But she was still Lawful Good, right? (At least until she killed Shojo. And did even that change her actual alignment?) So it would have been handy for the Order of the Stick to have a Holy Word type spell that targeted everybody, not just Evil. Come to think of it, most combat spells don’t seem to discriminate between Good or Evil creatures, so it doesn’t seem like Ambrosio Spinola’s hypothetical “Word of ‘Meh’” spell would make somebody “100% Evil, no excuses” any more than Fireball does.
Dictum affects neutral good and chaotic good creatures, but can be cast by a lawful good cleric. It’s all about context, right? Anyway, I saw that the non-core “Word of Balance” spell treats neutrality on the law/chaos and good/evil axes the same, which seems sort of weird. I’d think there would be one corresponding to the good/evil axis and another on the law/chaos axis, but I guess there’s no “neutrality” domain.
But isn’t True Neutral also used as a shorthand for Neutral Neutral? Her statement makes it sound like she just does what she wants, not that she’s doing stuff to maintain a neutral balance.
True Neutral is only used as shorthand for “Neutral Neutal”. Any other meaning is just fanwanking.
Of course. I explicitly said that it was my interpretation in my post explaining how I divide them and not anything official.
Probably. That’s usually how paladins lose their paladinhood. And Soon tells her, as she is dying, that Windstriker will “visit her as much as he is able” - implying that she’s not going to the same plane as her mount.
New Strip. 953.
Hmm would a storm with a deity behind it be affected by the spell? Is there any distinction in AD&D between “natural” weather and deity inspired weather?
From the spell description:
[Emphasis mine.]
Besides which, there’s been no indication that the storm was NOT naturally occurring in the first place.
Only the fact that it started as they crossed into territory under the domain of the northern gods. Still might be a coincidence but I have my doubts.
Well-played, Giant, well-played.
Note that the storm isn’t really gone yet.
Yeah, and in this strip, the Deva interviewing Roy said that if he hadn’t gone back for Elan when Elan was captured by the bandits, she would be chucking his file in to the True Neutral bin. But does that imply that if he had never come around, his alignment would have changed (for purposes of a spell that targets only Good or Lawful creatures) from then on, or would it only change when he went off to be judged in the afterlife?
ETA: if the former, does that mean that Belkar’s alignment could be shifting away from Evil as his real character growth continues?
It’s my opinion that Belkar’s alignment has already shifted.
I can’t help but think that Belkar would have reacted very differently to the Durkon vampire earlier in the strip. E.g. consider his friendliness towards Vaarsuvius’s quick dip in the “deep end of the alignment pool.” Would the older, definitely chaotic evil Belkar have reacted with such strenuous negativity to the vampire?
I feel like Belkar’s objections come less from a Good vs Evil perspective and more from a “was helplessly made into vampire dinner” perspective. He doesn’t give a shit about Durkon being evil, he cares that they’re traveling with a powerful evil being that can Dominate, Hold Person and eat them and doesn’t believe that there’s enough “real” Durkon left to rely on loyalty to prevent that from happening.
So Hel’s god-standard weather mojo battles against Thor’s ADD. I see the spell takes 10 minutes to cast and a further 10 to manifest, so this could work.
Among the order, Durkevil’s response might persuade Roy and leave Belkar speechless, but V is likely to wonder what’s up. So would Haley if she was on deck. Even the ship’s cleric might work out that Durkevil is attached to another deity.
“Would the older, definitely chaotic evil Belkar have reacted with such strenuous negativity to the vampire?”
Possibly, even at a gut level. Belkar was all id after all, before his better evil nature took over. Also, remember he was acting like a dick in prison maybe a day or a week ago within the strip.
Another complication is that control weather works with a 2 mile radius. The Mechane moves at the speed of plot, but at 10 MPH it would clear the vicinity in 12 minutes.
Control Weather is not a snap finger rain gone kind of thing. The spell description states it takes 10 minutes just to cast it, and another 10 before any effect takes place. In more descriptive terms I think it’s less “erase rain clouds from the sky” and more “create a local low pressure zone 50 miles off the coast that should organically attract the storm away from here”, if you follow my meaning.
Oh, okay. Just noticed the the storm came on all of a sudden-like, too. I was figuring that the new jurisdiction had no relevance other than which deity could be called on to dispel it, but the suddenness of the storm (and the fact that the lightning bypassed the lightning rod) does raise questions.
One does wonder what might have motivated Thor to send the storm in the first place. Probably he’s just on a bender.