This is the thread for discussion of The Order of the Stick plot, characters, etc. We have a separate thread
for discussing game rules and mechanics. Excessive rules discussions here may be thumped as off-topic.
OP edited to make this header - Fighteer
edited 18th Sep '17 1:08:08 PM by Fighteer
Nale’s evil elf wizard holds the second place I think, they had a huge gap.
If you discount flashback appearances than the Snarl, the Scribble and Durkon’s and Haley’s side characters are out, one of the gods probably has a pretty good score.
Edited by Silasw on Feb 10th 2020 at 9:32:57 AM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranBurlew's always been very careful with the limitations of the Sending spell. So I don't think it'd be something as cavalier as "Burlew's just ignoring the rules of Sending this one time even though he's never done that before."
I also doubt she'd have died offscreen, especially given a) how flippant she is and b) the fact that she's a very minor character who was last seen not really doing anything that might lead to an offscreen death. It's not like she's a hardened adventurer last seen to take on an Epic Dragon or something. Some characters can just turn up dead and you're like, "Yeah, that makes sense. They lead a dangerous lifestyle." Julia isn't one of those characters.
I also don't think it's The Tape Knew You Would Say That. Roy first acknowledges Julia without knowing it's her, floating there and just watching him. He then asks a question, to which she answers.
Sending doesn't do that. Sending does not scry. You cast the spell to send a message, and then Sending allows a response. Julia can't appear in a Sending and just stand there saying nothing; she has to speak first, and then Roy can respond. You can't Reverse-Sending someone and then wait around to see if they have anything to say to you. That's not a thing.
So, given the flaws in all other options, I'm putting my chips on this being a Greenhilt Family Sword thing.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 10th 2020 at 3:15:27 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Considering Roy asked the sword to pawn Eugene's visits on Julia while trying to learn how to empower himself during Eugene's visit right after the Godsmoot visit,
maybe it actually did and Eugene taught Julia how to talk to Roy through the Sword?
Or maybe she just made a custom spell tied to their ancestral sword. Or plane shifted and asked her family.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."Regarding this. Considering how Death Is Cheap in the OOTS'Verse her flippancy would make some sense.
Spiral out, keep going.![]()
![]()
That is a really good point. Okay, I take it back. This is almost certainly Julia communicating via the sword's link to Roy's family.
I'm pretty sure Roy's sword is a homebrew, in which case anything goes.
IIRC, actual Weapons of Legacy from the Weapons of Legacy guidebook are notorious for the fact that they suck. They have some sort of significant drawback that makes people hesitant to actually use them. Like if Roy's sword drained a level from him every time he got the green aura or some shit.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 11th 2020 at 8:22:53 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I don't know, I made it up on the spot as a drawback for what Roy's sword might do if it were really written up as a Weapon of Legacy.
Weapons of Legacy provide negligible bonuses to your ability in exchange for sabotaging your abilities in other places. Picture a +1 Longsword, except it's a +1 Longsword that cuts your Reflex save in half and provides few if any benefits over a +1 Longsword. Shit like that.
Weapons of Legacy are terrible and nobody uses them, which is why Rich homebrewed an In Name Only version for Roy's sword.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 11th 2020 at 9:27:30 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.It's not In Name Only, it's explicitly a Weapon of Legacy. Roy is literally reading the Weapons of Legacy splatbook.
Anyway, yes there are tradeoffs to using a Weapon of Legacy, and they're not really worth it, but it's not so bad as "level drain every time you use the cool power" or "cut your Reflex save in half." You get a minor penalty to a couple saves, a minor penalty to a couple skill checks, and a minor penalty to max HP, all depending on the exact Weapon of Legacy and how far you've advanced with it.
They were trying to prevent the system from being another Game-Breaker, and they succeeded, but then they had a system that wasn't really worth the trouble of using. It's not actively bad, having a Weapon of Legacy is better than not having one, it's just that there are other ways to get similar power without all the hassle.
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.In a way, I can kind of understand it from a balance point of view, if weapons of legacy were direct upgrades from normal weapons with no downside, everyone would have a weapon of legacy since you'd start with it at level 1. But the detriments need to be better thought of.
If you think about it, a temporary level drain after a power up would be a pretty balanced drawback. It forces you to rest after a power up, or you risk draining yourself too weak, so it's the kind of thing you use for big battles or when you need to turn things around.
![]()
Well, the level drain system in 3.5 is horribly unbalanced, and for once it's unbalanced against the players, so anything that uses level drain is a lot more dangerous than it's really intended to be.

I imagine if Julia was dead she wouldn't be snarking as much and would be more pissed. Also when did we last see her? It wasn't the Cliffport arc was it?
Edit: If so then is this a record for longest gap between appearances of a named character? Let's exclude one off gag characters like the poleshop emporium owner. The only person I can think of that comes close is Hilgya and she technically reappeared a few years back.
Edited by Kostya on Feb 10th 2020 at 3:08:51 PM