Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

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Writes-critically
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Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by Writes-critically » Sat Aug 28, 2021 12:38 pm

I'll try to summarize all the body changes from the top of my head. In no particular order:

Chief - poked his eye out with a stick (okay this comes early and serves comedic purpose so we can let it slide)
"One eye" the goblin - another goblin in the story that has one eye (though he dies rather fast so eh)
One of the goblin elders using stick as a cane (Kore kills him) - I believe he has no leg?
Thaco - lacks an ear
Dellyn Goblinslayer - part tree
Minimax - gets sliced through his eye, the eye then turns purple at the end of Maze of many. Also he has a color-changing armor for some reason? (What's the purpose of that btw?)
Forgath - I don't even know what he is at this point. First he gained a super beard (translucent, glowing) then he got healed by a bunch of kliks to have parts of skin made out of different materials, finally he turned into some kind of a golem? Oh and somewhere in between his arm was turned into stone
Psion minimax - purple arms, later on rest of the body too
Complains of names - loses fingers right before having an ongoing demonic transformation
Kselis - arms melted off before dying
Biscuit - translucent mouth, leg chopped off
One winged white goblin chick - only a singular wing, later on zero wings
Big ears - glowy eyes was still a rather tame thing but then he sliced his ears off and now he is part angel with blue skin all over the place?
Dies horribly - arm chopped off, replaced with a green magical prosthetic, later on chopped off again to be replaced with another green magical prosthetic which now is glowy. His ears get translucent after he's revived.
Fumbles - word "MONSTER" scarred into his forehead.
Kin - tail chopped off, replaced with a colorful tail. Later on her arm is made out of metal
Idle - part rabbit (among other things, colorful tattoos kinda fit the issue)
Kore - uuuhh ?
Creator's self insert charac-I mean... Angel-Goblin chick - one horn chopped off
Brassmoon's prisoners - all kinds of scars and missing limbs
Maze of many - galore of any body modification imaginable

And there's probably more I missed!

At this point I'm convinced this has got to be a mental kink of the creator, thinking that someone is "better" if they possess at least one part of the body that is at least one of the following:
- unnaturally colored
- translucent
- glowing
- missing

Does it make for a more interesting design? Uh, perhaps? But come on, if everyone is interesting then nobody is. Anyone wanna bet that Fumbles is on his way of having the glowing fake moustache glued permamently to his face?

Inspired
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Re: Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by Inspired » Sun Aug 29, 2021 3:22 am

1) It's not that people in real life have glasses, fake eyes, hearing aids, breathing aids, pacemakers, hip and other prostethics, fake teeth, canes, wheelchairs, instep-raisers, missing or having deformed body parts, etc...

2) Would it make them more interesting if they had a perfect body like all your mediocre american superhero comics or waifu/husbando material japanese mangas? Also, just by the looks of it, these are memorable changes if you indeed listed this many on top of your head and did not search the comic to prove your point. So, the design helps? Moreover, many of these body changes have a story behind them (many of them even explained/happened in the comic). They are not changed just because the fun of it... But even then, people change. What is the easiest representation of change? In a comic, nonetheless ?

3) The story is set into a DnD world. Which is a brutal fantasy setting where things die or get wrecked in various ways sooner or later. These things just happen, it is natural to them.

4) Even more so, the point the comic is trying to make, that nobody is perfect (or black&white morally aligned). They deal with it, and trying their best to overcome their hinderances (or stuck in self-misery like Duv). You hooking onto the topic makes me think you might be missing the point, or just finding an excuse to vent your frustration because the comic is seemingly not as great as it is used to be for you.

5) Vorpal having the mustache glued to his face would be hilarious. I know you mentioned it as a joke, but still. In any case, why would we care? It does not really change who they are or how they act.

Sorry for any percieved hostility, it was not in my intention. It's just that these types of posts irk me more than some chopped off limbs and I couldn't help myself. Happy comic reading!
aka LooksAndSmiles, or L&S for short.

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Generic
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Re: Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by Generic » Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:19 am

To make Saves a Fox stand out from the crowd. Duh.
You won't sleep when you're dead either.

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Krulle
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Re: Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by Krulle » Wed Sep 01, 2021 5:34 am

Some psychologists might see some projection of the author's own perception of her body.

But it makes for a storyline, and forced character development.

But in the end it may just be that Ellipsis likes tatoos, piercings,... and took it a bit to the extreme, also to show that this is not a game, where you turn around and everything is as it was. the dangers [of your character] dying are real.
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Velgar
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Re: Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by Velgar » Wed Sep 01, 2021 12:37 pm

Got to agree too that though numerous, the body modifications/injuries are not excessive.

There are quite many of them, yes. And with Ellipsis being as she is and was, it's easy to wonder if one or two had something to do with thee.

But as mentioned, the amount of "bodyhorror" one can find in stories versus Goblins, this one is not that bad. I would also say it more highlights the brutal nature of the world they live in.

It's an RPG, but it's not WoW where you keep killing the same deers and wolves in hope that one out of their ten incarnations were born with feet, even though all their character models have them. Somehow they disappear from the body when they die, soon followed by the rest of ghe body and then the critter just spawns anew.

In Goblins... You just die (mostly). And you are harmed for reals even when there's curative magic and potions.

It was even once talked about that why don't character X just use some shenanimagthing to heal thing Q? And Ellipsis said that outright returning lost things is not easy, even if even grievious wounds can be cured in myriad of ways.

And it does raise the stakes when your characters aren't purely immortal too. They die, get hurt, maimed and injured. Makes the story more interesting.

But too much is always too much, so it's only fair to ask if we are there yet. I say not yet, but that's a matter of taste.

I've followed even one artist who did come to note that they had actually revelled in injuries, pain and bodyhorror in excess (which they kinda did, kinda didn't). The silly part was that they felt they had theb been highly stereotypical that they had censored nudity while promoting violence and that this was wrong to them now. Soooo... They changed booze to tobacco and now next every second strip they make has dicks boobs or pussy in clear showing (for really no narrative reason, the characters just run around naked a lot), so...

To each of their own...

Tl;dr - It's okay to ask if too much is too much or if the creator is "only creating something because of what they are", but personally don't feel either case being too bad in this one, even if either is true.
~The smallest of pebbles can start an avalanche, but even the greatest of boulders can hit nothing.~

cbertrand
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Re: Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by cbertrand » Tue Oct 26, 2021 7:00 am

Velgar wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 12:37 pm . . .
It was even once talked about that why don't character X just use some shenanimagthing to heal thing Q? And Ellipsis said that outright returning lost things is not easy, even if even grievious wounds can be cured in myriad of ways.
. . .
Do you have a link to where Elipsis talked about this? I would love to know how she aligns her world with actual D&D rules.

Velgar
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Re: Why does everyone end up with at least one modified bodypart?

Post by Velgar » Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:45 pm

cbertrand wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 7:00 am Do you have a link to where Elipsis talked about this? I would love to know how she aligns her world with actual D&D rules.
Gave it my darnest, but couldn't find actual quote from Ellis. Just references from WearsHats and more in line of speculations.
WearsHats wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:37 am It's D&D rules. If you get stabbed or crushed or whatever, it takes off hit points, which do not otherwise impair your abilities and which can be restored with a simple healing spell or potion. Basic healing magic, however, cannot restore lost body parts, and you need special magic to deal with other things such as curses, diseases, and vampiric energy drain.

Rope fused with trachea did indeed have a permanent effect. It probably would have choked Kore to death if he wasn't immortal. In any case, a healing spell wouldn't remove the rope fibers.

Also, Elli has stated that stone in this world is more brittle than the stone we're used to, mostly for dramatic visual effect.

As I said, the Orb of Bloodlight is rare magic, and difficult to come by. Duv had an army of slaves set to retrieve it, and most of them died.

Psymax spent years building and perfecting his psionic gears. It wouldn't have been possible without the maze resetting things.

Kliks rarely try to heal limbs, either. Because, as we saw, the potential to get it disastrously wrong is high.

Also: Elli has made it a point that every single battle leaves some kind of permanent mark, no matter how small.
And other things speculated in that thread.
~The smallest of pebbles can start an avalanche, but even the greatest of boulders can hit nothing.~

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