OOTS #1032 - The Discussion Thread

[The gF]

Lien's boyfriend confirmed as living, all attempts to breed an uber-Paladin from O Chul and Lien must be suspended.

clearly you don't understand the internet, and those who ship.

[Quibblicious]

It means if you proceed with that equation, you'll rip a hole in spacetime and summon Chthulhu, who will be annoyed unless you have those little cucumber sandwiches he enjoys with his tea.

More on point, CR is rubbish because, among other things, most monsters weren't built right. Garbage in leads to garbage out.

It works fine if you use CR as Compression Rating.

Nothing to do with any variant of D&D, but hey...

[Quibblicious]

These paladins are ridiculous. Paladins are fascists who are never happy unless the entire world is suffering under their religious oppression. Why are they being deliberately humanized like this?

Also I'm uncomfortable at the "generic Asian" tropes being portrayed here. Kimchi is culturally Korean and its use here can be considered as cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups - often with little understanding of the latter’s history, experience and traditions. In the United States, where the author lives, cultural appropriation almost always involves members of the dominant culture (or those who identify with it) “borrowing” from the cultures of minority groups. Asians are generally one of the the victims targeted for cultural appropriation.

Sometimes the "appropriation" is a sign of the excellence of what is "appropriated". I like various foods from all over the world because they're excellent foods -- Indian, Chinese, Thai, German, Italian, Irish, whatever. It's not appropriation, it's appreciation.

Frankly, I'd take it as "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Cultural Appropriation" is also a false flag; cultures have swapped ideas and numerous other elements since the beginning of time. The Romans took the Greek phalanx and revised it into the legion; the Japanese absorbed the Chinese idiomatic writing and revised it. The Greeks borrowed from the Persians who borrowed from the Egyptians. The Chinese borrowed from the Mongols and vice versa. The English borrowed from the French, who borrowed from the Germans and Spanish.

It's evolution. It's the way life works. Ideas, like genes, cross lines and become something new.

I suppose next you're going to start complaining about how the Eukaryota culturally appropriated cellular mechanisms from the eubacteria and archaebacteria.

Okay, rant over. My apologies. Maybe

[Quebbster]

Wrecan's shield has four dots arranged in a square. Wrecan is bodyguard for Veldrina whose gods are from (or are voting with) the Western Pantheon. I was under the impression that Wrecan was from the same land as Veldrina. (It's the end of the world and my wife and kids are on the other side of it).


That rider's cloak has what looks like tiger stripes.

So wrong continent's gods, and stylistically not very close.

We know Wrecan has been sent on missions for the Church of Marduk in the past, and Marduk just so happens to be the guy with four Eyes I Believe, so it's likely an intentional homage to his patron god.

[8BitNinja]

clearly you don't understand the internet, and those who ship.

The 8 Bit Ninja Clause of Fanfiction: Any person(s), animals, robots, eldritch horrors, or the like can and will be shipped with any of the others, even if they would have no reason of meeting or if they did meet, would probably fight to the death.

Please don't ship me with an antipaladin

Sometimes the "appropriation" is a sign of the excellence of what is "appropriated". I like various foods from all over the world because they're excellent foods -- Indian, Chinese, Thai, German, Italian, Irish, whatever. It's not appropriation, it's appreciation.

Frankly, I'd take it as "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Cultural Appropriation" is also a false flag; cultures have swapped ideas and numerous other elements since the beginning of time. The Romans took the Greek phalanx and revised it into the legion; the Japanese absorbed the Chinese idiomatic writing and revised it. The Greeks borrowed from the Persians who borrowed from the Egyptians. The Chinese borrowed from the Mongols and vice versa. The English borrowed from the French, who borrowed from the Germans and Spanish.

It's evolution. It's the way life works. Ideas, like genes, cross lines and become something new.

I suppose next you're going to start complaining about how the Eukaryota culturally appropriated cellular mechanisms from the eubacteria and archaebacteria.

Okay, rant over. My apologies. Maybe

I think that the original comment was either a troll comment or bait

Slow clap

Gotta love the segue from troll #1, "Paladins are always oppressive", to troll #2, "Any white person in America writing about non-white people is guilty of cultural appropriation".

As the internet people would say

Great bait mate, I rate 8/8

[Quibblicious]

I think that the original comment was either a troll comment or bait

Yes, yes, but as a Bard, I must express my opinions.

Next time I'll use free verse.

Q

[8BitNinja]

Yes, yes, but as a Bard, I must express my opinions.

Next time I'll use free verse.

Q

My dear Quibbilicious, Bards really are amazing creatures. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month and yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.

[Quibblicious]

My dear Quibbilicious, Bards really are amazing creatures. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month and yet, after a hundred years, they can still surprise you.

Thank you. We aim to please.

[8BitNinja]

Thank you. We aim to please.

You're welcome, without you guys, who would continuously buff us melee fighters?

[Quibblicious]

You're welcome, without you guys, who would continuously buff us melee fighters?

True, plus who would write the ballads? And the Heroic epics?

Grendel wouldn't be anywhere near as famous and intimidating if it weren't for the bards telling the saga of Beowulf.

And Beowulf wouldn't be half as heroic.

Q

[PallentisLunam]

Character developement!! Beautiful.

Now more importantly, orc Druid riding aaaaaaaa, do white dragons have horns?

[Quibblicious]

True, plus who would write the ballads? And the Heroic epics?

Grendel wouldn't be anywhere near as famous and intimidating if it weren't for the bards telling the saga of Beowulf.

And Beowulf wouldn't be half as heroic.

Q

And we couldn't do all that if you meat shields didn't shield us

[8BitNinja]

True, plus who would write the ballads? And the Heroic epics?

Grendel wouldn't be anywhere near as famous and intimidating if it weren't for the bards telling the saga of Beowulf.

And Beowulf wouldn't be half as heroic.

Q

It's good to have bard friends, or King Jerry wouldn't have hired us

[Quibblicious]

It's good to have bard friends, or King Jerry wouldn't have hired us

Darn it, I forgot about King Jerry.

[Wowlock]

You just can't escape the Murphy's Law O.o

[The gF]

Sometimes the "appropriation" is a sign of the excellence of what is "appropriated". I like various foods from all over the world because they're excellent foods -- Indian, Chinese, Thai, German, Italian, Irish, whatever. It's not appropriation, it's appreciation.

Frankly, I'd take it as "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Cultural Appropriation" is also a false flag; cultures have swapped ideas and numerous other elements since the beginning of time. The Romans took the Greek phalanx and revised it into the legion; the Japanese absorbed the Chinese idiomatic writing and revised it. The Greeks borrowed from the Persians who borrowed from the Egyptians. The Chinese borrowed from the Mongols and vice versa. The English borrowed from the French, who borrowed from the Germans and Spanish.

It's evolution. It's the way life works. Ideas, like genes, cross lines and become something new.

I suppose next you're going to start complaining about how the Eukaryota culturally appropriated cellular mechanisms from the eubacteria and archaebacteria.

Okay, rant over. My apologies. Maybe

No lies, though, I would kill to see a good parody Tumblr rant about eukaryotic genetic appropriation.

[Doug Lampert]

I agree with those who think the beast is a yrthak.

I tend to lean to the rider being a Frost Giant. The horns are similar to Thrym Lord of Frost Giants, as is the style of cloak. I think the hands could be differently colored due to riding gloves, or maybe it's a more youthful skin tone for frost giants.

I am not a fan of cold or aquatic campaigns, but I am intrigued as to what is going on here. Despite being evil, I think a frost giant could be bargained or reasoned with, but I doubt Paladins will seek that option considering the frost giants are generally evil.

Frost giants are an "often" alignment race. That means LESS THAN HALF have the listed alignment. That definition is in the MM under how to read a monster entry.

IIRC the definition also says that often alignments are usually cultural rather than inborn.

Finally, attacking someone based solely on their species is EVIL in D&D land. I don't know why you think the Paladins will act like LE characters rather than LG. Remember that Rich usually writes alignment by the rulebook, rather than basing his treatment of alignment on the demented ravings of people who think it's alright to kill people because they have green skin and fangs.

[Shining Wrath]

Character developement!! Beautiful.

Now more importantly, orc Druid riding aaaaaaaa, do white dragons have horns?

The sagacious Vxylu has suggested a ythrak. I thought white dragon at first, but have come around to agreeing with Vxylu.

[Shining Wrath]

It's good to have bard friends, or King Jerry wouldn't have hired us

Following the Internet tradition of random shipping, I must now tell the two of you to get a room.

[Quibblicious]

Following the Internet tradition of random shipping, I must now tell the two of you to get a room.

You're looking very handsome...

[Vigiles]

Some form of White Dragon is my guess, ridden by a shaman or druid type from northern tribes. Hands and legs look humanoid, not skeletal or undead, so perhaps not a servant of Xykon.

The bone headdress (antlers) and red claw-like accents to the wardrobe seem reminicient of a priest of Fenrir, God of Monsters.

Just a theory.

[GrayGriffin]

No lies, though, I would kill to see a good parody Tumblr rant about eukaryotic genetic appropriation.

How about we not make fun of cultural appropriation, which is actually a serious issue? Congratulations to the troll for accomplishing his goal and getting you guys to diminish it, I guess.

[littlebum2002]

Sometimes the "appropriation" is a sign of the excellence of what is "appropriated". I like various foods from all over the world because they're excellent foods -- Indian, Chinese, Thai, German, Italian, Irish, whatever. It's not appropriation, it's appreciation.

Frankly, I'd take it as "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Cultural Appropriation" is also a false flag; cultures have swapped ideas and numerous other elements since the beginning of time. The Romans took the Greek phalanx and revised it into the legion; the Japanese absorbed the Chinese idiomatic writing and revised it. The Greeks borrowed from the Persians who borrowed from the Egyptians. The Chinese borrowed from the Mongols and vice versa. The English borrowed from the French, who borrowed from the Germans and Spanish.

It's evolution. It's the way life works. Ideas, like genes, cross lines and become something new.

I suppose next you're going to start complaining about how the Eukaryota culturally appropriated cellular mechanisms from the eubacteria and archaebacteria.

Okay, rant over. My apologies. Maybe

I can think of lots of terrible, terrible things the cultures you mentioned engaged in (I'll refrain from mentioning those things bc that would probably violate the rules). Saying "ancient cultures did this, therefore it's an ok thing to do" is a terrible argument. In fact, considering the amount of terrible things those cultures did, saying they did something is probably a pretty good reason to AVOID doing that thing.

I've also noticed it's usually the cultures who do the appropriation who talk about how good it is, not the cultures that are appropriated from. Isn't that interesting.

[Mathguy]

Frost giants are an "often" alignment race. That means LESS THAN HALF have the listed alignment. That definition is in the MM under how to read a monster entry.

IIRC the definition also says that often alignments are usually cultural rather than inborn.

Finally, attacking someone based solely on their species is EVIL in D&D land. I don't know why you think the Paladins will act like LE characters rather than LG. Remember that Rich usually writes alignment by the rulebook, rather than basing his treatment of alignment on the demented ravings of people who think it's alright to kill people because they have green skin and fangs.

Yes, but Azure City paladins, specifically, have been guilty of this in the past with their anti-goblin raids. That was a previous generation, though, so maybe O-Chul and Lien are wiser.

[Hamste]

Character developement!! Beautiful.

Now more importantly, orc Druid riding aaaaaaaa, do white dragons have horns?

I'm not sure about it being an orc. Many of them seem to be greenish which the rider doesn't. I think it is more likely the race is the same as whatever the High Priest of Fenrir is as there definitely seem to be a few similarities between them (Both wear animal skins reminiscent of each other and have similar dark colored hair. Could be a religious thing though.) as well as Fenrir being the god of monsters which goes well with the new person riding a yrthak (Which are intelligent but normally can't speak). Also important to note is that we pretty sure the High priest of Fenrir is not a regular orc, orcs have under bites while the priest had an over bite, was not really green and a tail (Though the tail might be a granted ability from their god).

[8BitNinja]

Following the Internet tradition of random shipping, I must now tell the two of you to get a room.

You're looking very handsome...

Okay guys, when I said I like bards, I did not mean I was attraacted to Quibbilicious (no offense)

Save me from the internet!

[The gF]

How about we not make fun of cultural appropriation, which is actually a serious issue? Congratulations to the troll for accomplishing his goal and getting you guys to diminish it, I guess.

I hate to argue this here, but there are literally people who try to make the argument that tanning and eating Mexican food are cultural appropriation. I agree that it's an issue worth addressing, but I don't agree that you shouldn't be able to poke fun at the (many many many) people who overdo it and hurt their own cause. At what point does the fight against cultural appropriation become social segregation? Some people are taking the obsession with this issue too far, which is what we're making fun of. Frankly, as Quibb outlined, cultural appropriation is really NOT a problem-- people just use the term when they mean cultural theft, which is a problem.

Regardless, asking people on a comic board not to find humor in absurdity is kind of absurd. Which in turn might actually make it humorous. This demands further study.

Moving on, I find it interesting that while Lien's philosophy of life is refreshing to me, it is perhaps not uncommon to the setting. It boils down to "Don't get mad, use that energy on solving the problem", which is something we've seen before, though admittedly it has once been taken too far.

I suppose that in a setting where your problems tend to come down to a large or powerful entity that you can kill at the end of the day, it feels like a much more useful philosophy. When your problem is crippling debt in a system that seems designed to keep you from overcoming it, sometimes getting mad and letting off some steam is the only way to get through the day without breaking down.

[ratfox]

Boyfriend? Boyfriend??

Noooooo, my poor ship!!1!

[Coat]

I suppose that in a setting where your problems tend to come down to a large or powerful entity that you can kill at the end of the day, it feels like a much more useful philosophy. When your problem is crippling debt in a system that seems designed to keep you from overcoming it, sometimes getting mad and letting off some steam is the only way to get through the day without breaking down.

A wise woman once said "There wouldn't need to be paladins if the world was like, fair!"

Maybe the world needs more Paladins.

[The gF]

A wise woman once said "There wouldn't need to be paladins if the world was like, fair!"

Maybe the world needs more Paladins.

I dunno, the ones we have aren't helping. :V Maybe the world just needs BETTER paladins.