The Order of the Stick

So you can't be a Chaotic Good barbarian?

Maybe OOTS minutes are longer than real-world minutes?

Maybe minutes actually expand and contract depending on dramatic convenience in the OOTSverse?

I had made up an alignment system where Sadistic was the equivalent to Evil. However, there was also Selfish (Neutral) and Selfless (Good), and it was possible to be both Selfless and Sadistic, creating a new alignment called Psychotic.

Okay, fine then.

Thog gets a pass on moral responsibility because I say he does.

Also, Roy is a terrible person. He likes stealing the food of puppies and making puppies feel bad about themselves.

@Mr AHR: Yes, you can. But that sort of barbarian wouldn't enjoy hurting people. I'd imagine him as some sort of noble avenger, directing his fury against those who would hurt others.

A CG barbarian who hurts an innocent in a rage would, in a game I ran at least, face an immediate alignment penalty.

edited 11th Sep '13 4:59:09 PM by Fighteer

Really? Huh, ok. Alignment systems will always confuse me, heh.

Of course, it's also mean of a DM to throw innocents in front of a Good barbarian in order to force him to keep dodging alignment penalties. Generally, it should be up to the player to play his character in ways that don't unnecessarily risk innocent lives — for example, raging in a crowded city street is a far different matter from raging in the lair of the evil orc king.

In the former case, I'd warn the player (possibly after having him roll a Wisdom or Intelligence check) that such an action would be highly likely to result in innocent fatalities, and if he does it more than once, drop him straight down into Chaotic Neutral.

This is moving into rules territory, though, so I suggest taking it to the other thread if you want to discuss it further.

edited 11th Sep '13 5:09:02 PM by Fighteer

Elan already said this. How dare you disagree with the bard, who knows narrative conventions inside out!

And no, Xykon was pretty darn evil from a very young age. His reaction to his (unintentionally) zombified dog eating a bird's brain was "COOL! Let's do that again!"

Point taken. But he might still have been steered on a less destructive path. Or drowned in a barrel, whichever.

Malack's height is inconsistent.

Compare how tall he is compared to Elan here and here.

I am reminded of Lancelot's character in T. H. White's The Once and Future King. He's good because he knows he is a sadist.

Thog is willing to do things even Nale won't consider.

He has no legs. Which part of his tail he "stands" on at any given moment seems like it could be arbitrary.

Gender swap and parent swap the twins and we get a LG Sorceress vs a CE Diva.

That's an...interesting...notion. Except, of course, for the detail that Elan and Nale are Chaotic Good and Lawful Evil respectively.

I assume that the Law vs Chaos is more baked in the oven that the Good vs Evil, which they can get from their parents.

Just imagine Elaine growing up surrounded by deceit and a rapid increase in family fortunes over her childhood, with a father who doesn't mind pushing her into a non-political limelight. As talented as she's spoiled she'd be more likely to be an unwitting pawn used against her father (and underneath the surface plot there would be a secret plot by her father, due to genre skill) than a rebel herself.

edited 11th Sep '13 7:11:05 PM by hcobb

Tarquin's face in Panel 5 had me laughing for at least a minute.

I do like the irony that Tarquin's influence continues to protect Elan from his own men, even though... no, especially because it prevents Elan from pulling the kind of Big Damn Heroes his father would like to see. Even though Elan is still able to help by supporting the others, and isn't as 'useless' as his song claims, it still doesn't fit the role he wants him to take.

Also like the fact that the soldiers are looking out for each other like this. Nice touch.

@Wack'd I don't think it's been an unrealistically long day; many of those strips were conversations that took maybe two or three minutes, some of them were a few rounds of combat that might have taken thirty seconds, plus they were cutting back and forth between at least four different groups... However, I would have thought it should at least be getting dark by now.

I honestly feel like I would enjoy this webcomic even more if I had played D&D once in my life.

I've never played 3.5 in mine (although a dude did give me some rulebooks, and there's always the Hypertext), but I still think I'm getting at least most of the jokes. Popcultural Osmosis, y'know? DnD's a big thing on the internet; there're too many nerds on it for it not to be.

edited 12th Sep '13 12:25:13 PM by Knowlessman

Osmosis and familiarity with RPG mechanics/fantasy tropes in general, for me. Even without playing DnD myself, the number of times I've felt lost on a joke with this comic is remarkably small. Just another mark of Rich's writing ability.

Ditto. Once I get a regular job I'm gonna fix that. gonna get the books, dice, and wrangle my friends into a campaign.

edited 12th Sep '13 3:28:06 PM by Joesolo

The only stuff I know about Dn D comes from Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment, and that's pretty much an entirely different ruleset, anyway.

I'd like to try to get into an actual campaign, but there are no game shops in my area, so I doubt there are any people who play Dn D.