Well, that’s two down. Unfortunately, going by DnD rules (Not sure if yafgc follows them but it’s the closest comparison), a gorgon’s snakes are venomous and elves are not known for their strong constitutions. Good news is, the poison isn’t fatal, but it will probably leave him weaker than a week old kitten. Unless Rich decides it works differently, of course.
Well technically he broke the neck by accident when the snake bit him and his hands jerked. Looked like he was trying to gouge out her eyes or blind her (denying her her petrifying gaze). Also snapping someone’s neck is more to do with strength than constitution (ie: How well the body fights of toxins and disease)
Actually, DnD once again didn’t do the homework, Rich did. In DnD, a gorgon is merely a bull with a petrifying breath, while real gorgons are called "medusas". In the mythology, Medusa was the proper name of an individual gorgon. As for the bull, it’s a catoblepas — which depending on the source petrifies with gaze or with breath.
Indeed. But I was comparing Rich’s gorgons (the proper use of the term in my opinion) with the DnD medusa, which is the same creature renamed. Obviously Rich isn’t bound to the abilities of the DnD creature, but lacking any other evidence, it’s a logical assumption.
catoblpas is often referred to as "the African Gorgon." D&D just decided catoblepas would be too hard to pronounce. As for true gorgons, almost everyone has heard of madusa. Most people don’t know there was supposed more like her, much less they had a name. In the end it was more about simplistic naming than creative license.
The catoblepas is (or was) in the D&D monster books, it’s described as a large, bloated bison’s body with short, stumpy legs like those of a hippopotamus. At the front of its body is a shaggy mane of dark brown hair, from which sprouts a long, weak, snake-like neck. The creature’s head like that of a warthog with bloodshot eyes. The beast’s coiling, serpentine tail has a stony mass of stubby spikes at the end. The catoblepas is orange-reddish-brown, and its hide is covered with warts, scabs, and bits of encrusted dung.
And is armed with a Poisonous breath in 3.5, originally it had a fatal gaze attack (Death spell with no save).
The D&D Gorgon is based off the Ethiopian Catoblepas’ description with a small change to its facial features (Bull rather than Boar) and the D&D Medusa is based off the Greek Mythological Gorgons (Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale)… so yeah, it gets confusing.
As for Caelin, I’m pretty sure he’s a wood elf which in traditional D&D (before 4th. maybe 3rd) don’t have a constitution penalty.
I know at least in 3.5 wood elves did have a Constitution penalty (+2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, -2 Int), but Rich isn’t necessarily bound to DnD rules, otherwise the venom would simply sap Caelin’s strength but not kill him.
Thank you so much! Blitz reading this is starting to get to be quite a task what with 3000+ strips in the archives (And to think the books have even more!) If you do wind up using PCs, NPCs or situations from YAFGC in your games, please let me know what you did and how it went! I’d love to hear!!! (More feasible if you take it to the forum, but nobody’s using that much these days.)
I am liking the idea of the twin ubergoddes, and the black mountain society…very interesting.
Also, the stone that give gods a mortal body is interesting…could give another vay to defeat the ultimate big bad of my story, Atropus….
IN a week i have a new session, and i will try to give some hints on this ideas, i will tell you how everything work out
Pick up your copies of YAFGC Volumes 1 - 5 at our online store. Multi-book bundles and sketch editions available.
Well, that’s two down. Unfortunately, going by DnD rules (Not sure if yafgc follows them but it’s the closest comparison), a gorgon’s snakes are venomous and elves are not known for their strong constitutions. Good news is, the poison isn’t fatal, but it will probably leave him weaker than a week old kitten. Unless Rich decides it works differently, of course.
Breaking a neck and ‘no strong constitution?
Well technically he broke the neck by accident when the snake bit him and his hands jerked. Looked like he was trying to gouge out her eyes or blind her (denying her her petrifying gaze). Also snapping someone’s neck is more to do with strength than constitution (ie: How well the body fights of toxins and disease)
Actually, DnD once again didn’t do the homework, Rich did. In DnD, a gorgon is merely a bull with a petrifying breath, while real gorgons are called "medusas". In the mythology, Medusa was the proper name of an individual gorgon. As for the bull, it’s a catoblepas — which depending on the source petrifies with gaze or with breath.
To be fair, I think that was less "D&D didn’t do the homework" and more "D&D took some creative license".
Indeed. But I was comparing Rich’s gorgons (the proper use of the term in my opinion) with the DnD medusa, which is the same creature renamed. Obviously Rich isn’t bound to the abilities of the DnD creature, but lacking any other evidence, it’s a logical assumption.
catoblpas is often referred to as "the African Gorgon." D&D just decided catoblepas would be too hard to pronounce. As for true gorgons, almost everyone has heard of madusa. Most people don’t know there was supposed more like her, much less they had a name. In the end it was more about simplistic naming than creative license.
The catoblepas is (or was) in the D&D monster books, it’s described as a large, bloated bison’s body with short, stumpy legs like those of a hippopotamus. At the front of its body is a shaggy mane of dark brown hair, from which sprouts a long, weak, snake-like neck. The creature’s head like that of a warthog with bloodshot eyes. The beast’s coiling, serpentine tail has a stony mass of stubby spikes at the end. The catoblepas is orange-reddish-brown, and its hide is covered with warts, scabs, and bits of encrusted dung.
And is armed with a Poisonous breath in 3.5, originally it had a fatal gaze attack (Death spell with no save).
The D&D Gorgon is based off the Ethiopian Catoblepas’ description with a small change to its facial features (Bull rather than Boar) and the D&D Medusa is based off the Greek Mythological Gorgons (Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale)… so yeah, it gets confusing.
As for Caelin, I’m pretty sure he’s a wood elf which in traditional D&D (before 4th. maybe 3rd) don’t have a constitution penalty.
I know at least in 3.5 wood elves did have a Constitution penalty (+2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, -2 Int), but Rich isn’t necessarily bound to DnD rules, otherwise the venom would simply sap Caelin’s strength but not kill him.
Well, I was kind of right… Her neck DID get broken, just not by the kid!
Oh no, Caelin! Luckily there’s an alchemist on the premises, at least.
Let’s crack on then!
Just make sure to crack wisely.
And having a good craic 😀
And again this strip is unafraid to display icky killing!
(because it so often is)
t!
FINALLY.
After 3 days i catched up!
damn….thi comic is CRAZY GOOD….and had given me plenty of ideas for D&D campaign…
Thank you so much! Blitz reading this is starting to get to be quite a task what with 3000+ strips in the archives (And to think the books have even more!) If you do wind up using PCs, NPCs or situations from YAFGC in your games, please let me know what you did and how it went! I’d love to hear!!! (More feasible if you take it to the forum, but nobody’s using that much these days.)
I am liking the idea of the twin ubergoddes, and the black mountain society…very interesting.
Also, the stone that give gods a mortal body is interesting…could give another vay to defeat the ultimate big bad of my story, Atropus….
IN a week i have a new session, and i will try to give some hints on this ideas, i will tell you how everything work out