# Order of the Stick - Book 5 Discussion Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323 "2009-08-31T04:09:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 150
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2982 "2012-01-06T11:55:13Z")
Wow, **Little Nemo**. Thank you so much. That was an incredible amount of work. It’s unfortunate that while I was reading it I went to check the reference on Strip 588, saw the new one was up, and now I want to throw up from the tension twisting up my innards. All the humans and elves in the caves appear to be dead, and [when Haley pulled the cart up that passage](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0523.html), she came out [in the same place Redcloak and the other monsters are facing now](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0524.html), so I assume Redcloak and his group now see the phylactery-havers, which is making me feel even worse. I haven’t felt this freaked out since the dragon and Vaarsuvius, or maybe even since Haley and Belkar went to retrieve Roy’s body and met the Creature in the Darkness… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2983 "2012-01-06T13:12:52Z")
Could it be that Redcloak is talking to a prisoner who is out of frame, and has not seen the returning party? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2984 "2012-01-06T13:19:15Z")
Not very likely, but hold onto that thread of hope. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2985 "2012-01-06T13:58:34Z")
I’m torn. On the one hand, I feel sorry for the people of Azure City. What little hope they had has now been snatched away. OTOH, the elves were a bunch of annoying pricks who got what’s coming to them. No-one should underestimate Redcloak - if Xykon weren’t around, he’d be a perfectly decent Evil Overlord all by himself. He certainly has the brains and raw power for it. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2986 "2012-01-06T14:36:45Z")
So what does one do with an Osmium elemental? > [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Could it be that Redcloak is talking to a prisoner who is out of frame, and has not seen the returning party? I think that may be the case – the Resistance party is entering from the left, and RC is talking to someone at stage-right. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2987 "2012-01-06T14:48:40Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > So what does one do with an Osmium elemental? Crush things? It’s the densest natural element; look at how it cracks the floor just standing there. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2988 "2012-01-06T15:10:26Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I think that may be the case – the Resistance party is entering from the left, and RC is talking to someone at stage-right. I hope so – otherwise Burlew is making a jarring error as a cartoonist. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2989 "2012-01-06T17:03:17Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > I hope so – otherwise Burlew is making a jarring error as a cartoonist. But as my links s to [523](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0523.html) and [524](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0524.html) showed, that’s exactly how he portrayed it the first time we saw that big central chamber of the Resistance – Haley is pulling the cart from left to right up a passage that looks identical to the one Thanh and Co. are walking in now, and on the next page she comes out in the lower right corner of the big central chamber, facing right-to-left now and still dragging the cart. I certainly hope Redcloak is talking to someone else and facing the wrong direction, and that there’s still a chance for Thanh and Niu, at least, to get away … but it seems unlikely, confusing direction changes notwithstanding… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2990 "2012-01-06T17:17:35Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No-one should underestimate Redcloak - if Xykon weren’t around, he’d be a perfectly decent Evil Overlord all by himself. He certainly has the brains and raw power for it. Honestly, at this point the best thing that could happen for Redcloak would be if Xykon were to disappear. The reason Redcloak needed Xykon was to secure the Gates. And the reason he needed the Gates was to blackmail the Gods into giving the goblin races a secure homeland. And now ironically, Redcloak has achieved his goal as a step in the plan of trying to achieve his goal. Things would be great for him if everything would just stop now. But Redcloak has set Xykon on a path that Xykon doesn’t want to get off. And Xykon’s going to insist they keep going. And worse yet it appears Redcloak has lost sight of where he’s trying to go. He’s so focused on following his Plan he doesn’t realize he no longer has a reason to. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2991 "2012-01-06T17:24:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And worse yet it appears Redcloak has lost sight of where he’s trying to go. That’s because his “vision” was all in his left eye. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2992 "2012-01-06T18:31:01Z")
What if Redcloak gets the phylactery back but doesn’t tell Xykon? He could keep them all there for as long as he likes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2993 "2012-01-06T19:45:22Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s because his “vision” was all in his left eye. Yeah, I was thinking about working in something about him literally “losing sight” but I felt lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2994 "2012-01-06T20:01:23Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > So what does one do with an Osmium elemental? I don’t recall anything about the physics, but Osmium makes frequent appearances in “stupid D&D spell combos” threads as a base ingredient for magic bombs. And not just mere nukes, I mean “throw twenty four thousand d6s against the hardness of the planet’s crust” type bombs. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2995 "2012-01-06T20:10:29Z")
Heh. Wikipedia says that Osmium is priced at $400 per ounce. That elemental is worth a fortune! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2996 "2012-01-06T20:21:37Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > It was in **No Cure for the Paladin Blues** , and just for the sake of accuracy, it wasn’t a decapitation, it was an “x3 critical hit right to the jugular.” Could somebody explain what that means in actual D&D-playing? Does that mean you have to role three 20’s in a row? Oh, and since nobody tackled this: in D&D weapons have four main characteristics: damage, damage type, threat range and crit modifier. So, for example Elan’s rapier would be 1d6, piercing, 18-20, x2 How it works is, whenever you hit a dude you roll one d20 for your attack which you add to your attack bonus. If the total exceeds the dude’s armour, you land a hit and do normal damage, in this case 1d6 (plus whatever modifiers you might have got on that). However, if that unmodified attack roll is within crit range, you get to roll a second attack roll. If that roll also exceeds defense then you’ve scored a crit, in which case you apply your weapon’s crit mod to your base damage roll (in this case you’d roll 2d6). So, long story short, a x3 crit from a two-handed weapon does a lot of gruesome damage in a short time. D&D doesn’t have a damage locator so the “to the jugular” is just for flavour. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2997 "2012-01-06T21:42:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And worse yet it appears Redcloak has lost sight of where he’s trying to go. He’s so focused on following his Plan he doesn’t realize he no longer has a reason to. Remember; it isn’t _Redcloak’s_ Plan; it’s _his god’s_ Plan. And one homeland that is of course not necessarily eternal isn’t what the Plan is really about; it’s about changing the divinely ordained rules of the OOTS world so that goblinoids are no longer merely XP fodder for PC races. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2998 "2012-01-06T23:21:21Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Remember; it isn’t _Redcloak’s_ Plan; it’s _his god’s_ Plan. And one homeland that is of course not necessarily eternal isn’t what the Plan is really about; it’s about changing the divinely ordained rules of the OOTS world so that goblinoids are no longer merely XP fodder for PC races. I don’t know. The Dark One said his goal was “to build a lasting goblinoid civilization” and “all we want is a fair distribution of land, so that humans and elves and dwarves do not control all of the livable territory while we scrape by in barren wilderness”. When Jirix saw the Dark One in the afterlife, he was told he was needed for trade, logistics, diplomacy, and intrigue. And the Dark One’s message for Redcloak was “Don’t screw this up”. Redcloak assuming this message meant he wasn’t supposed to screw up the Plan. But maybe the message was that following the Plan was in danger of screwing up everything the goblins had already gained. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/2999 "2012-01-07T00:19:22Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > So what does one do with an Osmium elemental? A point someone made on another forum; to deal with enemies like Paladins who have advantages against fiends like the rest of his summoned allies. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3000 "2012-01-07T01:19:14Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > A point someone made on another forum; to deal with enemies like Paladins who have advantages against fiends like the rest of his summoned allies. For when Rhenium just won’t cut it / cut up a Paladin? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/3001 "2012-01-07T01:27:13Z")
Paladins deserve the _very best_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323.md?page=149) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323.md?page=151)