June 25th, 2013... Simplifying the equation...

[warrl]

Would even killing him work? Wouldn't he just reset whenever anyone wins? (Granted we don't know what the O-holes will do.)

Dead bodies don't instantly disappear. They could chuck his body into an oblivion-hole.

[Diatribe]

*whoa, plugging my ears and closing my eyes before I get sucked into yet another obsessive forum hobby*

99% of the reason for posting is to say mucho thanks for an awesome read of many years. This comic is one of the many delightful things on the internet that, collectively, got me through grad school. Thanks!

The reason I made an account *today* was just to complain though! I wanted to say that that is some awfully happy-looking blue in the background there. I find it hard to see anything else, and its pulling attention from what struck me as a perfect expression on psionic min-max in the last panel.

Okay, gotta go from the forums before the chemical dependence kicks in, but thanks again! Peace!

[RidcullyJack]

(snip) ... there ARE several ways of countering psions. First and foremost, they can't keep dishing out that kind of power forever. They run out of juice just like any regular spellcaster. And I'm doubting he's had a chance to rest since this instance of the MoM has begun, so even at a significantly higher level, he won't go on forever.

EDIT: Scratch this, was probably reading the rules wrong:

► Show Spoiler

But Psimax only needs to keep 9 power points up his sleeve (what sleeves?) to teleport to a safe place in the MoM (his entry room would be the perfect place - almost certainly empty). Then after just one round of peaceful concentration, he gets all of his power points back, and rejoins the fray full charged, while his opponents have barely had time to say two things - "Hey, where's the purple armed Minmax go? This is why I hate psions, their powers are too -- sonova crap, he's back!" *splishk*

EDIT: Hmmm, it seems it depends on where I read the rules whether a psion gets their power points back this quickly, or needs a good night's sleep to get them back - but it looks like it does need a full night's sleep, and then gets points back easily.

[Sidewaysgts]

(snip) ... there ARE several ways of countering psions. First and foremost, they can't keep dishing out that kind of power forever. They run out of juice just like any regular spellcaster. And I'm doubting he's had a chance to rest since this instance of the MoM has begun, so even at a significantly higher level, he won't go on forever.

EDIT: Scratch this, was probably reading the rules wrong:

► Show Spoiler

But Psimax only needs to keep 9 power points up his sleeve (what sleeves?) to teleport to a safe place in the MoM (his entry room would be the perfect place - almost certainly empty). Then after just one round of peaceful concentration, he gets all of his power points back, and rejoins the fray full charged, while his opponents have barely had time to say two things - "Hey, where's the purple armed Minmax go? This is why I hate psions, their powers are too -- sonova crap, he's back!" *splishk*

EDIT: Hmmm, it seems it depends on where I read the rules whether a psion gets their power points back this quickly, or needs a good night's sleep to get them back - but it looks like it does need a full night's sleep, and then gets points back easily.

I've seen various rules but the general idea that I've seen is that psions need to properly "rest" before recharging their power points (and then could use a single round of concentration to refill them), or they need 8 hours of relatively uninterrupted meditation/focus/concentration- with interruptions adding to the time to do it.

While on the topic, Psions do to the best of my knowledge have a few ways to "store" power points though- Cognizance crystals for example. Basically they can spend points to charge items with power points and can then draw on that at a later point to use their powers. Who knows if Psimax is using these, how many he has, how charged up they are, etc. Ive never played a psion and only know about them from reading, so im pretty ignant on them sadly. But I wouldnt be half surprised if thats what those gears by his arms were, or what his machine is built out of (based on what the kins said when they saw it).

[Krulle]

Final shading is there.
They removed the "I am great" on Sumerian Minmax's helmet on the right again....
Nice to see how work in progress changes back and fort.... :)

[spiderwrangler]

Final shading is there.
They removed the "I am great" on Sumerian Minmax's helmet on the right again....
Nice to see how work in progress changes back and fort....

If it was removed, it was put back again.

[Kriss50]

Just had to register and comment, the updated Artwork looks awesome. Though, I do have to say, Psymax looks slightly worried in the last panel, and he missed the axe head. He got the handle, but not the head

[spiderwrangler]

he missed the axe head. He got the handle, but not the head

It's been decided that it likely doesn't matter.

[Andreyz]

Hello, I had to recreate my user as this forum apparently changed, but I'm back since the last few updates were awesome (I have to admit I kinda like this batshit Psymax dude).

Would like to point out a few things I observed through this storyline, despite being completely oblivious of how D&D actually works.
Whenever he uses his splishk power he seems to target a specific point in space and make everything around that point in a certain variable radius disintegrate, and this appears to happen with minimal effort and power cost.
However this time he used those gears to first levitate his enemies and then significantly increase the radius of his splishk.
I think he uses his psy machine to both store and amplify his powers, and the key to defeat him is most likely destroying or messing around with his machine, something the Kins in the final room might be able to pull off.

We'll see.

[Kriss50]

However this time he used those gears to first levitate his enemies and then significantly increase the radius of his splishk.
I think he uses his psy machine to both store and amplify his powers, and the key to defeat him is most likely destroying or messing around with his machine, something the Kins in the final room might be able to pull off.

We'll see.

I personally think that it might be that most of his psionic power is being used in the machine, and also that if he rests he might have to re-create the machine

[Slings Words]

(snip) ... there ARE several ways of countering psions. First and foremost, they can't keep dishing out that kind of power forever. They run out of juice just like any regular spellcaster. And I'm doubting he's had a chance to rest since this instance of the MoM has begun, so even at a significantly higher level, he won't go on forever.

EDIT: Scratch this, was probably reading the rules wrong:

► Show Spoiler

But Psimax only needs to keep 9 power points up his sleeve (what sleeves?) to teleport to a safe place in the MoM (his entry room would be the perfect place - almost certainly empty). Then after just one round of peaceful concentration, he gets all of his power points back, and rejoins the fray full charged, while his opponents have barely had time to say two things - "Hey, where's the purple armed Minmax go? This is why I hate psions, their powers are too -- sonova crap, he's back!" *splishk*

EDIT: Hmmm, it seems it depends on where I read the rules whether a psion gets their power points back this quickly, or needs a good night's sleep to get them back - but it looks like it does need a full night's sleep, and then gets points back easily.

I've seen various rules but the general idea that I've seen is that psions need to properly "rest" before recharging their power points (and then could use a single round of concentration to refill them), or they need 8 hours of relatively uninterrupted meditation/focus/concentration- with interruptions adding to the time to do it.

While on the topic, Psions do to the best of my knowledge have a few ways to "store" power points though- Cognizance crystals for example. Basically they can spend points to charge items with power points and can then draw on that at a later point to use their powers. Who knows if Psimax is using these, how many he has, how charged up they are, etc. Ive never played a psion and only know about them from reading, so im pretty ignant on them sadly. But I wouldnt be half surprised if thats what those gears by his arms were, or what his machine is built out of (based on what the kins said when they saw it).

You are correct that a Psion can store power points. Whether Psimax is doing this or not is unclear

[ChuckNorris]

It's funny, everytime I see a psion played, it always ends up like this. Just overpowered craziness, with lots of debate on why they're able to be that powered, and its "Limited power, he's actually very weak!" But when push comes to shove, that weakness never emerges. And they always just flat out blast through characters, npc's, bosses, big baddies which aren't supposed to be an easy take down, just with the power over their mind.

What's so overpowered about psions?

[WhispersToSquirrels]

How many omnipotent antagonists does one web comic need?

At one point, wasn't the title of the comic, "Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes"? I imagine that standard goblins see the world as full of omnipotent antagonists.

While I doubt it matters, is that the Hammer of Jale, which I'm fairly certain been mentioned somewhere, in the second last panel (belonging to the alt-max whose helmet covers his scarred eye)? The armour that alt-max is wearing certainly seems like a more 'evil' version of Big Ears armour.

If it is, did PsiMax just release the Angel?

Now Psymax appears hopelessly overpowered, as he basically levitated a whole area and splishked all that's in it (including the droplets of what used to be Ringmax - too many details to pay attention to in those updates, by the way... like the discoloratin of arms seem to indicate they serve as power storage).

Ringmax is a twice-splishked alt!

It's not like FMK has had to face down Kore or Junior (which would be very exasperating).

The story lines may come together. It's already been speculated that MinMax and Forgath teleport into the GAP's battle with Kore.

Would even killing him work? Wouldn't he just reset whenever anyone wins? (Granted we don't know what the O-holes will do.)

It would work for one of the parties.

I wonder if Psimax has taken into account that single-handedly slaughtering the eleven minor variables in such a showy manner is going to attract the attention of many of the remaining alts, and that Kin can simply repeat the same story to them as soon as they're listening. If his arm changing colour is an indication of his power being used up, he isn't likely to want to fight all of the remaining alts no matter how overpowered he is.

How many alts remain? I'm getting the impression that the number is getting rather small.

That said, I wonder if his expression in the last panel is realising how many other minor variables have just been altered by his actions, or realising that GoldMax and BlueMax are going for the Cutting The Gordian Knot solution and trying to kill Minmax to prevent him from being able to summon the sword Psimax needs.

I was thinking the same thing. Seems like that might be the simplest way.

By blade, they are talking about the blade in the last panel too. I don't think it's unsplishkable, just that the handle was what was splishked... much like I don't think that Brow's fingers and beard braid are 'unsplishkable' here... http://www.goblinscomic.org/06112013/

I looked at is as a representation of splishking in progress. By leaving some parts showing, the reader can tell what is being splishked.

Here's my problem with the last two pages: Psimax knows that Kin is still alive, and has figured out enough about the workings of his reality machine that she can use to project both her image and her voice. Should he not prioritise going back to the reality engine and splishking her properly? She messing with what is surely his most prized possession, and he's going to leave her there making more changes to it / with it!

Maybe he will teleport back to the machine with MinMax, be surprised by the Kinship, who have managed to use the machine to remove their psionic suppressing collars, which they slap on PsiMax to block his powers. Then the Kinship decides to stay to study the machine and FMK wins the maze. Or maybe they all get splishked.

I think it's more likely that Goldie will be decisive in beating Psimax. It just seems like there wouldn't be much other point to bringing back an established character.

Not sure what he could do, though. I suppose he can guess Psimax's actual name?

I thought that only worked on demons. Or maybe it was just outsiders. But then in the maze, isn't everyone an outsider?

What level is he?

Really high.

How did he get so absurdly powerful?

By running the maze over and over.

How did he manage to stay alive this long without his Kin and his Forgath killing and/or leaving him?

Until the Maze of Many he was just a quirky character whose powers came in really handy in certain situations.

He's obviously batshit. How did he get this way?
What's up with the arms?
Why does he think oblivion is such a good idea anyhow? I guess his own answer has something to do with pain, but the real answer is something else.

How about this? When his was but a wee little PsiMax a big bully killed his whole family, cut off his arms, and left him to die. But he survived! Through much struggle, he was eventually able to grow new arms by using "the power of his mind"Ôäó and became a Psion. Eventually, he found the big bully and exacted his revenge. But even that couldn't dim the painful memories. He decided that the only way to erase the pain is to make it so that it never happened. And so began his quest for oblivion. Or maybe he just never outgrew the "I didn't ask to be born!" phase and is essentially a surly teenager with too much power.

The whole 1=0 machine doesn't really make any sense to me.

I don't think it's supposed to make sense. Somehow, he's going to destroy the universe by proving that it lacks internal logical consistency. I suppose that physicists destroy models of universes in exactly that way. And the maze is kind of like a model of a universe.

Oblivious doesn't really make any sense to me.

Then it would be very powerful in your hands!

[apotato]

i still dont get how psimax hopes to even acquire the weapon. he more or less needs minmax to hold onto it while he studies it. it's power is inversely proportioned to the wielders understanding of it. psimax made the oblivion holes it was created with so psimax knows the sword couldn't possibly exist. his grabbing it could destroy it.

or it could destroy him.

if you guys are saying yuan ti have psionic powers (i'm not a DnD player) then it makes sense that one of the kins will have a showdown against psimax. possibly 156kin will risk removing her collar since her tail is destroyed. they aren't certain the collar goes boom, just weren't willing to risk it. in fact some realities may have exploding collars while others dont

[Unlucky-for-Some]

If I understand Kin's hypothesis correctly, if PsiMax gets MinMax to draw Oblivious he may be able to use the power of the unReality Engine to alter one of the variables of the sword - specifically, the variable that defines who Oblivious is keyed to. If he can do that then Oblivious belongs to him and not to MinMax. MinMax will no longer be able to wield the sword, nor even hold it in place in time, it will just disappear from his hand and PsiMax can then reach out his hand and take it.

Of course, if this happens then PsiMax will very quickly run into the problem that he is smart and actively trying to understand the sword and it's power, so before long it will cease to have much if any power at all. But then, in a sense that will be ok for him since he kind of wants Oblivious out of the way anyway.

I suppose it is also possible that given Oblivious's nature, all it's variables (including the who it belongs to one) are locked and PsiMax won't be able to change it ...

[WhispersToSquirrels]

i still dont get how psimax hopes to even acquire the weapon. he more or less needs minmax to hold onto it while he studies it. it's power is inversely proportioned to the wielders understanding of it. psimax made the oblivion holes it was created with so psimax knows the sword couldn't possibly exist. his grabbing it could destroy it.

or it could destroy him.

Oooh, cool thought.

if you guys are saying yuan ti have psionic powers (i'm not a DnD player) then it makes sense that one of the kins will have a showdown against psimax. possibly 156kin will risk removing her collar since her tail is destroyed. they aren't certain the collar goes boom, just weren't willing to risk it. in fact some realities may have exploding collars while others dont

My thought was that if they can understand the machine, which supposedly manipulates the physical laws of this pocket universe, then maybe they can use it to suppress the collars long enough to get them off. Then maybe they can use the collars against PsiMax. But I suppose they would need to have a greater understanding of how the collars work.

[Unlucky-for-Some]

I doubt they will be able to use the Engine against him directly since he created it and will understand it better than they (for a while at least - though their INT will soon start chewing that advantage up), but there should be no reason why they can't change the variable on their collars that stops it from being removed (or cause it to go Boom!)

[warrl]

I can think of a number of ways they could use the Engine against him. I'd start by looking for ways to either create psionics-suppressors out of ordinary objects such as Psimax's skull or blood spatters or..., or just in general turn down the power of psionics.

Edit: another approach would be to modify the number that his weaknesses are concentrated in. Change it to 1. Then Minmax grabs another weapon, *fumbles*, and knocks Psimax cold in manner that pushes him into an oblivion hole... and everyone wonders what happened.

[brnforce]

I can think of a number of ways they could use the Engine against him. I'd start by looking for ways to either create psionics-suppressors out of ordinary objects such as Psimax's skull or blood spatters or..., or just in general turn down the power of psionics.

Edit: another approach would be to modify the number that his weaknesses are concentrated in. Change it to 1. Then Minmax grabs another weapon, *fumbles*, and knocks Psimax cold in manner that pushes him into an oblivion hole... and everyone wonders what happened.

This then leads to Kin and Forgath fighting the 3 Kins again. When the serpents are their prey.....

[friedkitty]

But the 3 kins don't want to win, so they'd have no problems getting our kin to help them figure out how to use the machine to fix it so they can remember and join forces before letting our fmk win.

[brnforce]

But the 3 kins don't want to win, so they'd have no problems getting our kin to help them figure out how to use the machine to fix it so they can remember and join forces before letting our fmk win.

??? How do we know that the kins don't want to win? I don't believe that has ever been stated as fact and is only speculation, I could be wrong though.

[friedkitty]

They mentioned it right after they saved our Kin. I'm looking for the comic now.

Look at panel 6/7

[brnforce]

They mentioned it right after they saved our Kin. I'm looking for the comic now.

Look at panel 6/7

hmm. Weird. That makes me ask so many more questions than it answers.