New Order of the Stick Strip Up


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Yay evocation!

Silver Crusade

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V has always been evocation focused, which I've always thought is hilarious since his/her personality has always struck me as being more "god wizard". But I'm assuming evocation is V's specialty school.

And I called that pun almost 500 forum posts ago! I even nailed the exact wording of Belkar's question!


I kind of thought he was a transmutation specialist.

I know he's not a conjurer, as that was his forbidden school. I remember when Roy griped at him about it, and he retorted that the rules of the omniverse had changed, after they went from 3.0 to 3.5.


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LOL, fighter, cleric, bard, rogue and ranger/barbarian surrounded and desperate in the midst of a huge enemy army. Roy swings his pointy stick. Belkar hides behind a corpse. Elan literally taunts Tarquin with his uselessness. Haley full attacks with her bow, but can only take out a few per round. Durkon at least provides another meat shield and tosses a few defensive spells. Good stuff, but against an ARMY?

Then a wizard shows up.

Fireball! Wall of Fire! In two rounds he probably quintuples the party's death toll so far. And he's just getting started. Until now the party was in real trouble. Now the army is.

Wizards. Gotta love 'em.


Adamantine Dragon wrote:

LOL, fighter, cleric, bard, rogue and ranger/barbarian surrounded and desperate in the midst of a huge enemy army. Roy swings his pointy stick. Belkar hides behind a corpse. Elan literally taunts Tarquin with his uselessness. Haley full attacks with her bow, but can only take out a few per round. Durkon at least provides another meat shield and tosses a few defensive spells. Good stuff, but against an ARMY?

Then a wizard shows up.

Fireball! Wall of Fire! In two rounds he probably quintuples the party's death toll so far. And he's just getting started. Until now the party was in real trouble. Now the army is.

Wizards. Gotta love 'em.

And a handful of rounds later, V. is out of useful anti-army spells and Roy (and Belkar if he wasn't already near-death) are still swinging away. Remember, he's a sexy shoeless god of war. And Roy's tougher.


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thejeff wrote:
And a handful of rounds later, V. is out of useful anti-army spells and Roy (and Belkar if he wasn't already near-death) are still swinging away. Remember, he's a sexy shoeless god of war. And Roy's tougher.

Ha. "Handful of rounds" my behind. V should have an almost full collection of spells. What level is he? Level 15? I'm not sure, but he's cast some pretty high level spells, plus he's got a high int, so he's probably got bonus spells for every level. He can probably cast a spell a round for 20 or 30 rounds. Then he can start using his pearls of power, wands or scrolls.

Of course he's a WIZARD, he doesn't have to go toe to toe with an army. He can just sweep up the whole party and >blip< bye-bye.


Adamantine Dragon wrote:
thejeff wrote:
And a handful of rounds later, V. is out of useful anti-army spells and Roy (and Belkar if he wasn't already near-death) are still swinging away. Remember, he's a sexy shoeless god of war. And Roy's tougher.

Ha. "Handful of rounds" my behind. V should have an almost full collection of spells. What level is he? Level 15? I'm not sure, but he's cast some pretty high level spells, plus he's got a high int, so he's probably got bonus spells for every level. He can probably cast a spell a round for 20 or 30 rounds. Then he can start using his pearls of power, wands or scrolls.

Of course he's a WIZARD, he doesn't have to go toe to toe with an army. He can just sweep up the whole party and >blip< bye-bye.

... actually he can't. That was part of the thing in Azure City, actually (which may, in fact, be where that scene I was thinking was). Conjuration is one of his forbidden schools.

BUT! V is still totally awesome!

(And given that he was around level 13 in Azure City, if I recall correctly, he's probably at least 15 or possibly higher now. I think he even used a pretty powerful spell - a 7th or 8th level thing - fairly recently.)


Mass invisibility and mass fly will work just fine.

He/she's a wizard, he's got a dozen ways he/she can save the party. Or wipe out the army.

He/she's a wizard.

As we'll certainly see in the next strip or two.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

Damnit - someone needs to go through Chekov's gate!

Also, we'll see how this V thing plays out, but let's not forget that there are 3 high level NPC villians still in play, one of which is a psion.

What's the guy in blue? A monk? Have we seen him do anything?


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I think one casting of Evan's spiked tentacles of forced intrusion might keep that psion busy...


Irnk, Dead-Eye's Prodigal wrote:
Yes, but it has been long established that OotS isn't in Pathfinder.

Would explain why no one succeeds on their concentration checks..

edited for the pedantic: Better?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Not true, BNW.


BigNorseWolf wrote:
Irnk, Dead-Eye's Prodigal wrote:
Yes, but it has been long established that OotS isn't in Pathfinder.
Would explain why no one makes concentration checks..

Xykon taunted V about failing concentration checks in their battle.

Oops. Ninja'd. Worse, ninja'd by someone who actually had time to link the strip...


Sebastian wrote:
What's the guy in blue? A monk? Have we seen him do anything?

Not yet. I don't think he's even been named.


Yowza! High level wizard against a bunch of minions. Director Lee's inbox is REALLY getting hit hard now!

Things just got interesting, and I think the playing field has leveled out now.

-Aaron

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Itchy wrote:

Yowza! High level wizard against a bunch of minions. Director Lee's inbox is REALLY getting hit hard now!

Things just got interesting, and I think the playing field has leveled out now.

Not really. Tarquin was able to hold off the Order single handed (admittedly before their number included a Vampire). Given that he will now have back up (and the Order is kind of beat-up) this would not be a good thing.


Tarquin is also primarily a melee character and the Order can avoid him easily with V's magic. At this point there are so many ways that Rich can disengage from the army that it will be pretty silly if they continue to fight Tarquin and his army. V has used only a few spells so far. If they decide to fight, V should be able to lay waste to the minions and that would pretty much leave the Order vs Tarquin and his two high level mooks. But I think that battle is not yet in Rich's plans. So I look for the Order to beat a path to the last gate.

Silver Crusade

Lord Fyre wrote:
Itchy wrote:

Yowza! High level wizard against a bunch of minions. Director Lee's inbox is REALLY getting hit hard now!

Things just got interesting, and I think the playing field has leveled out now.

Not really. Tarquin was able to hold off the Order single handed (admittedly before their number included a Vampire). Given that he will now have back up (and the Order is kind of beat-up) this would not be a good thing.

V wasn't there for the last fight against Tarquin, either.

It's no longer the one sided slaughter of Roy vs an army that he was hoping for, and he's smart enough to realize the dramatic shift caused by V's rescue. I suspect Tarquin will applaud V for the great dramatic entrance and rescue, then call off the army.


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Re: V's schools, V is an Evoker, with the barred schools of Conjuration and Necromancy. (That's why the soul splices included a Conjurer and a Necromancer.)


flamethrower49 wrote:
Re: V's schools, V is an Evoker, with the barred schools of Conjuration and Necromancy. (That's why the soul splices included a Conjurer and a Necromancer.)

Sweet! Thanks! I'd love to re-read that comic, if you know where it is.


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This is what I found at the OotS Wikia site:

Quote:
In game terms Vaarsuvius is a wizard who specialises in evocation and enchantment spells, with Evocation as their specialty. Their barred schools are conjuration (revealed in OotS Comic #340) and necromancy (never stated but can be inferred from information - Vaarsuvius has used at least one spell from each school except for conjuration and necromancy).


Andostre wrote:

This is what I found at the OotS Wikia site:

Quote:
In game terms Vaarsuvius is a wizard who specialises in evocation and enchantment spells, with Evocation as their specialty. Their barred schools are conjuration (revealed in OotS Comic #340) and necromancy (never stated but can be inferred from information - Vaarsuvius has used at least one spell from each school except for conjuration and necromancy).

I remember they hired a wizard to teleport them (with hilarious results) because Teleport was moved to the conjuration school in 3.5.


Sweet, thanks!

Silver Crusade

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Confession is good the soul... as long as the soul doesn't get destroyed afterward.


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The arrow bouncing of Belkar in the second panel basically had me laughing for several minutes.

...I may need some sleep.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

*plink*

Silver Crusade

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Protection From Arrows for the win! Or at least, for the punchline! :)


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I'm so proud of you!

Silver Crusade

Does anyone think V may actually be headed for an alignment shift towards the good side? It would be ironic, given what happened to Durkon. And I'm not saying it would be immediate, just that things seem to almost be headed in that direction. Perhaps a noble, sacrificial death to save the world in the final strip or something, which serves as redemption for the other misconduct we've seen.


Seems like a fair chance they'll be going through the rift.

Dark Archive

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Why is it whenever I cast that spell I'm stuck fighting high level rogues.


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Clade, since it will be asked

TLDR: a clade is a branch on the tree of life. Blackwing is going with his "Super advanced flying stealth dinosaur" theory. Kind of a stretch with pterosaurs ... you need to go so far back that you include all reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs.


Interesting! We are getting names for the rest Tarquin's Party.

Tarquin: Human Fighter (some multiclassing elsewhere possible)
Malack: Vampire Serpentfolk Cleric (deceased)
Jacinda: Catfolk Rogue
Laurin: Human Psion
Miron: Human Wizard or Sorcerer

Silver Crusade

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Well, I did say Tarquin would realize the dramatic shift. Not quite the response I was expecting, but I was at least right about that. "I think I'm just making Greenhilt look like a badass". Heh.

I think it's safe to say Tarquin will call off the army and let them go in the next strip or two.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

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"Oh yeah. Wizard." -- Haley Starshine

The Exchange

Fromper wrote:
...I think it's safe to say Tarquin will call off the army and let them go in the next strip or two.

Probably, but it's more dramatic to let them "escape." If it was good enough for Grand Moff Tarkin...


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Hmmm, it would actually be interesting if they go into the rift, and come out at the rift Xykon is headed towards.

Whenever I hear somebody talk about their children near Tarquin, I assume he has plans in place to have them killed.

At least Tarquin is realizing that he is making Roy look even more badass than usual.


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Optimistic Cynic wrote:
Whenever I hear somebody talk about their children near Tarquin, I assume he has plans in place to have them killed.

I think Tarquin is one of those "Be polite, be professional, have a plan to kill everybody you meet" types.

Silver Crusade

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Orthos wrote:
Optimistic Cynic wrote:
Whenever I hear somebody talk about their children near Tarquin, I assume he has plans in place to have them killed.
I think Tarquin is one of those "Be polite, be professional, have a plan to kill everybody you meet" types.

He's Batman?


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Fromper wrote:
Orthos wrote:
Optimistic Cynic wrote:
Whenever I hear somebody talk about their children near Tarquin, I assume he has plans in place to have them killed.
I think Tarquin is one of those "Be polite, be professional, have a plan to kill everybody you meet" types.
He's Batman?

I'm sure he likes to think of himself as Evil Batman, sure.

Dark Archive

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Itchy wrote:

We are getting names for the rest Tarquin's Party.

Tarquin: Human Fighter (some multiclassing elsewhere possible)
Malack: Vampire Serpentfolk Cleric (deceased)
Jacinda: Catfolk Rogue
Laurin: Human Psion
Miron: Human Wizard or Sorcerer

I'm guessing that Jacinda may have levels in Assassin.

Miron full name is Miron Shewdanker, and it was Miron who sent the letter to Haley about the imprisonment of her father.

I believe the last member of Tarquin's group is also human.

Also Malack is called a Serpentfolk but has no apparent legs.

Liberty's Edge

Lord Fyre wrote:
"Oh yeah. Wizard." -- Haley Starshine

They are reaching those levels then :-(

Fromper wrote:
Orthos wrote:
Optimistic Cynic wrote:
Whenever I hear somebody talk about their children near Tarquin, I assume he has plans in place to have them killed.
I think Tarquin is one of those "Be polite, be professional, have a plan to kill everybody you meet" types.
He's Batman?

Nope. Batman has SEVERAL plans to incapacitate or kill everybody he meets. He will avoid killing if possible (which means almost always for him) but he will have a plan for it just in case.

The Exchange

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Clade, since it will be asked

TLDR: a clade is a branch on the tree of life. Blackwing is going with his "Super advanced flying stealth dinosaur" theory. Kind of a stretch with pterosaurs ... you need to go so far back that you include all reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs.

Not a stretch at all theres a clade for Archosaurs that are closer to birds based on the ankle construction. (I'm not sure if their going with Ornithosuchidae or Avemetatarsalia atm though). Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs and a few of the Triassic things that don't quite fit elsewhere.

But anyway I still have nightmares about Chain Lightning wiping out huge mobs of Red Mantis due to exceptionally hard save DC's granted by the feat selection.


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baron arem heshvaun wrote:
Also Malack is called a Serpentfolk but has no apparent legs.

I was assuming he was a Yuan-Ti Abomination, or some kind of Naga variant that gets arms.


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baron arem heshvaun wrote:
I'm guessing that Jacinda may have levels in Assassin.

I think that is a strong possibility.

baron arem heshvaun wrote:

I believe the last member of Tarquin's group is also human.

Also Malack is called a Serpentfolk but has no apparent legs.

I forgot about the last member! He's also some sort of fighter type, isn't he?

Malack not having legs makes his conversation with V about a higher hemline more interesting. He's hiding the fact that he has no legs by having the longer hemline, but his excuse is that it doesn't work as well without the rope belt.

-Aaron


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

I think what's interesting about the conversation with between Tarquin, Miron, and Laurin is that Tarquin's tendency to be 'genre savvy' isn't just for the reader's sake. Rich is implying that he does it 'inside the story' for all to hear, which would probably sound a little crazy to the non-meta characters in the story. As they point out, it's nonsensical to them and they only accept it because it has helped them be been successful in their plans - not through any belief or genre-awareness themselves.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Well, the Order of the Stick is 10 years old today. Rich thanks his readers, but I think he deserves a great deal of kudos for telling a good story and sticking with it.

If you look around the webcomics world today, very few artists are still doing what they started with. They moved on to other projects, webcomics; or just drastically changed the tone of their story or characters. So - endurance in this case has been a good thing for us as fans. Thanks, Rich!


Thanks, Rich. OotS is definitely a gem amongst the RPG world and I gleefully rush to read each installment as they become available.

I just need to get a move-on with getting my collected book versions...

The Exchange

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Has it truly been ten years since Belkar's shortswords re-sized themselves with a comical "wah waaaah" noise? Who would have thought that OotS would far outlive the game system it was mocking?

And aren't you glad the characters didn't get rebuilt again in 2008? ;)


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And...Payback!?

That last panel is one of my new favorite lines!

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