The Order of the Stick

For reference, see the entirety of Greek mythology.

The deities agreed long ago to work through their mortal proxies. They won't break that pact for anything less than the pending destruction of the world. Which is, one might observe, what's happening now, and even now they won't break the rules about direct intervention.

Well, they might. That's effectively what they're deliberating: whether to continue allowing mortals to play things out, or to invoke Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies by way of holy fiat.

edited 8th Feb '16 12:34:10 PM by TobiasDrake

But the Greek gods smite people all the fukkin time

And humanity survived.

Plus, the gods give nno end of favors to their champions. Achilles and his immortality, Perseus and his helm, shield, and sandals. o don't think Greek mages run out'' of spells either

I'd thought that pact only said they would deny each other's clerics spells?

edited 8th Feb '16 12:35:27 PM by blkwhtrbbt

Yes. And that is a shitty world to live in.

Random thing on the topic of deities- I love the fact that the cleric of the Sun Goddess (and presumably the deity as well) has a particular hatred of vampires. It's so stupid that it's brilliant.

Not stupid in the sense of bad writing, but like Norse Mythology itself doesn't have vampires, so in that sense, the animosity is bizarre. But when you have a setting that has both Norse Mythology and vampires, it makes perfect sense that a deity representing the Sun would hate vampires (and presumably vice versa).

edited 8th Feb '16 12:37:50 PM by Hodor2

But the crucial bit is that if they decide to destroy the world, it won't be just one God going rogue for selfish reasons, it'll be all of them acting on the majority opinion.

Tolkien did that too. The sun spirit, forgot her name, hated Morgoth for corrupting so many other fire spirits (dragons and balrogs) and giving them a bad name, so Morgoth and all his creations fear her.

Ulmo, lord of waters also sets all his might against Morgoth and all his servants including Sauron, which is why nazgul never cross water unless they're desperate. Like when they knew the ring of their master was literally just on the opposite bank. And even then they freak the fuck out and depend on their horses to carry them over.

You'll notice Smaug died in a river. In the book, anyway.

edited 8th Feb '16 12:43:08 PM by blkwhtrbbt

38171: Probably, considering he remembered a night light.

It could also be that his memory of his time on the mountain was intact while on the clouds, and while on the clouds he said something about the nightlight, and he remembers saying that thing while on the clouds even if he doesn't directly remember the nightlight itself.

To people trying to make sense of Vancian casting (especially the "Gods grant so many spells to their clerics" version): you might as well try to make sense of the fact that the characters fight with all their strength after being impaled by a triceratops, or the fact that their proficiency in a skill increases after they spend their time fighting without using said skill.

If you want a better Hand Wave, assume the cleric's spirit can handle just this much divine energy at a time before needing to rest, even if the energy is provided by a god. This explains why they get better at casting more spells by fighting and not by praying.

edited 8th Feb '16 1:25:32 PM by Cozzer

Well, Roy managed to break a stick.

Another spectacular victory for the forces of good.

heh. Roy threw it at her in the shape of a cross.

...isn't it supposed to be quite hard to actually destroy a magic item? Just breaking it over your knee seems a little too easy...

The gods give no end of favors to their champions. Achilles and his immortality, Perseus and his helm, shield, and sandals. o don't think Greek mages run out of spells either

You notice how, in those stories, the gods give the heroes a few specific magical items, abilities or enchantments, and then the heroes either use those resources to save the day, or call in a favour from the gods in a moment of great importance, as a last resort? Heracles doesn't just go up to every monster, say "Hey Dad, lightning bolt this dude for me" and call it a day.

Not that "the hero can ask Zeus for lightning bolts, but only three times a day" would make a much better story, but at least it allows for the possibility of dramatic tension.

It's near-impossible to destroy Artifacts, but Malack's staff is an ordinary magic item, not a holy item created by a god. It gets a Fortitude save with a bonus of 2 plus half of its caster level. Clearly, it failed its save.

edited 8th Feb '16 5:39:24 PM by TobiasDrake

It's a wooden stick and Roy has a ridiculous Strength score with his Girdle of Giant Strength. It's like a toothpick to him.

A typical staff has 10 HP and 5 hardness, and can be broken with a DC 24 Strength check. Roy would have no trouble sundering it.

Not to explain the joke (but to explain the joke), but part of what's funny is the High Priestess of Hel claiming that the staff is sacred regalia of the Church of Hel, given that a} the Church of Hel didn't exist til 5 minutes ago and b) Durkula swiped it from Malack- it's another case of their making up rules as they go along.

So while she's pretending it's like Redcloak's Cloak, it's just a magical item.

Well if you think about it, it was the tool their founder used to create the church...

The nightlight comment was Roy commenting on his Archon, which is named Roy's Archon, Riy's archon also traveled with Roy (and the home cooking form his mum) down to the clouds for when he got ressed. *grumpily now tries to tab back to webcomics from the bottom of the page*

edited 8th Feb '16 8:46:17 PM by Silasw

I kinda figured it would be a case of "well, you can break the stick in half, but it's still magic."

If it were merely damaged, that would be the case, but magic items lose their magic if they're destroyed.

I assume being snapped in half qualifies as "destroyed", not "damaged".

edited 9th Feb '16 2:00:03 PM by TobiasDrake

Not unless someone brought some duct tape.

The staff is now appropriately sized for two dwarves 😄