TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The Order of the Stick

Go To

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

HeraldAlberich from Ohio (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#52601: Feb 11th 2020 at 8:24:00 PM

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.

Sounds like a perfect existing D&D element for the story Rich is trying to tell, then. He’s working very hard to give his characters believable development and upgrades without letting them do the sort of powergaming moves that would trivialize the obstacles they’re facing.

Aetol from France Since: Jan, 2015
#52602: Feb 13th 2020 at 11:53:02 AM

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.

You don't have to use the whole twenty-five words of a Sending, do you? Can't you technically just Send zero words? Just ping the target and expect a response back? (Of course when she does speak that would be a second Sending.)

Worldbuilding is fun, writing is a chore
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#52603: Feb 13th 2020 at 12:08:20 PM

1. Why would someone do that? 2. I don't know the wording of the spell but I assume speaking is one of the triggers for the message being transmitted. It sounds like if you just didn't speak it would stay active until you said all the words.

HeraldAlberich from Ohio (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#52604: Feb 13th 2020 at 12:09:09 PM

A second Sending would require another 10-minute casting time before she could talk, unless she used a scroll.

Aetol from France Since: Jan, 2015
#52605: Feb 13th 2020 at 2:46:25 PM

I'm not saying it'd be useful tongue

Worldbuilding is fun, writing is a chore
HeraldAlberich from Ohio (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
#52606: Feb 13th 2020 at 6:05:25 PM

I’m saying she did talk right away, so it wasn’t two Sendings in a row. (Again, unless scroll. But I don’t think that’s it.)

Shep55 Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Abstaining
#52607: Feb 13th 2020 at 6:48:44 PM

If it was a second sending Roy wouldn't have been anywhere near as confused in his response to the first, since he'd know it was a sending and would have seen Julia as a silent illusion for a second or two.

SalFishFin Since: Jan, 2001
#52608: Feb 16th 2020 at 5:24:52 AM

Most likely: Julia made/is using a custom communication spell

Likely but slightly less so: The sword did it.

Edited by SalFishFin on Feb 16th 2020 at 8:25:08 AM

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#52609: Feb 16th 2020 at 5:53:29 AM

The Greenhilts: even the heirlooms are part of the dysfunction. wink

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#52610: Feb 16th 2020 at 10:48:55 PM

It's not In Name Only, it's explicitly a Weapon of Legacy. Roy is literally reading the Weapons of Legacy splatbook.

Isn’t “explicitly has the name/identity of a thing, but isn’t anything like the thing” exactly what In Name Only means?

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#52611: Feb 17th 2020 at 1:59:36 AM

[up]The thing is, others are disagreeing on the "but isn’t anything like the thing" part.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
petersohn from Earth, Solar System (Long Runner) Relationship Status: Hiding
#52612: Feb 17th 2020 at 2:04:53 AM

If largely different rules apply to it than in vanilla DND, then that sounds like In Name Only to me. I don't know the exact rules of it, but I'm confident that the self-returning ability is not among them.

Edited by petersohn on Feb 17th 2020 at 11:06:32 AM

Fjón þvæ ég af mér fjanda minna rán og reiði ríkra manna.
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#52613: Feb 17th 2020 at 8:47:02 AM

Weapons of Legacy don't exist in vanilla. They only come from the splatbook that Roy is reading. And they have a whole bunch of different abilities, including suggestions for creating new abilities. Magic items that return to their wielder are definitely a thing, though this upgraded version is houseruled. Which, again, is suggested in the splatbook. "Take an existing ability and give it a bit of an upgrade plus some cosmetic changes" is basically the core of most of the default Weapons of Legacy.

Anyway, update.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
TheLovecraftian Since: Jul, 2017
#52614: Feb 17th 2020 at 8:48:16 AM

I get the distinct feeling that Rich foresaw and mocked the theories people came up with between last comic and this one with those first three panels.

petersohn from Earth, Solar System (Long Runner) Relationship Status: Hiding
#52615: Feb 17th 2020 at 8:52:10 AM

[up]I have the exact same feeling. Except, I think Rich reads the forums, even when the official forum is down. He knows the fan theories when he starts writing the next comic.

Fjón þvæ ég af mér fjanda minna rán og reiði ríkra manna.
Bisected8 A casual tief of punk from Her Hackette Cave (Primordial Chaos) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
A casual tief of punk
#52616: Feb 17th 2020 at 8:53:39 AM

I doubt he even needed to read them (he explains that he avoids reading the forums exactly so they don't influence him thus in the FA Qs).

He just knows what the reactions are going to be like by this point.

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer
Resileafs I actually wanted to be Resileaf Since: Jan, 2019
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
#52617: Feb 17th 2020 at 8:56:56 AM

More like it was a really easy joke that he knew would get that kind of attention.

I'm not sure if he's happy or mad that the forums are down and there wasn't a gajillion pages of arguments about whether Julia was dead or not.

I didn't realize that Julia was that powerful though. She was still casting magic missile back in Book 2.

sigh They grow up so fast.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#52618: Feb 17th 2020 at 8:59:31 AM

[lol][lol][lol][lol][lol][lol][lol]

Rich reading the audience's minds as usual. I guessed right, at least mostly.

Also, that punchline.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 17th 2020 at 11:59:54 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Bisected8 A casual tief of punk from Her Hackette Cave (Primordial Chaos) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
A casual tief of punk
#52619: Feb 17th 2020 at 9:27:38 AM

FWIW, a lot of people made that guess on the Patreon's comments section, myself included.

TV Tropes's No. 1 bread themed lesbian. she/her, fae/faer
Resileafs I actually wanted to be Resileaf Since: Jan, 2019
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
#52620: Feb 17th 2020 at 9:45:06 AM

A lot of people in this very forum made that guess.

I expected it was related, but I thought it was Eugene helping her rather than her having figured it out on her own.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#52621: Feb 17th 2020 at 10:45:08 AM

Shame she can’t use it on anyone but Roy right now.

By the time she fixes it, it’ll probably be useless somehow.

One Strip! One Strip!
Resileafs I actually wanted to be Resileaf Since: Jan, 2019
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
#52622: Feb 17th 2020 at 11:08:32 AM

Well if everything goes well, the story ends in a single day. Not much time to fix a spell.

Edited by Resileafs on Feb 17th 2020 at 2:11:11 PM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#52623: Feb 17th 2020 at 11:15:23 AM

Still doesn't explain why she's there. And, man, no notification or link to the new strip, just start talking about it right off the bat, eh?

Daremo Misanthrope Supreme from Parts Unknown Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: If it's you, it's okay
#52624: Feb 17th 2020 at 11:21:53 AM

1192 Inherited Characteristics

There was a link, it was just unmarked and buried at the end of a completely unrelated post.

Creed of the Happy Pessimist:Always expect the worst. Then, when it happens, it was only what you expected. All else is a happy surprise.
TheLovecraftian Since: Jul, 2017
#52625: Feb 17th 2020 at 11:24:12 AM

[up][up]She could just be testing her new spell. But I get the feeling we're finding out the why on the next page either way.


Total posts: 64,800
Top