:13 pm | # | Reply

    Ice, ice, baby!

    Powerful mages use force. Clever mages use misdirection. Smart mages use misdirection, then force.

    9
    • SuperSayu
      May 18, 2022, 2:49 pm | # | Reply

      Desperate mages use force, then Expeditious Retreat, then misdirection.

      10
    • 627235
      May 19, 2022, 6:23 am | # | Reply

      Distracted mages bring down the castle. So don’t let your mage get distracted.

      7
      • Mary Catelli
        May 21, 2022, 7:03 pm | # | Reply

        Or they get their cleric friend to do the work.

  10. A non mouse
    May 18, 2022, 2:53 pm | # | Reply

    The details are nice, I can appreciate while panels 4 & 6 are almost the same, they are not copies. The “zap lines” coming off her finger and the amount her eyes are open varies. Very well done.

    9
    • K
      May 18, 2022, 9:35 pm | # | Reply

      I noticed that too, and I think it was completely redrawn, actually! It’s hard to see most of her but the hair/sleeve are definitely different. That’s some nice polish.

      4
      • Jess J
        May 19, 2022, 12:51 pm | # | Reply

        It’s interesting, I’m actually wondering if *parts* of the line art were reused, and then remixed. For example, her off hand looks *exactly* the same, as does her facial outline and collar, but her sleeves have different wrinkles… the pajama wrinkle lines on her torso look the same but are colored differently.

        It’s like minimal reuse to save a bit of time and improve consistency, but enough redraw/recolor effort to reflect that she moved between the two panels rather than just standing… frozen in place.

        (no worries, I’m not quitting my day job)

        6
  11. C T
    May 18, 2022, 3:15 pm | # | Reply

    I would have expected the magical darkness to still be in panel 3.

    • Mary Catelli
      May 18, 2022, 10:29 pm | # | Reply

      Presti bought some time to let the spell expire. Or dispell it.

      3
  12. Agi
    May 18, 2022, 3:44 pm | # | Reply

    now shatter the statues with SHOUT

  13. Temia Eszteri
    May 18, 2022, 3:59 pm | # | Reply

    If it were any other spell I’d call two of them overkill, but since it’s Ice Storm, best I can call it is “needing more time to come up with a better idea”

    5
    • Beni-Kujaku
      May 19, 2022, 2:00 am | # | Reply

      Yeah, Ice storm is really not that good. It’s nice if you want to cover a large area, like the basement, but even factoring vulnerability, it’s not even sure those lava golems were taken out by two.

      • terodil
        May 19, 2022, 2:41 am | # | Reply

        The nice thing about Ice Storm is that it’s part elemental (ice damage), part physical (bludgeoning damage), which makes it much harder to resist.

        It also has something poetic:

        lava golems + cold = brittle statues
        brittle statues + bludgeoning = golem dust

        6
        • Mary Catelli
          May 20, 2022, 7:09 am | # | Reply

          Besides her damage is plot determined.

          4
        • runner
          May 27, 2022, 1:53 am | # | Reply

          lava golems + cold = granite golems (or basalt ones, depending on the lava type)
          granite golems + bludgeoning = slightly puzzled granite golems, I guess? That wasn’t covered in my curriculum.
          Ribcage, on the other hand… probably has Protection from Cold, since she’s attached to the unit the enemy will use cold spells against. Might still be cracked by the physical damage, though.

  14. Boren
    May 19, 2022, 10:40 am | # | Reply

    Always double tap to make sure.

    3
  15. Brandon
    May 19, 2022, 7:52 pm | # | Reply

    What if they use some of that powder to create ice elementals? Then Presti will need a fireball to melt the ice elementals. Then she’ll need a lightning bolt to zap the water elemental. Then she’ll need wind to blow the steam elemental away. And then she’ll have wind elementals blowing volcanic ash all over the place.

    It’s like playing elemental rock-paper-scissors-rope-log.

    5
  16. Cygwulf
    May 20, 2022, 11:32 am | # | Reply

    I think she did something about the heat issue in the basement……

    • Brandon
      May 20, 2022, 3:56 pm | # | Reply

      Yeah, she turned it into a big freezer! Now the Princess can keep her drinks cold.

  17. Mary Catelli
    May 20, 2022, 10:09 pm | # | Reply

    On the really good side, she avoided the impulse to monologue. Always wise.

    4
  18. Nerva
    May 21, 2022, 5:52 am | # | Reply

    Ah, Presti understands that when you attack an enemy, always double-tap at a minimum, and then follow up as necessary. It’s important to practice good fire control!

  19. Atarlost
    May 24, 2022, 1:14 am | # | Reply

    The spell so ice she cast it twice

    1
  20. Mandalore5
    May 25, 2022, 9:37 pm | # | Reply

    Remember children, always double tap.

    1
  21. Brandon
    May 26, 2022, 4:15 am | # | Reply

    Uh oh, maybe the comic artist was down there and accidentally got frozen as well?

  22. Weatherheight
    May 26, 2022, 12:07 pm | # | Reply

    Someone has clearly had a “bad experience”…
    Let’s hear it for being thorough and doing the job right the first time.

  23. TB Tabby
    May 27, 2022, 1:32 am | # | Reply

    PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! Rubber Band of Doom! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER! PRESTI HAMMER!

    1
    • Beni-Kujaku
      June 23, 2022, 3:45 am | # | Reply

      GOD wizard, GOD Usopp, no difference

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