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Author Topic: Order of the Stick  (Read 596416 times)

smjjames

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2775 on: April 17, 2018, 09:42:45 pm »

Alignment restrictions don't seem to be absolute in the OOTS universe though since you can waver around the edges while staying in the realm of a particular alignment as we saw with Roy. Plus there was Miziko (or something) who was clearly straying from the required lawful good alignment, but didn't lose her paladin status until she straight up murdered her Emperor, or maybe it was when her Emperor personally cast her out, I forget.

@Lord Shonus: Yeah, it'd make more sense for him to be on the chaotic side even though he seems lawful at times, which I suppose is a facet of him being chaotic.

Also, latino guest star?
« Last Edit: April 17, 2018, 09:44:30 pm by smjjames »
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Rolan7

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2776 on: April 17, 2018, 09:44:34 pm »

I guess bards are supposed to be characterized by curiosity and wanderlust.  They're more than just singers, they're storytellers and collectors of "bardic knowledge", AKA "a little knowledge about literally everything". 

One thing I like is that they don't lose any of their powers if they "mellow out", becoming lawful.  They just can't advance as bards anymore.  Lawful barbarians have it worse, losing the ability to go crazy (rage), but they keep all the other abilities like extraordinary toughness and trap sense.  Paladins definitely get hit the hardest, and have by far the strictest requirements (5th edition reworked this a lot, with a choice of specific oaths).

It's always seemed slightly odd that rogues have no alignment restriction, but only based on the name.  Rogues are really just highly skilled professionals who know basic anatomy.

Fakedit:
Quote
V is intentionally gender ambigous.

Found the source. The author's commentary in Blood Runs In The Family

Quote
In this way, Tarquin is also symbolic of an older time when stories were likely to be more formulaic or cliched - and less diverse. It's no accident that he's a wealthy old straight white man losing his marbles over the fact that the tale he is experiencing doesn't focus on the other straight white man at the expense of the black man, the woman, the genderqueer person, and even the Latino guest star.

This probably wasn't the original intention, but the running joke about ambiguous gender provided the perfect solution when the Giant started deliberately making his work more socially conscious. This is one of the reason's V's children are adopted - to leave the possibility that both Parent and Other Parent are both biologically male or female.
Very interesting, thanks for digging that up. 
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Quote from: Fallen London, one Unthinkable Hope
This one didn't want to be who they was. On the Surface – it was a dull, unconsidered sadness. But everything changed. Which implied everything could change.

Lord Shonus

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2777 on: April 17, 2018, 09:52:52 pm »

Alignment restrictions don't seem to be absolute in the OOTS universe though since you can waver around the edges while staying in the realm of a particular alignment as we saw with Roy. Plus there was Miziko (or something) who was clearly straying from the required lawful good alignment, but didn't lose her paladin status until she straight up murdered her Emperor, or maybe it was when her Emperor personally cast her out, I forget.

@Lord Shonus: Yeah, it'd make more sense for him to be on the chaotic side even though he seems lawful at times, which I suppose is a facet of him being chaotic.

Also, latino guest star?

Julio Scoundrel was the Latino guest star in that arc.


As for alignment, Burlew is openly and deliberatly trying to show that alignment is not the "9 little straightjackets" that detractors claim it is, and it allows for plenty of nuance. Miko was able to maintain Paladin status because her alignment never really wavered (note that she made an effort to investigate the OOTS, used Detect Evil before attacking, and was perfectly willing to accept surrenders) - not everything she did was Good, but her actions never dropped south of Neutral. She only lost paladin status when she broke the Paladin code by murdering a defenseless old man who happened to be her lawful liege. Roy was only really in danger of losing LG status because his betrayal of Elan was a truly monstrous act, and also because Belkar was his evil employee.

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Man, ninja'd by a potentially inebriated Lord Shonus. I was gonna say to burn it.

smjjames

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2778 on: April 17, 2018, 09:58:30 pm »

The demiurge (or whatever those blue skinned winged humanoids were called) was convinced that Roy was trying to change Belkar's ways though, on top of trying to stay lawful even though he was wavering all over.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2018, 10:01:04 pm by smjjames »
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Lord Shonus

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2779 on: April 17, 2018, 10:03:03 pm »

That's how the Deva marked it. He simply convinced her he was better at containing Belkar than a jail would be.
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On Giant In the Playground and Something Awful I am Gnoman.
Man, ninja'd by a potentially inebriated Lord Shonus. I was gonna say to burn it.

Egan_BW

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2780 on: April 17, 2018, 10:12:01 pm »

Rogues not having an alignment restriction makes sense if you think of it in terms of a chaotic rogue having a change of heart and becoming lawful. They're not likely to become any less skilled due to changing mindset. Whereas a barbarian doesn't become any less skilled either, but is also less likely to enter a blind bloodlust.

...Now this is making me think that lawful barbarians should be able to rage still, but only when feeling righteous indignation, hehe.
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smjjames

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2781 on: April 17, 2018, 10:14:40 pm »

What if a barbarian multiclassed to paladin, would they still be able to rage then in holy indignation?

Don't think multiclassing is in 3.x however.
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USEC_OFFICER

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2782 on: April 17, 2018, 10:19:53 pm »

Multiclassing is definitely in 3.5 and almost certainly 3.0 too. Heck. In AD&D the only way you could become a bard involved three class changes, from Fighter to Thief to Druid, so multiclassing was a thing way back in the early days. Of course you could easily be talking about something different and I'm sure that the specifics have changed quite a bit from edition to edition too so... Eh?
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smjjames

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2783 on: April 17, 2018, 10:23:45 pm »

I see. OOTS doesn't seem to involve a whole lot of multiclassing, though Belkar seems to be ranger/rogue. Or at least it doesn't make the multiclassing all that obvious.
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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2784 on: April 17, 2018, 10:31:52 pm »

According to the wiki, Belkar is apparently a Ranger/Barbarian multiclass. :v
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Rolan7

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2785 on: April 17, 2018, 10:35:28 pm »

Yeah, they don't make a big deal about it.  The most notable examples are probably Belkar (who multiclassed into barbarian, actually - the dualwielding of knives is a ranger thing (ninja'd)) and Miko, who had monk levels.

Elan considered taking a level of wizard, but decided against it.  The whole Banjo thing is from him considering a level in cleric, heh.  He does have levels in Dashing Swordsman now, but I don't think prestige classes count as multiclassing.
Other than that...  Technically that goth chick working for Xykon had to multiclass in order to become a mystic theurge (requires arcane and divine spellcasting).  And that half-orc running the Thieves Guild might have fighter levels, not sure.
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She/they
No justice: no peace.
Quote from: Fallen London, one Unthinkable Hope
This one didn't want to be who they was. On the Surface – it was a dull, unconsidered sadness. But everything changed. Which implied everything could change.

Egan_BW

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2786 on: April 17, 2018, 11:18:42 pm »

Nale was supposed to be some crazy multilevel combination as well.

Edit: Fighter/Rogue/Sorcerer, it was.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2018, 11:22:06 pm by Egan_BW »
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smjjames

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2787 on: April 17, 2018, 11:54:15 pm »

I thought it was Roy who had multiclassed as barbarian? I thought he took some levels in something other than fighter. There was the architectural knowledge he randomly decided to pick up plus a bit of ranged which he hadn't done since school.
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scriver

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2788 on: April 18, 2018, 12:14:33 am »

it kinda hurts him. look at his robe and his face

Robes, being made of woven thread, are all lawfully aligned, though.

How can that be, when cloaks are classic rogue attire?

They use leather ones ;)
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Lord Shonus

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Re: Order of the Stick
« Reply #2789 on: April 18, 2018, 06:03:45 am »

I thought it was Roy who had multiclassed as barbarian? I thought he took some levels in something other than fighter. There was the architectural knowledge he randomly decided to pick up plus a bit of ranged which he hadn't done since school.

Roy is a single-class fighter. The skill ranks he used were called out as cross-class, and he learned to use a bow in Fighter College.
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On Giant In the Playground and Something Awful I am Gnoman.
Man, ninja'd by a potentially inebriated Lord Shonus. I was gonna say to burn it.
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