Order of the Stick 597 is up!

[Scribble]

Seems pretty accurate to me. Nonetheless, I think this is pushing V somewhat more toward evil than before. Certainly a lot less likable.

It's sort of similar to what would happen if you took Cap'n Kirk out of the picture for a while and left Spock and Bones in charge.

Elan + V + Roy are the same sort of triumverate... Liek the id, ego, super-ego thing.

V is logic and "reality. Elan is unconcious desires and chaos. Roy balances the two.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Seems pretty accurate to me. Nonetheless, I think this is pushing V somewhat more toward evil than before. Certainly a lot less likable.

Oh, I completely agree. My whole thing is, V doesn't want to save the world because it's a good thing to do, or to save people's lives. V is neutral at best. And as of late, I would agree that he's been spiraling down quite a bit.

 

[Wonka]

(Because all elves are naturally insane. And inferior. And smelly >:|)

Lets not forget that they cause cancer too, and have leprosy.

 

[SPoD]

So is anyone else thinking we are giving the comic too much credit on regards to Alignment? The Author went on the record to say "Good is Dumb" in a OotS Strip titled as such.

"Because Good is Dumb" is a pop culture reference (to Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, specifically). I don't think it is a statement of the author's personal morality.

Given that he devoted Celia's incredibly long speech at the end of the trial to how Lawful Good should work realistically, no, I don't think analyzing the strip in alignment terms is giving the comic too much credit. It's obviously something Rich thinks about when writing the strip.

 

[ArisKatsaris]

In many ways, the story of the Sapphire Guild shows the inherent limitations of a paladin order with respect to actually defending the world, since they are constrained by the rules and traditions, even those that interfere with the larger task at hand (which necessitated, for example, Shojo's machinations).

It's not nearly as clear-cut as that. Those rules-and-traditions are what prevented e.g. O'chul and the other paladins from knowing about the other gates, which means it's also the same thing that prevented Xykon from knowing all about them via torture/psionics/etc already.

So that's one thing atleast that the paladin oath accomplished. On the other hand I'm not sure I can think of *anything* that Shojo actually accomplished with all his machinations, other than getting himself killed.

 

[Andor]

Lets not forget that they cause cancer too, and have leprosy.

My grandmother died from elven cancer.

 

[Staffan]

It would be nice to get the group back together again, but that doesn't seem too likely at least right now. I suppose the time limit on X's spell could finally wear off, letting the rest of the group be detected again, which would solve most of the problem.

The rest of the group can be detected now. V's just been unlucky with the spells he/she uses. First, he/she tried basic and increasingly more powerful direct detection spells, but they failed because Xykon had Azure City under an extremely powerful epic-level non-detection spell. So V gave up on that, and started researching other means, like the animal messenger thing (which Haley shot and ate). But now that Haley and Belkar are out of Azure City, a standard sending or something like that should work. But since V's already tried that, he/she isn't doing it again.

 

[Vaslov]

V's long guilt trip is leading down a dark road. Guilt that he should of had more magic during the siege. Then Roy wouldn't of died. Then while sneaking out V bumped into Elan who has magic left and uses it to buy time for the boat to leave shore. As they leave shore V is confident that the group will be back together soon. Why? He will have his magic back after the next day. But it doesn't work. Scrying is blocked. V is loosing sleep and not thinking clearly. He is so guilty about Roy dying as he believes it is his fault for not having enough magic. And the days are passing. When combat does come back V doesn't hold back anymore. He will push and push his magic to the limits even against crazy huge devils. Clearly V see's magic is the answer. If only he was good enough. He just needs to try a little harder and he can save all he cares about. Get that distraction out of my way. I'm going to save my friend! Anakin would be proud.

I don't see V going evil, but one day waking up realizing what he is becoming. My bet is one day soon Elan learns how to put V to sleep. V will do the rest from there.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

OK, V is becoming almost sociopathic now. Xykon actually looked better right before he became a lich than V does now. (Actually, you could argue he still looks more put together.)

So, does Elan get a circumstance bonus to resist Intimidate checks because of cluelessness?

 

[WhatGravitas]

So, does Elan get a circumstance bonus to resist Intimidate checks because of cluelessness?

I rather think it's due to the fact that you have to share a language to use Intimidate. I reckon Elan-speech just sounds like Common, but is not the same!

Cheers, LT.