History TheOrderOfTheStick / TropesPToR

* PsychoStrings: Parodied in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0608.html "Mean Girls"]].
* PteroSoarer: A pteranodon is big and strong enough to be used as flying mount by a man in armor. Standard for the genre, really.

-->You will remain stripped to the waist with your muscles oiled at all times, for no apparent purpose. See the oil steward if your skin becomes dry for any reason.

-->'''Lord Shojo:''' As the gods pulled on the last few strands, the new world formed in the same planar space as the Snarl, shunting it into a tiny demiplane from which it could not free itself. The gods had been clever and built their planet to exist in multiple coterminous dimensions, thus blocking the only vibrational frequencies the Snarl could have used to escape from its cell.\\

* PlanningWithProps: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0413.html The Azure City war council]] is planning the battle by using prepainting plastic figurines. Problem is, they have trouble finding accurate ones, so they improvise.

* RidiculouslySmallWings: As shown in [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0754.html strip #754 "Maybe She Ate A Zeppelin"]], the Empress of Blood is capable of flight in spite of being morbidly obese by dragon standards and having tiny wings. Elan, Tarquin and Vaarsuvius all lampshade how ridiculous this is.

* RocBirds: At one point, a drunken wizard teleports the order into a roc's nest. Fortunately, the roc eats the wizard first, becomes drunk itself, and passes out.

--->'''Minrah:''' ''[to Belkar]'' Thanks for coming and asking me about spells and stuff. I don't think Roy really really knows what to do with me yet.\\

** It's heavily implied that Sabine's shapeshifting finds its uses in her relationship with Nale... but then, [[HornyDevils she's a succubus]], it comes with the territory.

%%* PlayingWithATrope: [[UpToEleven Hoooooo boy.]]

** Subverted in a print-only arc where [[ShipperOnDeck Elan tries to set up Hinjo and Lien]] because he thinks they're the [[DyingRace last two paladins]] and they need to replenish their numbers. Turns out neither sees the other in that way and Lien has a boyfriend (though Hinjo is a little offended by exactly how much he isn't her type).

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0784.html Elan]], when a dinosaur intervenes at the right time to prevent the grisly death of two of their rivals, while chomping several unnamed guards.

** [[spoiler:Serini Toormuck]] was so dead-set on ''not'' speaking to the Order that they refused to reply to Vaarsuvius's Sending spells ''at all''--which only resulted in further attempts by the Order to try and reach them. As Vaarsuvius eventually pointed out, had the other replied in the first place, the later Sending spells could have been stopped.

** Roy to Miko, Vaarsuvius to both Miko and Belkar at the same time, Redcloak to Miko, and Hinjo to Miko (she really gets a lot of these, doesn't she?).
*** Even Xykon to Miko!

* ReviveKillsZombie: As per ''D&D'' rules, "Heal" and related spells damage undead creatures, while "Inflict wounds" and related spells heal them.

** Durkon's conversation with [[spoiler:Belkar in #1151 reveals that Durkon had been feeding ''very specific'' memories to the High Priest of Hel on purpose--the memories that were Durkon's "tipping points" to CharacterDevelopment. An idea he'd first had with an earlier conversation between his vampire self and Belkar in #957]]. Rereading the ''Utterly Dwarfed'' arc with this in mind makes this ''very'' apparent. Even the [[spoiler:"trolling" memories, like the food poisoning and the workplace orientation seminar, were carefully chosen]] for this specific purpose.

** Happens to an as-of-that-point-unnamed sylph in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0053.html "See, They're Flying, Because It's an Air Sigil"]], though she comes back.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler:V beats Zzdtri, but Z plane shifts them into the Semi-Elemental Plane of Ranch Dressing as a last resort.]]

* PairTheSpares: Parodied in the Order's illusory "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0887.html Happy Ending]]" montage; after Elan/Haley and Roy/Celia get {{The Big Damn Kiss}}es, Elan imagines Banjo kissing a lady puppet. Deconstructed in the next couple of strips; he also imagines his [[DivorceIsTemporary father and mother getting back together]], but it's the fact that this would be totally out-of-character and [[{{Glurge}} schmaltzy]] that clues him in that they're trapped in a LotusEaterMachine.

* PlaceboEurekaMoment: Expecting his father's ghost to turn up and haunt him again, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0162.html Roy talks to him anyway]], and comes to a realisation about his treatment of Elan.

* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted in the Tinkertown arc. When Haley and Bandana are attacked by Crystal as a golem, the town's defense force shows up and initially makes things worse by zapping Crystal with a lightning gun (which heals and powers up golems). After that little flub they become competent and effective at assisting Haley and Bandana.

* ThePowerOfLegacy: O-Chul allows takes responsibility for the destruction of Soon's gate to prevent further tarnishing of [[spoiler:Miko's legacy.]]

* PrecursorHeroes: The Order of the Scribble.

* PsychicAssistedSuicide: Redcloak [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html commands]] a group of undead to kill each other once they have [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Outlived Their Usefulness]].

** When Roy gets into a fight with a vampire who was raised from the corpse of one of his friends, the vampire attempts to demoralise Roy with an underhanded taunt about [[MockingTheMourner the accident that killed his baby brother Eric]]. This convinces Roy that the vampire isn't actually his friend, but a monster that has hijacked their corpse, and he starts fighting more fiercely as a result.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0802.html "Took a Level in Sauceror"]] [[spoiler:"Plane Shift!"]]

* RealityEnsues:
** In keeping with his class's mechanical ability to grant inspiration to his party members to improve their abilities, Elan tries to sing songs to help Roy bluff and V concentrate. Both of them are foiled instead because Elan tells the subject of the bluff check that Roy is bluffing and his song only annoys V. Another time, he tries singing to improve his and Haley's chances at moving silently, only for Haley to remind him it's a ''textbook example'' of a situation where it doesn't work.
** Belkar gets hung by bandits but comes out of it completely fine since he's a 30-pound halfling with most of his weight concentrated in his head, meaning the rope can't even pull tight enough to choke him, let alone break his neck. Belkar even starts mocking humans [[LampshadeHanging for assuming all human methods of execution apply to every species]].
** When the group fights a hydra, they find that every time one of its heads is cut off, two more grow in its place. However, once it grows enough heads, it passes out because it no longer has enough blood to supply its many brains.
** Late into the story, Durkon has a heartfelt reunion with his mother Sigdi after being exiled from the Dwarven lands for years. The party assumes that Sigdi had no way of knowing of Durkon's whereabouts since he was immediately tossed out on short notice. However, it's then revealed that Durkon had been keeping contact with ''sending'' (the magical equivalent of a video message), and had in fact talked with her last week.
--->'''Durkon:''' Wha's the point o' havin' long-range commun'cation magic if'n ye cannae use it ta tell yer loved ones yer safe?
** Bozzok gets a fatal lesson on why you ''don't'' make a golem self-aware. Grubwiggler points this out before [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere booking]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Roy to Miko, Vaarsuvius to both Miko and Belkar at the same time, Redcloak to Miko, and Hinjo to Miko (she really gets a lot of these, doesn't she?).
** Elan gives one to V in #596, by conjuring an illusion of Belkar congratulating V on the elf's actions.
** Xykon delivered a particularly nasty one to Vaarsuvius on the nature of true power. In general, this is Xykon's speciality, and he even mentions he makes a habit of giving such speeches to "learned wizards" like V.
** And in #830, [[spoiler:Redcloak to Tsukiko]].
** In #881, we get [[spoiler:Belkar giving one to Roy]].
** Subverted in #500. Roy's about to launch into one towards his father, when he suddenly has an epiphany and decides that his father isn't worth it, since if everything he's been through hasn't made him want to be a better man then a few insults from Roy won't do it.
** In #906 Nale gives a brutal one while [[spoiler:killing Malack]].
** The shortest one in the comic, yet no less accurate:
--->'''Julio Scoundrèl:''' I think that's half your problem, T. You always think everything is about ''you''!
** Grubwiggler gives [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0980.html a nasty one to Bozzok]] when Crystal turns on the latter, and finishes, "Farewell, Bozzok. You were never as clever as you thought you were", teleporting away as Crystal pounds Bozzok into a smear on the floor.
** [[spoiler:The High Priest of Hel]] gives a lot of these, but [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1007.html this one to Durkon is particularly brutal.]]
** [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1212.html Minrah to Redcloak]] when the latter ignores Durkon's offer that gets him what he wants for the sake of the plan he's been working on for decades, [[spoiler:even after learning that following it would not only get all the goblins in the world killed, but that the Dark One may not even survive to make it to the next world.]]
** [[spoiler:Serini Toormuck]] delivers a number of biting zingers to O-Chul and Lien (not having a very high opinion of paladins in general) but saves the most brutal verbal beatdown for last when [[spoiler:she points out that the various good guys have tried to stop Xykon from capturing the gates four times and the only result has been four destroyed gates- and with the fate of the world hanging on the survival of the last gate, she doesn't trust ''any'' of them to protect it any more]].
--->'''[[spoiler:Serini]]:''' You fools had four shots to try and stop Xykon and earn your preferred set of outcomes. You did squat all with it. Now we're on the brink of oblivion, thanks to you. Sorry, no fifth chances on [[spoiler:Aunt Serini]]'s watch.

* ThePuppetCutsHisStrings: Lord Shojo, the supreme lord of Azure City, pretends to be an incompetent ruler who talks to his pet cat, but is quite privy to the machinations of the various nobles and political factions.
-->'''Shojo:''' I have found it easier to let them believe that I am senile and easily swayed. When I rule in their favor, they assume that they controlled me. When I rule against them, they assume that one of their rival nobles controlled me. I can make the decisions I feel are necessary without worrying about being killed over them.

-->'''Shojo''': I have found it easier to let them believe that I am senile and easily swayed. When I rule in their favor, they assume that they controlled me. When I rule against them, they assume that one of their rival nobles controlled me. I can make the decisions I feel are necessary without worrying about being killed over them.