I love Order of the stick but it have a problem, The Magic Energy

[Pamela]

Hi, im new, and a know that no one like people who complain, but have one thing in OOTS That REALLY annoys me, the color of mystic energy ...

there is no standard colors they are sort of random ...

Xykon energy-Black
Zz'dtri-Green
Vaarsuvius-pink
Belkar White
Nale-yellow
etc ...

at the beginning it was a detail, it dont irritated me a lot, after all is not everyone who is so concerned with color scheme as I am... :s

but I'm realizing that this is starting to influence the comic in a bigger way ...

As we can see that Tsukiko Evil undead spells Have The Same color of the Azure City Holy Paladins powers and Elan illusions energy (O_O).

Another major flaw, that made me say this, is the souknife in the last strip, due the poor color choice we do not know if the sword is made of psychic energy or a sword of fire.

also,this random color scheme also makes it seems that there many sources of energy not only the Divine and Arcane

We can also see in a strip a goblin cleric uses a healing spell with purple energy, see also the daughter of the group of thieves forest use arcane spells Purple, it annoys me deeply.

well thats it...

Did someone else noticed this?, or was angry with that?

or the problem is me that get mad by little things and Details?

P.S. : sorry the bad english im not a native speaker.

[SadisticFishing]

I think the colour matches the person, not the power source. Different colours can have different meanings, depending on the person.

This is one of those details that I think you're thinking too much about :P

[Shadowleaf]

Well, you know, it's not like there's a lot of colours to choose from.

[Pamela]

but you have to agreed that is more easy to understend what is goin on, if the colors have a organization.

-you could tell if it is Fire or energy
-if is holy or evil
-arcane or divine
-ice or force

etc..

this is iportant for me, but it seems that is not for you guys...

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

Personality? Or maybe there's a fun little cantrip that lets you coordinate your spell colors with your armor or hair color or what have you.

[Mystic Muse]

but you have to agreed tahat is more easy to undertend what is goin on if the colors have a organization.

-you could tell if it is Fire or energy
-if is holy or evil
-arcane or divine
-ice or force

etc..

this is iportant for me, but it seems that is not for you guys...

I honestly think you're just nitpicking. I'm sorry if this is important to you but I don't think it's all that important. Granted, there are some colors that are kind of unclear. Tell me, have you read the comic goblins?

[Knaight]

Yes, but it always matches the person casting it. That's not exactly atypical, even in D&D based stuff. Goblins did the same thing for instance.

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

but you have to agreed that is more easy to understend what is goin on, if the colors have a organization.

-you could tell if it is Fire or energy
-if is holy or evil
-arcane or divine
-ice or force

etc..

this is iportant for me, but it seems that is not for you guys...

Easier for the readers, perhaps, but it'd probably be a heck of a liability in a fight.

[Mystic Muse]

Yes, but it always matches the person casting it. That's not exactly atypical, even in D&D based stuff. Goblins did the same thing for instance.

Exactly. That's why I asked.

Never mind though. I found the comic I was looking for. http://goblins.keenspot.com/d/20060804.html

This is how I choose to look at it.

[Pamela]

Personality? Or maybe there's a fun little cantrip that lets you coordinate your spell colors with your armor or hair color or what have you.

did you see the sound of it, Magic energy is not a pice of clothing, which can be used to match you in a fashion way.

is a Freking ocult power that make you have Posibilitis beyond what can be imagined, taht makes the laws of the universe mean nothing to you.

is a serious thing X_X

[Cealocanth]

I agree with the poster before the last. It seems like the color of spells are based off of the caster. The magic items are a different story.

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

did you see the sound of it, Magic energy is not a pice of clothing, which can be used to match you in a fashion way.

is a Freking ocult power that make you have Posibilitis beyond what can be imagined, taht makes the laws of the universe mean nothing to you.

is a serious thing X_X

Well, that's why you'd need magic to alter it. Still a less likely possibility than auras and such.

[Pamela]

Exactly. That's why I asked.

Never mind though. I found the comic I was looking for. http://goblins.keenspot.com/d/20060804.html

This is how I choose to look at it.

Well if the case was, Iner and soul energy is ok look like a rainbow

but mages use a pre make energy, and is not from his iner soul is arcane

and the clerics use divines, it can mach if the god personaliti, but is easier make one to good gods one too bad goods.

what im trying say is that if you guys say that the color mahs if the personalit, how Tsukiko who is vil have the same color efect of the Azure paladins, who are good?

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

what im trying say is that if you guys say that the color mahs if the personalit, how Tsukiko who is vil have the same color efect of the Azure paladins, who are good?

They've been raised all their life in Azure City, home of the famed Sapphire Guard, surrounded by blue sky and blue ocean and blue... everything. I guess it warps your personality a little.

[Pamela]

how about Blue energy illusions spells of Elan?

ok you guys do have a point..

but the Soul sword still look like fire...

[Cealocanth]

what im trying say is that if you guys say that the color mahs if the personalit, how Tsukiko who is vil have the same color efect of the Azure paladins, who are good?

Tsukio has the smae effects because she is a Native Azurian, so her powers usually fall in the blue-purple spectrum. If you look closely, her magic is different in each hand. It's based off of her seperate eye colors, matching perfectly because the eyes are one of the key things that allows the audience to recognise Tsukio.

I think the colors are the way they are because of the fact that the comic has to look good. With such a simple style, it seems reasonable for magic energy to match the clothing or hair color or something of the caster. It's just one of the things that make the OOTS universe special.

[Knaight]

There is way, way more to personality than good/evil, and no reason to expect no overlap.

Oh, and incidentally, D&D itself has something that lists casters able to change the appearance of their spells to better suit them, with such dramatic changes as making magic missiles a bunch of draconic skulls. Color is nothing, so this suggests the arcane/divine division shouldn't determine the appearance of spells, and that they should be up to the caster.

[Mystic Muse]

how about Blue energy illusions spells of Elan?

ok you guys do have a point..

but the Soul sword still look like fire...

Okay. Calm down a little.

They look this way, because the giant chose them to look this way. If you want to take it up with somebody, take it up with him, He can actually do something about it.

Also, you might want to put the fact you're not a native english speaker in your signature.

[The Rose Dragon]

Also, you might want to put the fact you're not a native english speaker in your signature.

Or, preferably, that you are not very fluent in English at the moment, as being a non-native speaker is not an excuse you can use forever for poor literacy. For that matter, neither is dyslexia (I am a non-native speaker, and know a heavily dyslexic person).

On topic, this is how the visual displays of magic work in OotS. There isn't actually a set rule on how spells appear, so it is either up to DM (for games) or writer (for stories) interpretation. It doesn't necessarily have an in-universe reason for being this way.

[Knaight]

Its pretty obvious. The flaws aren't all of the "I'm extremely lazy, have some half finished words." variety that annoy people so much. We see grammatical errors not something like:

Lol, Elan has rapper, mgk swd, ROFLMAO. Hey gaiz, I has hmebrew class. Why nbdy crtqu, THX.*

*This hurt to write.

[Bongos]

how about Blue energy illusions spells of Elan?

Elan's colors matches his eyes!

It's a PERSONAL magic aura. Much more interesting, and makes a better narrative, if you ask me, as compared to "arcane magic always blue", "divine magic white", etc. Boring.

[Cealocanth]

Its pretty obvious. The flaws aren't all of the "I'm extremely lazy, have some half finished words." variety that annoy people so much. We see grammatical errors not something like:

Lol, Elan has rapper, mgk swd, ROFLMAO. Hey gaiz, I has hmebrew class. Why nbdy crtqu, THX.*

*This hurt to write.

Good point. That kind of hurt to read. I guess being a non-native English speaker is better than being a native internet speaker.

[Bongos]

Another major flaw, that made me say this, is the souknife in the last strip, due the poor color choice we do not know if the sword is made of psychic energy or a sword of fire.

Actually we do know this because the woman's eyes turned the same color as the sword when she started generating them.

[Alexandurs]

Welp, there are some things you just have to deal with. Chill, you can always make your own webcomic with organized color coded spellcasting.

[The Glyphstone]

DragonsMagic: Color Coded For Your Convenience?

[iroZn]

I reckon the color of the magical energy is a personal choice like everyone is saying, but on the other hand it would be interesting to give a try to classify it somehow... maybe all the colors relate to that persons primary stats? Or something similar... would be good to do in the thread for over analysis.

[chiasaur11]

Well, there would be a constant color of magic, but most monitors won't display octarine.

[The Rose Dragon]

Well, there would be a constant color of magic, but most monitors won't display octarine.

Octarine is not the color of magic.

It's the colour of magic.

It is one of the few cases where I will insist on the British spelling.

[Serpentine]

Yup, the colour of the magic goes with the person. Tamora Pierce did the same thing - Alanna's magic is purple, the same as her eyes and those of her cat. Numair's is black with sparkles. It just goes with the person. I like it.

[paddyfool]

You guys do all know that the IME of Goblins and the individually-associated colour coding of OOTS are representing something in the D&D rules, right? I forget exactly where it is (might be the DMG) but I'm pretty sure it specifies that the appearance of spells does vary by the caster.