# 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:** 344
**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:** [August 21, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6862 "2013-08-21T23:25:28Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > In my general experience, most players don’t know (or aren’t interested in) how to play low wisdom. Low intelligence is easy, derp derp, but most sort of ignore their character’s inability to make good choices and WIS only comes up for saving throws and priest spell slots. I’ve played low-WIS characters as rash, impulsive, quick-tempered types. Stab first, ask questions later. They’re actually pretty fun. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6863 "2013-08-21T23:32:17Z")
Longshot idea, (and I do wonder at reading motives into fictional characters where the story is still evolving, those flesh and blood authors seem to have their own damn ideas,) Daddy Tarq has an heir and a spare. The spare was too unstable so he’s pinning his hopes on Elan. Thinking 2 things; Elan is dumb enough to be manipulated into anything. #2 Haley (the future Mrs. Elan) is a goldthirsty rogue and can be manipulated into the plan and Elan will follow by the short hairs (or whatever is associated with the short hairs.) He did invite her up to the lip of the crater, not Roy the obvious brains of the outfit. Short term, what is Elans’ reaction? His dream sequence was everybody living together as a family happily ever after. Not Haley and him, but Mom, Dad and Nale. Dad going to stabbity town on Nale totaly upsets his heart of hearts worldview. I see tears and writing off Dad (in a dramatic Bard like approprate speech) then coming to the greater good and being the dutiful hero and going to save the world. Maybe taking Roy to intervene or Belker to do it in a twisted bit of reverse inciteful logic. (and a Rich like punchline that keeps us salvatating for more.) Then again V’s 20 minutes should be up any second now… Or we will cut away to team evil, but the time we find out a resolution to the drama in the desert it will be told in exposition while the gang is 1/2 way to the other gate… DAMN YOU BERLOW----- DRAW FASTER!!! ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6864 "2013-08-21T23:41:36Z")
> [@Mr.Goob](#): > > DAMN YOU BERLOW----- DRAW FASTER!!! SSSHHHHH!!! He has been doing great with updates, don’t do anything to disturb him! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6865 "2013-08-21T23:49:39Z")
> [@Mr.Goob](#): > > Longshot idea, (and I do wonder at reading motives into fictional characters where the story is still evolving, those flesh and blood authors seem to have their own damn ideas,) Daddy Tarq has an heir and a spare. The spare was too unstable so he’s pinning his hopes on Elan. I’m not convinced that Tarquin cares about _what_ happens after he departs this vale of tears. Malack said that Tarquin had no issue with him turning the empire into some Nergal Death Camp once Tarquin had kicked it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6866 "2013-08-22T00:50:47Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > SSSHHHHH!!! He has been doing great with updates, don’t do anything to disturb him! Hell, yeah. Especially when you consider the kickstarter pdf, and probably bonus strips for the next collection. I reckon he’s doing a page per day, minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6867 "2013-08-22T00:58:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’ve played low-WIS characters as rash, impulsive, quick-tempered types. Stab first, ask questions later. They’re actually pretty fun. Yep! I’ve had a few different low-wis characters with fun ways to play the trait: -Blabbermouth. One low-wis character was convinced honesty was the best policy and went through our nation-hopping mission–one that really should have been covert–telling everyone from mob bosses to Aleister Crowley exactly what we were trying to accomplish, thinking they’d offer us help. -Terrible plans. This was a bit like Nale, inasmuch as I came up with bizarre convoluted plans that didn’t stand a chance of working. But I was good-natured about the fact that everyone ignored my plans; the goal as a player was to provide a judicious bit of comic relief and kind of make fun of the sort of plans we generally came up with as a group. -Impulsive. Kind of like the above, except that I made direct plans and acted almost immediately on them without consulting the group. I tried to limit it to occasions when the main victim of my foolishness would be myself, not the rest of the group, and when the results would be funny. Definitely low wisdom is a great way to keep the plot moving forward. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6868 "2013-08-22T01:01:26Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Hell, yeah. Especially when you consider the kickstarter pdf, and probably bonus strips for the next collection. I reckon he’s doing a page per day, minimum. The update rate has been nothing short of outstanding. I’m looking forward to seeing the kickstarter stuff when he compiles it into a future book. It sounds great. Bit shocking end to the arc, huh? I’m expecting to see Nale again—the Sabine loyalty plot thread is still hanging there—and I think Burlew will go one of two directions. He’ll have Tarquin publicly shred Nale’s body, but then secretly True Rez him, a la what **Miller** ’s written above, and tell him to beat it and never come back. Which Nale won’t do. Or exile him to the world in the Rift. Anyway, we won’t see him then until the last book, I think. Or we’ll see a very short sequence of strips, I’m thinking 1 or 2, where the Nale/Sabine/(Thog!) subthreads get snipped with brutal finality. Sort of like Roy’s exploration of the LG afterlife, but a lot less pleasant and a lot shorter. FWIW, I expect Sabine to willingly go with Nale, a la the trope of the supernatural being giving up his/her powers to follow their mortal lover. Not sure what the Directors will do. Or whether they’ll even care. I do think that it’ll transpire in front of V. I’m betting more towards Door #2. Burlew seems to be in a “I’ve too many characters right now—time to clean up the plot,” mode. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6869 "2013-08-22T01:25:24Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Definitely low wisdom is a great way to keep the plot moving forward. I recently played in a game using the Fate system, in which characters are defined by their aspects (brief phrases that sum up various elements of their characters). They can leverage their aspects to get bonuses as they try to do things. For example, a character with the aspect “The Direct Approach” could invoke it as he abruptly ends a circular argument by hauling off and punching his opponent. On the other hand, the GM can _compel_ their aspects, which amounts to offering the player a bribe to have their character do something that’s in-character, but against their best interests. So, if you’ve got a character with the aspect “Really not all that bright”, you can bribe them to do something stupid whenever you think it will help (or be funny). Then they get to use the point you bribed them with to do something awesome later. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6870 "2013-08-22T01:26:20Z")
You know I’d forgotten until just now that Tarquin’s last words to his son were never truer than on this in-comic day: Tarquin had saved his Nale’s life just hours earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6871 "2013-08-22T01:29:17Z")
Nale is dead, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of him. He may meet Sabine in the afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6872 "2013-08-22T01:55:16Z")
Are those colored dots around Laurin’s head supposed to be some sort of psionic mojo or ioun stones? ---
**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:** [August 22, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6873 "2013-08-22T02:20:18Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Q for role-players (I have dabbled but that was years ago): do you, as a character with a low wisdom, play your character in the way exemplified by Nale, even if it would get him killed and/or screw up the mission of your party? A good DM should make his players roll against their WIS stats anytime they try something that’s too rational for their characters to reasonably do. This can actually force them into better playing: as players they have to come up with crazy ideas that their characters would think of but which will accomplish the goals the players want. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6874 "2013-08-22T02:30:53Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Are those colored dots around Laurin’s head supposed to be some sort of psionic mojo or ioun stones? I was wondering that as well; [ioun stones](http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Ioun_Stone) certainly seem to fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6875 "2013-08-22T03:38:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Left Hand of Dorkness** : > > Definitely low wisdom is a great way to keep the plot moving forward. Or at least, moving in some direction or another. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6876 "2013-08-22T06:00:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Or at least, moving in some direction or another. Halfling on the roof: “I empty all three of my sacks of caltrops into the courtyard below.” \ Everyone else: “What was that supposed to accomplish?” HotR: “Um. I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea.” EE: \ “At least some of the guards will have trouble chasing us. We’ll try to sneak in again tomorrow. _After_ they’ve swept.” ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6877 "2013-08-22T06:20:53Z")
You know, there is one loose end that I thought should have been explored; why Nale wanted Malack dead (well, deader) in the first place. Or is that in one of the kickstarter packs? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6878 "2013-08-22T06:23:15Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > You know, there is one loose end that I thought should have been explored; why Nale wanted Malack dead (well, deader) in the first place. Or is that in one of the kickstarter packs? My guess is that will be answered in a Team Tarquin/Linear Guild prequel book sometime down the line. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6879 "2013-08-22T06:44:57Z")
Considering that the psion is an honorary “aunt” and already revealed history, Nale’s been with Tarquin’s group for many years — plenty of time for a child psychopath to develop hate-ons, justified or not. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6880 "2013-08-22T10:13:25Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > My guess is that will be answered in a Team Tarquin/Linear Guild prequel book sometime down the line. Coincidentally, I was reading the commentary in _No Cure for the Paladin Blues_ (the second collection of the online strips). Burlew was walking about future plans and he wrote he was thinking about two print-only books (this was after _On the Origin of PCs_ had already been released). One he described as the back story for Xykon and this is obviously what would eventually be _Start of Darkness_. But he wouldn’t say what the second book would be based on. From what he said, it didn’t appear he was talking about the Dungeon strips but rather an original story. So he could have had plans for a Linear Guild book. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323/6881 "2013-08-22T12:45:06Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Q for role-players (I have dabbled but that was years ago): do you, as a character with a low wisdom, play your character in the way exemplified by Nale, even if it would get him killed and/or screw up the mission of your party? Yes to the getting killed, no to the screwing up the mission, generally. RPing is a social activity, after all, and I don’t like it when other players make the rest of us suffer for their drama, so i try and be more considerate. Rolling up a new character is generally easy-peasy compared to patching up a broken party. But yes, I’ve played a few suicidally unwise people in the past - but usually of the “romance the wife of the Head of the Thieves’ Guild” variety, not the Leroy Jenkins kind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323.md?page=343) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/order-of-the-stick-book-5-discussion-thread/508323.md?page=345)