Order of the Stick

**Jasper Phillips** · 03-10-2009, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by Rimbo

You're saying this because you disagree with it, not because no one actually espouses it.

Have you never studied Aristotle? Or Confucius? It can easily be viewed as a component or extension of this idea of finding the medium between extremes, seeing both "good" and "evil" as extremes that are to be avoided.

*laugh* Bravo! That was a well played troll.

**Rimbo** · 03-10-2009, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by Jasper

*laugh* Bravo! That was a well played troll.

Thank you, thank you. I'm not proud.

The sad truth is that there probably really are people who misinterpreted Aristotle, Confucius or Buddha and came to this conclusion. If there's one thing that's been really hammered home into my brain by events of the past couple of months in my life, it's that we will believe what we want to believe, no matter how lame the justification is. If we need to reject ironclad evidence to do so, we will without hesitation.

I would imagine this kind of thinking would appeal -- a LOT -- to people who grew up in authoritarian regimes. There, what is lawful is much more clearly different from what is good, and what is good can be so detrimental to one's health that one needs to justify ordinary, everyday acts of evil that those of us who enjoy life in more liberal societies need not commit.

**Rimbo** · 03-11-2009, 12:13 AM

Shattered, shattered. Speaking of acts of evil being committed...

**Andrew Mayer** · 03-11-2009, 12:28 AM

Epic Level

**Rasputin** · 03-11-2009, 12:58 AM

I wonder if we're now going to see Evie ("EV" for "Evil Vaarsuvius"? I'm sooooo clever!) make like a wrecking ball to clear out all the issues surrounding our heroes and reunite the Order now, like claiming Roy's body after blowing half the town to shit and Greater Teleporting them all to the boat so Durkon can resurrect him.

**Sebmojo** · 03-11-2009, 02:33 AM

Can I just say, in a spirit of friendly reconciliation to anyone who was all 'yawn, dumb old Varsuvius, let's get back to the real story': Fuck you. Fuck you in the ear.

**Jamie Madigan** · 03-11-2009, 05:10 AM

I just hope he stays away from Team Evil. Go Team Evil! Go hide!

**BennyProfane** · 03-11-2009, 06:01 AM

"Quickened Disintegrate"? So what, stuff wasn't disintegrating fast enough before?

**RobF** · 03-11-2009, 06:18 AM

I'm sitting here at my desk with my foot tapping and my fingers drumming. And I haven't had any coffee today.

Reading a web comic about stick figures just kicked in an honest-to-God fight or flight response in me.

**Tortilla** · 03-11-2009, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by BennyProfane

"Quickened Disintegrate"? So what, stuff wasn't disintegrating fast enough before?

Quickening a spell is a 3E D&D invention, it's a process where a wizard spell takes a spell that is trivial to them (something much lower level than their toughest spells) and tosses it off as a free action. The effects of the spell aren't quickened, it refers to the fact that the spell has no casting time. A wizard can toss a quickened spell along with another spell all in one round of D&D combat.

A wizard able to do it with a high level spell like disintegrate is a very scarily high level wizard indeed.

**noun** · 03-11-2009, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Sebmojo

Can I just say, in a spirit of friendly reconciliation to anyone who was all 'yawn, dumb old Varsuvius, let's get back to the real story': Fuck you. Fuck you in the ear.

Yeah, and it only took two months to get to this point. :)

**balut** · 03-11-2009, 09:53 AM

It'll take two months for the comic to load with the crap-ass server they use.

**Miramon** · 03-11-2009, 01:30 PM

This last one was pretty satisfying. I only hope that V somehow manages to keep those cool powers despite the obvious time limit on them, or at least doesn't suffer any punishment or retribution for using them -- the usual moral point would be pretty tedious, after all.

**Sarkus** · 03-11-2009, 01:37 PM

I'm enjoying this segment with V, but I do hope that we are headed toward some sort of resolution of at least some of these seperate story segments fairly soon. Instead it seems like we constantly see them expanding.

**Sebmojo** · 03-11-2009, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by Sarkus

I'm enjoying this segment with V, but I do hope that we are headed toward some sort of resolution of at least some of these seperate story segments fairly soon. Instead it seems like we constantly see them expanding.

This is the resolution of V's single story arc for the entire series to date - his quest for arcane power. It's not a side matter.

I think we'll see some reblending pretty soon.

**Hanacker** · 03-11-2009, 04:47 PM

I think at this point people (myself included) need to accept that the party-based adventure comic is over and that it's morphed into something more epic and sprawling. Once you stop comparing it to what it used to be, the comic is fine. Although I doubt I'll ever get over missing when Belkar was in almost every strip.

**Sarkus** · 03-11-2009, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by Sebmojo

This is the resolution of V's single story arc for the entire series to date - his quest for arcane power. It's not a side matter.

I think we'll see some reblending pretty soon.

I'm not saying it's a side matter. I just think it's hard for anyone but the most dedicated reader to keep track of all the seperate storylines at this point. When was the last time we saw Durgon? When was the last time we saw the evil guys? It's actually weeks and weeks of real time. And what if the next strip goes somewhere else and it's a few months before we come back to what is happening with V?

**Andrew Mayer** · 03-11-2009, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by Hanacker

I think at this point people (myself included) need to accept that the party-based adventure comic is over and that it's morphed into something more epic and sprawling. Once you stop comparing it to what it used to be, the comic is fine. Although I doubt I'll ever get over missing when Belkar was in almost every strip.

I'd be willing to bet money that the band will get back together, if only for one last great show.

**Jamie Madigan** · 03-11-2009, 08:47 PM

You know what I love about this latest strip? V doesn't screw around. There's no monologing, no witty one-liners, no posturing, no taunting. It's just POP POW! POW!

Say what you will about V, but he's efficient.

**Rasputin** · 03-11-2009, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by Sarkus

I'm not saying it's a side matter. I just think it's hard for anyone but the most dedicated reader to keep track of all the seperate storylines at this point. When was the last time we saw Durgon? When was the last time we saw the evil guys? It's actually weeks and weeks of real time. And what if the next strip goes somewhere else and it's a few months before we come back to what is happening with V?

Long enough for someone to forget Durkon's name, apparently :D

**Sarkus** · 03-11-2009, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by rasputin

Long enough for someone to forget Durkon's name, apparently :D

Exactly.

And I still can't remember what Ray, Beltar, and Hayleaf are up to either.

:-)

**Jon Rowe** · 03-12-2009, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by Sarkus

Exactly.

And I still can't remember what Ray, Beltar, and Hayleaf are up to either.

:-)

Good joke, everybody laugh.
Roll on snare drum...
Curtains.

**Jon Rowe** · 03-12-2009, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by BennyProfane

"Quickened Disintegrate"?

Jesus H Christ V is powerful now.

**Dirt** · 03-12-2009, 12:46 PM

Lvl 20? Meh. I had a character like that once. Then I got killed by a Super Beholder and had to be resurrected at only half my level. Bleh.

**Jon Rowe** · 03-12-2009, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Dirt

Lvl 20? Meh. I had a character like that once. Then I got killed by a Super Beholder and had to be resurrected at only half my level. Bleh.

Level 20 is anything but meh.

**Rimbo** · 03-12-2009, 01:05 PM

Super Beholder? :)

**Dirt** · 03-12-2009, 02:03 PM

Yeah. This was AD&D. The thing was many, many times the size of a regular beholder and attacked twice a round. It shot me with one of it's eyes, I lost my saving throw and became a beholder. My group couldn't figure out how to turn me back since remove curse didn't work (and the caster was at least 18th level). Finally, I came up with the right idea to get my character back. However, since I came up with the idea and not them (my character couldn't communicate with them since I was a beholder now), our DM penalized me by having me roll a d20 to see what level I'd be on my return. I was lvl 20 and I rolled a 10. Bleh.

**Ed Solomon** · 03-12-2009, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Dirt

Lvl 20? Meh. I had a character like that once. Then I got killed by a Super Beholder and had to be resurrected at only half my level. Bleh.

Given his ability to nullify the anti-magic shell, I'd say V's effective level is much higher than 20 now.

**Andrew Mayer** · 03-12-2009, 04:23 PM

What were the major tiers in 3.5?

**Jamie Madigan** · 03-12-2009, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Ed Solomon

Given his ability to nullify the anti-magic shell, I'd say V's effective level is much higher than 20 now.

Yeah, I saw someone mention in the GitP forums that the spell he used only gave a 1% chance per level of nullifying the anti-magic shell.

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