OOTS #780 - The Discussion Thread

[The Giant]

New comic is up.

[Haruki-kun]

Wow. Well, that was gore-y. :smallbiggrin:

[Night-breeze]

All hail kitty the killer.

[Blue Ghost]

That was... disturbing. :smalleek:

[Mr. Snuggles]

I see Belkar is still bouncing around even though Haley has his Ring of Jumping +20.

[SPoD]

So, as expected, a housecat can kill a 1st level commoner.

[MBI]

Whats that creature in the first panel?

[Firemeier]

Heh. :smallamused:

[Kronk]

Loved it. Commoner killed by a cat. Heh.

[SPoD]

Whats that creature in the first panel?

Looks like the allosaurus from two strips ago.

[Symmys]

Well, that was surprisingly gruesome.

[SPoD]

Well, that was surprisingly gruesome.

I think the only surprise for me is that it wasn't Belkar that did it. He has cut the tops off people's heads and used them as hats before.

[dogfish44]

Nice... I think.

And love the fact that the other guy was a commonner - was he trying to become a rival and gain about 10 to 12 levels? XD

[Gwynfrid]

As anticlimaxes go, I have to say this one was impressive :smallbiggrin:

[Nix Nihila]

:smalleek: Yuck.

[dmuzzy]

I kan haz pwnage.

(Mr. Scruffy, FTW)

[John Cribati]

Does this count as an Ascended Meme?

[Yana]

Hands raised if you saw this coming. What a masterful anticlimax.

[JoeSkull]

Well, that was surprisingly gruesome.

yes, yes it was. But still funny.

[Oshirokita]

that was one of the biggest laughs in a while, Mr Scruffy was oozing cuteness... up until the entrails. Not every day you see that in a stick figure, but used for effect I can forgive it this once.

[MarkusWolfe]

Poor bugger never stood a chance. He wasn't even proficient with his equipment!

[Lord Loss]

I will never look at my cat the same way :smalleek:.

[warmachine]

Better attack bonus and better stealth: commoners have little chance against the housecat. The crazy old cat lady of every village runs the place with an iron fist. Run!

[HUMVEE Driver]

First off, Belkar for the win!
This page was well worth the wait.

[Themrys]

Well, now I understand why Belkar likes Mr. Scruffy. :smalleek:

Also, I now understand that my former assumption that caring for a cat would make Belkar a nicer person was completely wrong. Mr. Scruffy is even worse.
(Of course he is an animal and one could say that he acted out of instinct...but he is a cat. Therefore...)

[Traab]

Mr Scruffy has been spending WAY too much time with belkar. Hes just lucky belkar likes him, otherwise we would be seeing a huge "KILLSTEALER!" rant and chase scene. :p

[Soren Hero]

wow..simply wow

[slayerx]

Damn it Mr.Scruffy, No Kill stealing!

[odoflood]

That was anticlimactic in a good way.

Like Indiana Jones vs the impressive swordsman in Raiders.

Two thumbs up. Gladly would I give it more praise, but that I had more thumbs.

[Warren Dew]

I love it! Classic D&D joke!

[shadowkiller]

Aww Mr. Scruffy cares about Belkar.

[Zerg Cookie]

In my D&D group our summoner once summoned 1d4 puppies and finished off some plot-related boss we were fighting.
Since then we have a joke of "PUPPY ATTACK OF DOOM".

They're gonna laugh their asses off when they see this strip :smallbiggrin:

[isamaru]

This made my day! :D
How many XPs does a commoner need to get to level 2? Is it the same as for standard classes?

[Skaven]

Wonder why he was gonna take another level of commoner o.o I guess to explain to us what class he was level 1 of!

Still, I laughed..!

[Warren Dew]

Hands raised if you saw this coming. What a masterful anticlimax.
This was actually considerably less anticlimactic than I was expecting. Belkar doing the same thing would be far more boring.

[kierthos]

Yes, but what did the crowd think of the fight?

[Themrys]

And again, someone died because V didn't help them. Only, unlike with the Azurites, V could absolutely have done something in this case. :smallfrown:
Ok, Belkar would probably have killed the guy sooner or later anyways, but still...

[Eldritch Knight]

This was brilliant.

[Starknight]

WAY TO GO MR. Scruffy!!!! :smallbiggrin:

BTW, I don't think that Belkar would have minded killing him, because, let's face it "SEXY SHOELESS GOD OF WAR", but he just wanted to be certain that it was allowed.

[revenge256]

What's Belkar doing in the last panel? Just walking away?

[Onyavar]

Ouch. That was the most horrible graphic violence so far, I guess.

Well, Belkar wouldn't get any XP from this encounter anyway.

[Warren Dew]

Yes, but what did the crowd think of the fight?
I expect they're laughing just as much as some of us are.

[factotum]

I see Belkar is still bouncing around even though Haley has his Ring of Jumping +20.

Gosh, you're right! I must remember to inform all those real-life athletes that they can't actually jump over that horizontal pole because they don't have a magic ring that lets them do it. Going to be a bit of a crimp on the 2012 Olympics, unfortunately... :smalltongue:

[Phishfood]

I would just like to say that I totally saw that coming!

not

[kierthos]

What's Belkar doing in the last panel? Just walking away?Walking over to the arena wall to ask some patrons to throw down some nachos?

[nihil8r]

boo! i liked that guy. great joke though of course for those of us who remember 1st and 2nd edition housecat vs wizard arguments.

and to those of you complaining about "gore" . . . yeah, it's interesting to see more detail in the comic, but that's all it is. more detail. this comic has always had limbs and heads flying left and right. but no one cared before because there wasn't blood?

[Crisis21]

I'm not sure whether to call that awesomely gross, or grossly awesome.

[The_Weirdo]

Who's a cute widdle killer kitty? You are! Yes you are!

[Faramir]

As anticlimaxes go, I have to say this one was impressive :smallbiggrin:

Very well put :)!

[Fighteer]

Man, it's been a while since I posted. While I find the housecat vs. commoner meme to be highly amusing, it's statistically impossible for this to have been a single stroke battle.

Even if this guy was terrifyingly unlucky in his hit dice and had 1 hp, housecat claw attacks hit for 1d3-2 (if I remember correctly) and can at most reduce him to 0 hp for a disable, not a kill. Hmm, I suppose a critical hit could make that 2 hp...

I think it's more likely that Mr. Scruffy is indeed getting some animal companion bonuses from Belkar.

Also: I find it hilarious that this dude was getting all up in Belkar's face when Belkar could have taken him down blindfolded and trussed.

[Seraphem]

All hail Mr. Scruffy, champion of the arena!!

[pendell]

Hmm ...

That SHOULD have been the funniest joke ever in the strip -- cat kills a commoner -- but for me the graphic intestines spoil the joke. I just don't have it in me to laugh at a man dying in a pool of his own blood.

Still .. it WAS a perfect setup, and it SHOULD have been funny. Perfect comedic timing.

I guess I'm not cut out for gladiator matches or bullfights.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Faldrath]

I believe this was another "because good is dumb" moment.

[whitemane]

Wow! I always wondered why Shojo chose Mr. Scruffy to be the power behind the throne... Now I know! Mr. Scruffy just got went up a level in the bad-ass character class!

[Irbis]

BRILLIANT! :smallbiggrin:

If a bit gory.

Memes and hater-crashing all in one. I approve.

Surprisingly, Elan gets a big plus here, too. Still dumb and spilled their secrets to Tarquin, but he is one of the few genuinely good characters in both senses of this word in this comic.

[Mordae]

Well, from a practical perspective, Mr. Scruffy might actually stand to gain experience from winning the encounter. Belkar is so much higher level than the dear, departed commoner that it wouldn't have been worth it for him.

[geekwraith]

I love Blackwing's interpretation of Mr. Scruffy's eagerness. :smallbiggrin:

[Forum Explorer]

Well this is more fuel for what's Mr.Scruffy's stats threads. Also I loved the cat vs commoner victory! Great comic, and didn't mind the gore at all.

Remember these will be the bloodiest gladiator fights ever after all.

[Draz74]

Like Indiana Jones vs the impressive swordsman in Raiders.
An apt analogy.


I think it's more likely that Mr. Scruffy is indeed getting some animal companion bonuses from Belkar.

Obviously. He wouldn't have been (so) useful in the Thieves' Guild encounter otherwise.

And yeah, this was my first thought about the anticlimax: while the reference to the infamous Commoner vs. housecat duel is amusing, this doesn't really settle the question at all, because Mr. Scruffy is far from a (common) "housecat." He's got at least two extra Hit Dice and AC, and at least +1 Str/Dex.

But all of that is overlooking the real question. What has V's attention so occupied? Is it something to do with hir mysterious antipathy with the Elven ambassador?

[Phishfood]

Just like to add that "Cat got your Colon?" is going through my head right now.

[jafar]

Is anyone besides me getting the sense that there is much more to Mr. Scruffy than meets the eye? Perhaps Lord Shojo could not be raised from the dead because had already transferred himself to Mr. Scruffy. Perhaps my ideas are stupid. Perhaps this has already been suggested. :smallconfused:

[Kato]

Well now... that was anticlimatic. And gory. And Scruffy is obviously no ordinary house cat but actually a polymorphed epic level druid trying to infiltrate the Order. All that's left now is to figure out who he's working for.

[Rhyvurg]

Well, that was easily the most graphic death in the entire comic.

[Caliphbubba]

dang it The Giant! You've got to stop being so funny, my co-workers are looking at me funny lol

[ibiwan]

I'm not sure whether to call that awesomely gross, or grossly awesome.

They're orthogonal, so let's say both!

[JonestheSpy]

Why would anyone take a 2nd level in commoner, anyway?

[Djibril]

Lol actually in one of my old parties we had a wizard whose life was saved almost in the same way by his familiar cat

MR SCRUFFY KILLS PUNY COMMONERS!

Great strip Giant, as usual you're the best

[EmperorSarda]

I just have to say, I approve. Long live Mr. Scruffy!

[ibiwan]

I just don't have it in me to laugh at a man dying in a pool of his own blood.

How about a stick figure, gaining eye-X's, in an utter lack of blood-pool?

[Themrys]

But all of that is overlooking the real question. What has V's attention so occupied? Is it something to do with hir mysterious antipathy with the Elven ambassador?

The really interesting thing is the fact that the ambassador is staring in the direction opposite of V, therefore, if V is watching the fight, Polozius isn't.

I guess it is V's unwillingness to care for Belkar's cat that lead to hir lack of interest in Mr. Scruffys actions.

[Barstro]

That SHOULD have been the funniest joke ever in the strip -- cat kills a commoner -- but for me the graphic intestines spoil the joke. I just don't have it in me to laugh at a man dying in a pool of his own blood.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

I WANT to agree, but I cannot. I don't think I, personally, would have understood how Mr. Scruffy killed him with one swipe if I didn't see the gore. Perhaps the drawing could have been more "tasteful", but I don't see anything less horrible in the anticipated decapitation by dagger and the final disemboweling. Both result in a death of a stick figure.

EDIT: ok, he could have landed on his intestines so that we only had to see them for one or two panels.

I am surprised that Mr. Scruffy was able to break free without either biting the string or (what I think would have been better) Blackwing biting the string for him.

EDIT: I like the artwork of the dust from the arena. Impressive attention to detail in a stick figure world.

[Maralais]

So, the theory of "a housecat can kill a commoner" is once again proven.

Very anticlimactic and funny. Well done.

[Barstro]

The really interesting thing is the fact that the ambassador is staring in the direction opposite of V, therefore, if V is watching the fight, Polozius isn't.

Well, everyone is staring to their left(ish) and Mr. Scruffy is trying to break free to his left, so I think V's attention is elsewhere.

[Belsirk]

sad (The dead of the good commoner only)... but only one question

When the damned cat earn XP ????

Oh wait... animal companion bonus? :smallconfused:


----
p.d. then there is a theory who is more powerful ? (Cat vs human) Well, isn't need been proved ... take a cat... "flush him" and release him... you will see what happens after that :smallbiggrin:

[ThePhantom]

Ick. A little too much with the guts.

[Azuyomi244]

Hahahah :smallbiggrin:
I figured that he would die in some anti-climactic way after all that hype.

[Menarker]

Seems odd that Mr.Scruffy doesn't have the string attached to his neck still. Only the middle part of the string broke, but there should still be a collar and a little tail of string left where it snapped. It's not like it could remove the collar itself, otherwise it would have done so in the first place to be free of the string.

[Shale]

Even if this guy was terrifyingly unlucky in his hit dice and had 1 hp, housecat claw attacks hit for 1d3-2 (if I remember correctly) and can at most reduce him to 0 hp for a disable, not a kill. Hmm, I suppose a critical hit could make that 2 hp...


SRD says it's 1d2-4, due to a housecat's 3 STR. So Mr. Scruffy would need a heck of a strength boost to deal any damage.

[EmperorSarda]

SRD says it's 1d2-4, due to a housecat's 3 STR. So Mr. Scruffy would need a heck of a strength boost to deal any damage.

Animal companion. He has higher strength.

[ricorum]

That was... disturbing. :smalleek:

This might just me the most violent comic to date.

[RadiantPhoenix]

I definitely favor the animal companion interpretation. It makes sense that Belkar would have a commoner-slaughtering cat as his animal companion.

[silvadel]

Can the cat earn exp from this even if belkar can't? Probably doesnt matter anyway it being an animal companion....

And do you think belkar would ever take improved animal companion?

[Maralais]

SRD says it's 1d2-4, due to a housecat's 3 STR. So Mr. Scruffy would need a heck of a strength boost to deal any damage.

that, and all damage rolls, even if they give negative results, deal at least 1 damage.

[Lycan 01]

That was shocking. :smalleek:


And utterly hilarious. :smallbiggrin:

[the_tick_rules]

Scruffy's first confirmed kill :smallfurious: Oh and how bloody.

[Doug Lampert]

Man, it's been a while since I posted. While I find the housecat vs. commoner meme to be highly amusing, it's statistically impossible for this to have been a single stroke battle.

Even if this guy was terrifyingly unlucky in his hit dice and had 1 hp, housecat claw attacks hit for 1d3-2 (if I remember correctly) and can at most reduce him to 0 hp for a disable, not a kill. Hmm, I suppose a critical hit could make that 2 hp...

Disabled, he continues to act, he takes another HP for acting while disabled, he falls down and bleeds out.

Did you see ANYTHING OTHER than exactly that happen in the strip? The guy is clearly NOT insta-gaked.


SRD says it's 1d2-4, due to a housecat's 3 STR. So Mr. Scruffy would need a heck of a strength boost to deal any damage.

As others have said, all attacks that hit do at least one damage. 1d1-1,000,000,000 is still one damage.

DougL

[Gift Jeraff]

All that development and V still ignores Blackwing. :smallamused:


Does this count as an Ascended Meme?
What meme is in this strip? OOTS doesn't have to be in every TVTropes article.

[Occasional Sage]

Wonder why he was gonna take another level of commoner o.o I guess to explain to us what class he was level 1 of!

Still, I laughed..!

Int is obviously his dump stat.


Man, it's been a while since I posted. While I find the housecat vs. commoner meme to be highly amusing, it's statistically impossible for this to have been a single stroke battle.

Even if this guy was terrifyingly unlucky in his hit dice and had 1 hp, housecat claw attacks hit for 1d3-2 (if I remember correctly) and can at most reduce him to 0 hp for a disable, not a kill. Hmm, I suppose a critical hit could make that 2 hp...

I think it's more likely that Mr. Scruffy is indeed getting some animal companion bonuses from Belkar.

Also: I find it hilarious that this dude was getting all up in Belkar's face when Belkar could have taken him down blindfolded and trussed.

There's a shockingly long period of time in which a person can survive having out-trails, if the cut doesn't bleed too badly. That crit-for-neg-one is completely in line with a disembowelment.


Just like to add that "Cat got your Colon?" is going through my head right now.

Ick, and zomgroflmmfao.

[DreadArchon]

As anticlimaxes go, I have to say this one was impressive :smallbiggrin:

This. Very, very this.

And it's not killstealing if your animal companion kills the target for you.


And Gift Jeraff:
OK, never mind trying to find a good link. Just Google (Images) "commoner housecat" and much will be revealed.

Basically, official D&D 3.x rules make it really easy for housecats to kill commoners.

[Ridureyu]

That settles it.

Mr. Scruffy is Miko.

[Particle_Man]

Guys, Mr. Scruffy is not the animal companion of Belkar.

Belkar is the replacement cohort for Mr. Scruffy.

Mr. Scruffy is absolutely badass, and was clearly holding back his full might for greater dramatic effect! :smallcool:

[Gift Jeraff]

And Gift Jeraff:
It is trivially easy for housecats to kill 1st-level commoners. (http://www.ihasafunny.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/house-cats-watch-out-i-can-kill-a-1st-level-commoners.jpg)
Link doesn't work. And does the meme derive from OOTS? Because that's what the trope requires.

[Alex Warlorn]

Well, we all saw this coming, doesn't make it any less sad though. Poor guy had Character Levels AND Belkar's Plot Armor working against him. So long Level-One Commoner Gladiator, I shall at least remember you.

[Draconi Redfir]

I think Rich read the cat-god thread :P

[Shale]

What meme is in this strip? OOTS doesn't have to be in every TVTropes article.

"One scratch from a housecat kills a level one commoner" is a common (har har har) D&D rules joke.

[Giggling Ghast]

Housecats — the bane of all commoners!

[bluewind95]

The joke itself was great. Masterful, even, as has been pointed out.

... But the entrails... just ruined it for me. I am a tad biased because I have a huge aversion to gore, but... I think that might've been... a tad too much.

[Doug Lampert]

"One scratch from a housecat kills a level one commoner" is a common (har har har) D&D rules joke.

It's not just that one scratch is a possible kill, it's that the commoner and the cat have the same average HD, the cat gets 3 attacks per round vs. the commoner's 1 attack per round. The cat attacks at +4/+4/-1, the commoner at +0. The cat has AC 14, Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1. The commoner has AC 10, Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0.

The cat has vastly better skills.

The commoner's only advantages are higher damage (which is almost irrelevant since niether has meaningful HP) and 5' reach. These are actually enough that a prepared and ready commoner might have a chance vs. a common housecat. Except that the Housecat has +16 to hide and the commoner doesn't have Spot as a class skill! So it won't be a prepared and ready commoner and the commoner is totally screwed.

[SandroTheMaster]

House cats, the terror of the commoners. They have 3 attacks/turn with a +2 modifier, each doing 1 damage. To someone with 2-4 hp, that's a killing machine!

[Maralais]

Housecats — the bane of all commoners!

Heh heh, Candle Jack, funny na

[Gamgee]

I love it! Classic D&D joke!
Yea, about time this comic had some laughs.

[Warren Dew]

Disabled, he continues to act, he takes another HP for acting while disabled, he falls down and bleeds out.

Did you see ANYTHING OTHER than exactly that happen in the strip? The guy is clearly NOT insta-gaked.
Exactly. Part of the joke is that even with the rules changes since the early editions, ordinary house cats still beat commoners.

[Fitzclowningham]

Action! Thank g-d. Any more stage-setting, and I would have gone and taunted a cat myself.

[faustin]

Today strip was like a great "Facepalm" of Rich to all of us.:smallannoyed:
Anyway, did the level 1 commoner really think he had any chance against Belkar?

[Dr.Epic]

Needlessly gory much? :smalleek: It feels more like I'm reading Cyanide and Happiness than Order of the Stick. Keep this up and you'll be too much for the PG-13 rating.

[KeiranHalcyon]

Wow... Mr. Scruffy really is a stone-cold killer cutting a bloody swath across a world of soft squishy targets (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0535.html).

[Blas_de_Lezo]

Thanks Giant! :smalltongue:

[Vladislav]

Hilarious anticlimactic death is still hilarious.

[Sebastrd]

It's jokes like this that got me reading the strip in the first place. Well played, Giant, well played.

[Agi Hammerthief]

that was sufficiently funny :smallbiggrin:

http://llbbl.com/data/RPG-motivational/images/housecats.jpg

[Lurkmoar]

Cats>Commoners

ALWAYS. Didn't expect it to get that messy though...

[MoonCat]

Eh. I kind of liked Mr. Scruffy before this. Now no so much, although I can't quite place my finger on why (because he's not acting very differently, although less innocently). The intestines were probably the most gory things we've seen in OoTS, so I wonder, will all cut in half/stabbed in stomach wounds now do that? Interesting touch with the flap of skin falling outwards. Also, what's interesting V so much?

[Mordaenor]

My money's on Mr. Scruffy winning the tournament.

[Orzel]

Now THAT was funny.

[JSSheridan]

Thanks Giant!

[Dalek-K]

Compared to everything else that is out there... This comic's gore was more "meh". The people (at least in the U.S) complaining about the gore must not pay attention to anything other than children shows and this comic... Heck we saw a kobold's head be used as a hat/dip bowl so really just children shows.... Seriously the gore in this comic update didn't even register on my "Gore-o-Meter" (patented pending).

Great comic though :D

But I don't think "The Duel Everyone's Been Waiting For" is the Scruffy Vs Commoner or even Belkar Vs Commoner.....

I'm not sure what will happen but something major about Mr Scruffy and Belkar is about to go down... Belkar Vs Scruffy?

EDIT: Wait... Would some form of Control Animal / Enrage Animal spell (cast by Inky or someone else) force Mr Sruffy attack the commoner?

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Hilarious anti-climax!

[MoonCat]

Not complaining, just noting that it was the first time it was used. When Miko was cut in half, or Samantha, or Shojo there was nothing. They were more 'meh' than anything else.

[Vectner]

My heart goes out to all those who have been disemboweled by house cats. :smallbiggrin:

[Dalek-K]

Well the big difference between previous cuts and this one is that this was done by a cat...

The other ones were meant to kill, this was meant to make the person suffer and die slowly... Wow he is taking after Belkar a lot...

:D

[Raistlin82]

Hahaha!
I knew that loser couldn't beat the Sexy Shoeless God of War.
Wasn't expecting Mr Scruffy, though! :smalltongue:

[LuPuWei]

That was not the duel I was waiting for!!! - :roy: :smallsigh:

Also, is Blackwing so upset because Scruffy defending Belkar connects Haley & co. to Roy & co. ?

[Raistlin82]

Also, is Blackwing so upset because Scruffy defending Belkar connects Haley & co. to Roy & co. ?

Probably.

Not that Elan is helping much to keep the Masquerade going, though...

[Blaznak]

Order of the Stick Intestines.

[Hawkfrost000]

to be honest i was kind of disappointed, i was looking forward to a decent fight after all of this plot

that being said it was pretty funny

DM

[Asthix]

Compared to everything else that is out there... This comic's gore was more "meh". The people (at least in the U.S) complaining about the gore must not pay attention to anything other than children shows and this comic... Heck we saw a kobold's head be used as a hat/dip bowl so really just children shows.... Seriously the gore in this comic update didn't even register on my "Gore-o-Meter" (patented pending).

This, to the degree that it did register on my 'Gore-o-Meter' but not enough to offend me. Honestly I found the entrails to be sufficiently fake looking. The simplistic style of art in the comic lets them look that way and to me focused my attention on the humor, rather than than the gross of the situation.

[ThePhantasm]

The gore was fine, I didn't mind it. It's effect would be cheapened if it was ever used again. But for just this once, it is ok.

[Killer Angel]

Now, given that a commoner can be killed by a simple housecat, and said commoner is clearly no match for Scruffy, I wonder what would be an appropriate encounter for our wonderful champion... :smalltongue:

[blazingshadow]

what's interesting V so much?v was watching how elan was spilling even more info on the order of the stick to his evil tyranical father

[Dalek-K]

This, to the degree that it did register on my 'Gore-o-Meter' but not enough to offend me. Honestly I found the entrails to be sufficiently fake looking. The simplistic style of art in the comic lets them look that way and to me focused my attention on the humor, rather than than the gross of the situation.

Hey I never sold you one... Pirate! :smallbiggrin:

Hmmm I bet blackwing won't be messing with Mr S anytime soon...

Now all there is to do is Mr Scruffy turn on Belkar in the next panel and we get to see the SSGoW all :smalleek:

[Arakune]

Hell Yeah! The truth shows again! Go Scruffynator!

[Toper]

I get the joke, but I don't like the ew.

[Squark]

Wow.


I love it.

[Valley]

Good for you Mr. Scruffy. I have been gone, have not posted in a long time, and have to say that #780 is wonderful. Having lived with cats much of my life, Siamese cats mostly, I have to say that is pretty much normal behavior for them. They wake you up at 4 AM, demand food, demand petting, and, sometimes, gut the random mailman. All part of the cycle of life really. Just check out lolcats if you don't believe me.

I miss the Siamese. Their cute faces...their loud voices...their plots for taking over the world...:smallsigh:

[Nerocite]

Good comic. Thanks Giant!

[HandofShadows]

What the?????? :smalleek:

Just a little tiny bit if a surprise there. :smallamused:

[grimbold]

how i love you Mr Scruffy
nice job killing the commoner

[Dvandemon]

Better attack bonus and better stealth: commoners have little chance against the housecat. The crazy old cat lady of every village runs the place with an iron fist. Run!
That would be a hilarious quest for an adventuring party; how much XP for killing all the cats and freeing the village from an evil tyrant?
boo! i liked that guy. great joke though of course for those of us who remember 1st and 2nd edition housecat vs wizard arguments.

and to those of you complaining about "gore" . . . yeah, it's interesting to see more detail in the comic, but that's all it is. more detail. this comic has always had limbs and heads flying left and right. but no one cared before because there wasn't blood?

And even now there's no blood, just a red spot. The same thing made the crime scene Nale left behind (the one that made the officer barf and the room full of ritually sacrificed civilians) both funny and disturbing
What meme is in this strip? OOTS doesn't have to be in every TVTropes article.
The meme that a cat can kill a commoner (haven't you been reading? :smalltongue:). Oh, OoTS will be in every article, eventually it shall (even ones that don't involve it's genre)
Yea, about time this comic had some laughs.

What are you implying? >.>
Needlessly gory much? :smalleek: It feels more like I'm reading Cyanide and Happiness than Order of the Stick. Keep this up and you'll be too much for the PG-13 rating.

Yeah, because we never see decapitation, dismemberment or, as mentioned by Dalek-K, desecration of the dead *facepalm*

[Person_Man]

In defense of the disemboweled Commoner, Mr. Scruffy is not just a house cat. It's likely that he's also an Animal Companion, Wild Cohort, or Urban Companion. Which means he could probably take out dozens, and perhaps hundreds of Commoners.

Either way though, freaking hilarious.

[Barbarian MD]

Thy was easily the funniest comic in a month or two. Thanks for making me laugh so hard.

[H Birchgrove]

:belkar: Comedic sociopathy at its best!

[Pantler]

Jaw dropped.
I knew that Mr. Scruffy rocked, but that was... Awesometastic with a drop of awesomesauce.

[Vladislav]

Poor bugger never stood a chance. He wasn't even proficient with his equipment!As a level 1 human, he gets two feats, more if he took flaws. Don't knock him down too hard, he might have been proficient! :smallbiggrin:

[Kaytara]

....

:smalleek:

"The killer kitty of Azure City" indeed. O.O

I think Mr. Scruffy just replaced Xykon as the most terrifying character for me. :smalleek:

I mean, when anime characters pull the whole "barely noticeable scratch until the body slides apart" schtick, it looks too cool and unrealistic to be gory. When a little kitty does it... TOO cool and implausible and straight over the line into horror territory. O.O

[Aenghus]

In relation to the unexpected gore I will reuse the Gladiator quote already partially quoted in this story:

"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here"

Commoners are people too.

High level characters in D&D are in a way strange, in that commoner could at best have scratched Belkar a little. They have risen above mundane threats to life and limb, and can do things like casually taunt low level threats or even ignore them.

[nerdnumber1]

Ouch. That was the most horrible graphic violence so far, I guess.

Well, Belkar wouldn't get any XP from this encounter anyway.

What do you mean? Belkar actually showed character growth by applying a lesson he learned instead of killing at the first oppertunity! This is far more worthy of xp than killing a lvl1 commoner.

edit: also, there is a theory that the cat has become Belkar's animal companion (which would explain some of its previous combat prowess), in which case he gets xp from the kills.

[shaxberd]

This reminds me of the most annoying combat I ever had to run through in 3.5, which was against a black cat. The thing just wouldn't die and kept wittling us down with his attacks against us, which barely did any damage but never missed. Turns out that cat was the familiar of a great wyrm red dragon who had taken the feat to acquire a familiar since she was capable of arcane casting. The damned thing had it's master's attack bonus and half her hit points, etc.

[Dvandemon]

@^: Roflmao, are encounters like that common? When you killed it, at least you took a chunk out of the dragon's XP (did you get any for killing it?)

[super dark33]

That would be a hilarious quest for an adventuring party; how much XP for killing all the cats and freeing the village from an evil tyrant?


I know a player who did it. it was a wizard. he made himself a magic item, and then after the payment of the exp, killed all the cats in the city for 3000xp! and 500gp from the mayor...

[dsavereide]

Cats are natural born killers!

Someone tried to link to this picture but it was broken. Try this one

http://www.funnymotivationalposters.net/fmp/housecats-watch-out-i-can-kill-a-1st-level-commoner

[LordShotGun]

I certainly was not expecting THAT to happen, and when I read the comic title I was really expecting Roy versus the Blue Half Dragon.

[AlDjinn]

I haven't laughed that hard in a while. I bow to you, Rich.

[Ikialev]

Heh, horrible graphic disembowelment.

Wait, that's not even remotely funny. Why would anybody think about it in terms of a good punchline?

[Gilmiril]

Great. Now we'll go through a "Mr. Scruffy sorta gets punished, but not really" subplot. :smallwink:

[SteveDJ]

Can the cat earn exp from this even if belkar can't? Probably doesnt matter anyway it being an animal companion....

And do you think belkar would ever take improved animal companion?

I've read the whole thread up to this point, and surprised that nobody had an answer to this question from page 3.

But, inquiring minds would still like to know -- did the cat earn XP? How much?

And then I'd like to know, can the cat become a lvl2 housecat?

[Particle_Man]

It's not just that one scratch is a possible kill, it's that the commoner and the cat have the same average HD, the cat gets 3 attacks per round vs. the commoner's 1 attack per round. The cat attacks at +4/+4/-1, the commoner at +0. The cat has AC 14, Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1. The commoner has AC 10, Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0.

The cat has vastly better skills.

The commoner's only advantages are higher damage (which is almost irrelevant since niether has meaningful HP) and 5' reach. These are actually enough that a prepared and ready commoner might have a chance vs. a common housecat. Except that the Housecat has +16 to hide and the commoner doesn't have Spot as a class skill! So it won't be a prepared and ready commoner and the commoner is totally screwed.

The only chance the commoner has is to try for a grapple. Even then, the cat likely gets initiative before the commoner can make the grapple attempt.

[Doug Lampert]

That would be a hilarious quest for an adventuring party; how much XP for killing all the cats and freeing the village from an evil tyrant?

For a level 1 to 6 character a housecat is worth 75 XP.
For a level 7-9 or so character it's worth something, but less than 75 XP.
For a level 10+ character it's worth 0 XP.

So, if the crazy cat lady has 54 cats then your level 1 party of 4 can advance by taking out her cats. This assumes that none of them are advanced or familiars or anything. If the crazy cat lady is a level 1 NPC then she's also worth 150 XP and you only need to get 52 of the little sadists.

[nizer]

I'm going to say there has to be some sort of story with that cat, it saw the scrying eye earlier, and it's a little too tame to be normal.

[Psyren]

Ick. A little too much with the guts.

Yeah, I'm leaning in this direction too. I would have said that such a minor character didn't deserve such a gory death, but then again I can say that about nearly all of Belkar's opponents so that might be the point.

I am a big fan of ascended memes though.

[MeeposFire]

Guys the title is a double meaning. One in that it wants to make you think this will be epic (just to be found to be a joke) and secondly it is a reference to the classic theoretical fight in 3.5 of cat v commoner. In terms of funny 3.5ness cat v commoner has been awaited a long time especially as comic fodder.

[pasadenajones]

I took that little online survey and it said I was a level 3 fighter level 3 thief. At the time, I thought it seriously overstated my adventureing skills, if however this is how seriously lame commoners are, then perhaps the survey was correct after all.

[CoffeeIncluded]

...

Okay then.

[Ronan]

I guess it's one of my last chances to say: Long live the sexy shoeless god of War and his companion :smallamused:

[DoctorJest]

Loved it. Commoner killed by a cat. Heh.

Guess that settles that old argument.

[Prowl]

Funny, I was nearly disemboweled by my cat in the same way, attempting to introduce her to a dog for the first time.

[rewinn]

Big question: does Tarquin get suspicious when the cat that he thinks belongs to V is revealed to be Belkar's?

Hopefully, V will have a story about finding a stray. Technically it would sort-of be true, although it's very likely V violated some EOB rule about having proper documentation for the cat.

[ThePhantasm]

Big question: does Tarquin get suspicious when the cat that he thinks belongs to V is revealed to be Belkar's?

Hopefully, V will have a story about finding a stray. Technically it would sort-of be true, although it's very likely V violated some EOB rule about having proper documentation for the cat.

I suspect Tarquin knows a lot more than we think he knows about the Order, and is just playing dumb.

[faustin]

Now it´s good time to start a thread about Mr. Scruffy alignment (True Neutral, Chaotic Evil, etc...).

[Slayn82]

Wait, that's not even remotely funny. Why would anybody think about it in terms of a good punchline?

Well, clearly it was more of a scratch...:smallredface:

[Burner28]

Now it´s good time to start a thread about Mr. Scruffy alignment (True Neutral, Chaotic Evil, etc...).

I'll attempt to destroy your attempt to create an alignment debate and state that animals are always True Neutral:smallamused::smallamused:

[Sylvius]

Heh, horrible graphic disembowelment.

Wait, that's not even remotely funny. Why would anybody think about it in terms of a good punchline?

Because it demonstrates the incredible fragility of a level 1 Commoner.

[Trazoi]

The gore didn't work for me. I think it clashed with the generally simple artwork. Usually a gruesome death was someone being neatly sliced in two. For me it felt really out of place - like if I saw the same thing happening in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

[Themrys]

The gore didn't work for me. I think it clashed with the generally simply artwork. Usually a gruesome death was someone being neatly sliced in two. For me it felt really out of place - like if I saw the same thing happening in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

I agree.
Also, I just don't like gore in general. And, of course, I didn't want that poor man to die. :smallannoyed:

[cheese monster]

That was great

[factotum]

I took that little online survey and it said I was a level 3 fighter level 3 thief. At the time, I thought it seriously overstated my adventureing skills, if however this is how seriously lame commoners are, then perhaps the survey was correct after all.

Actually, it's well known that D&D characters of almost any level above first are ludicrously tough--that level 3 Fighter/level 3 Thief would have, on average, 30 hit points, which would mean they could easily survive a 50 foot fall onto solid concrete. Real people can't do that--heck, even a real *cat*, who are known for their ability to fall great distances, wouldn't be able to survive a fall like that!

So, a level 1 D&D Commoner is probably not far off what a normal human being would be if you could put them into D&D terms...

[CorvusOmbra]

Nice deus ex machina. The loyal animal companion saves his pseudo-reformed-murderer master from a perilous moral dilemma and a possible loss of credibility.

[Ashram]

Wow, auto-kill. Did Scruffy take levels in assassin since he last saw Belkar?

[Zerg Cookie]

That wasn't auto-kill.
That was simply doing more than the avarage 2.5 hp a level 1 commoner has.
Piece of cake when you're the animal companion of a level 16-ish ranger.

[silversaraph]

Eww.

I also was NOT expecting that. I saw the title and thought "Okay, this is it, he dies in some extremely random way"... though I also thought that guy was powerful. How did he get picked for the battle?

[St Fan]

I suspect Tarquin knows a lot more than we think he knows about the Order, and is just playing dumb.

Count me of this opinion too.

And count me also among those who laughed out loud at this strip. In fact, I think the blood and guts were making the gag even funnier by how over-the-top the death was.

But then, I like my humor black. Very black. With no milk.

[rman]

If I was a happy Evil Overlord the possibility of a Tangle induced premature end to the good times would be a bad thing. Why not have some prime bonding time with my son, try and pass on some good, it tainted, magic items. Tarquin does not want to fight an Epiced out Lich. That is what team Good is for. And now Tarquin knows the father son thing with epic battle there are good odds for Team Good against the Lich and saving the plane from the Tangle.

So from Tarquin it is best of luck to team Good and and don't come back too soon.


My money is still on Tarquin planning on having Roy kill the Red Queen and then try to set up the "stupid fighter" as the new figure head.

[Hiro Protagonest]

My money is still on Tarquin planning on having Roy kill the Red Queen and then try to set up the "stupid fighter" as the new figure head.

That would be an excellent plot.



On an unrelated note, I wonder what's gonna happen to Mr. Scruffy when Belkar dies.:smallconfused:

[fractal]

Count me in the "stick figure comics don't need to be gory" camp as well. Having the guy suddenly keel over and die without the obviously displaced intestines would have been plenty funny. Thumbs down on the gore.

[clem]

The only thing lacking from the strip was a little 'DING' above Mr. Scruffy's head as he leveled.

[Zerg Cookie]

Am I the only one who isn't disgusted/disturbed/just-generally-unhappy with the gore? I mean, I was laughing too hard to get disgusted by it on my first read and then it's just something that's there. No big deal.

Also, the comment about level 2 doesn't mean the Scruffynator is a normal house cat. It simply means he looks like one



The only thing lacking from the strip was a little 'DING' above Mr. Scruffy's head as he leveled.

You don't level up when you kill a good-for-nothing level 1 commoner.
Specially not when you're epic-level to begin with :smallbiggrin:

[Doug Lampert]

Actually, it's well known that D&D characters of almost any level above first are ludicrously tough--that level 3 Fighter/level 3 Thief would have, on average, 30 hit points, which would mean they could easily survive a 50 foot fall onto solid concrete. Real people can't do that--heck, even a real *cat*, who are known for their ability to fall great distances, wouldn't be able to survive a fall like that!

So, a level 1 D&D Commoner is probably not far off what a normal human being would be if you could put them into D&D terms...

D&D level 1 is reasonably realistic for an abstract fantasy game with superheroes. Lethal weapons probably disable you. But you can be a master craftsman and speak multiple languages. Ext...

D&D CATS are horribly broken, because there's no real level BELOW level one NPC human, the cat gets bonuses for being smaller (if it were bigger it would also get bonuses for that in natural armor and extra HD and reach, medium is the absolute worse size to be).

The cat gets weapon finesse as a bonus feat, because when they first produced the MM they neglected that it doesn't actually qualify for the feat (note: small creatures get a + to dex and all have weapon finesse whether they qualify or not, large creatures get a + to Str and all use strength based attacks, medium is the only size that may NOT get a bonus).

The cat SHOULD do negative damage, but instead of an arbitrary floor at zero we have an arbitrary floor at 1 (which doesn't apply if you have any DR, it's just that human skin breaks if you look at it harshly).

A D&D cat is CR 1/4, that means that the crazy cat lady's pets should be EXPECTED to GAK a coordinated strike team of half a dozen armed and armored skilled warriors in a fair fight. This is not any house cat I've ever met. It's not even a wild-cat. It's maybe a leopard or cheetah or something.

[Red XIV]

I think the only surprise for me is that it wasn't Belkar that did it. He has cut the tops off people's heads and used them as hats before.
Yeah, but those happened off-panel. We saw the results, but we didn't see the actual head-cutting. This time, we saw a cat disembowel somebody on-panel.


Today strip was like a great "Facepalm" of Rich to all of us.:smallannoyed:
Anyway, did the level 1 commoner really think he had any chance against Belkar?
In all fairness, he had no way of knowing that Belkar is a PC with at least a dozen class levels.

[Martok]

I have to admit, I did not see that coming.

[crit_process]

I see Belkar is still bouncing around even though Haley has his Ring of Jumping +20.

As early as strips #5 and #19 Belkar is doing the high jumping attack moves.

Where has the Ring of Jumping come into play directly? Perhaps someone who knows the comic better than I would be able to say?

[Zerg Cookie]

As early as strips #5 and #19 Belkar is doing the high jumping attack moves.

Where has the Ring of Jumping come into play directly? Perhaps someone who knows the comic better than I would be able to say?

When they fight on the hexes. Will get you the exact strip in a minute
Edit: Halfling rage jumping attack (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0176.html)

[Doug Lampert]

As early as strips #5 and #19 Belkar is doing the high jumping attack moves.

Where has the Ring of Jumping come into play directly? Perhaps someone who knows the comic better than I would be able to say?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0176.html

DougL

[Swordpriest]

Yuck. Thanks for that fairly repulsive scene, and thanks for timing it for the exact moment when I was eating spaghetti .... :smallmad:

Okay, that part might actually be funny :smallwink: in a sick kind of way. But I still would prefer not to see that kind of stuff in a stick figure comic. Two thumbs down on this strip, despite the generally interesting events. :smallyuk:

[crit_process]

Oh ya I forgot about the hex thing. Good call.

[RickDaily12]

Hmm. Anti-Climatical indeed. ...And horrifyingly graphic.:smalleek:

I think I'll skip on supper tonight...

And no, Rich, this isn't the duel we've been waiting for, the NEXT one is what we're waiting for.:smalltongue:

[Dvandemon]

Gore? In my OoTS?!

Am I the only one who isn't disgusted/disturbed/just-generally-unhappy with the gore? I mean, I was laughing too hard to get disgusted by it on my first read and then it's just something that's there. No big deal.

I think people need to calm down and relax. It's not that big a deal

[King of Nowhere]

C'mon, I can't believe so many people are disturbed by that scene!

Anyway, I tougth I was gonna be sad about the gladdiator guy, because he eems a nice person. I credit to rich finding the only way of making him die without making it sad.

"I was only 10 xp away ... from my second level of commoner"

PRICELESS!!


EDIT: also stomping down hard on the tension that has been built for months (even from the first time we saw Belkar and Roy as gladiators) was great

[SteveDJ]

D&D level 1 is reasonably realistic for an abstract fantasy game with superheroes. Lethal weapons probably disable you. But you can be a master craftsman and speak multiple languages. Ext...

D&D CATS are horribly broken, because there's no real level BELOW level one NPC human, the cat gets bonuses for being smaller (if it were bigger it would also get bonuses for that in natural armor and extra HD and reach, medium is the absolute worse size to be).

The cat gets weapon finesse as a bonus feat, because when they first produced the MM they neglected that it doesn't actually qualify for the feat (note: small creatures get a + to dex and all have weapon finesse whether they qualify or not, large creatures get a + to Str and all use strength based attacks, medium is the only size that may NOT get a bonus).

The cat SHOULD do negative damage, but instead of an arbitrary floor at zero we have an arbitrary floor at 1 (which doesn't apply if you have any DR, it's just that human skin breaks if you look at it harshly).

A D&D cat is CR 1/4, that means that the crazy cat lady's pets should be EXPECTED to GAK a coordinated strike team of half a dozen armed and armored skilled warriors in a fair fight. This is not any house cat I've ever met. It's not even a wild-cat. It's maybe a leopard or cheetah or something.

It would seem like the easy solution would be to define different 'types' of damage. Not sure of rules now (or fully back then), but back in AD&D days, I had a DM that, when wanting to overpower someone w/o killing them, would have you do the same hand-to-hand battle/combat (w/o spells, of course), only when the opponent reached zero HP, they were considered captured (or perhaps knocked out).

So, there should be the normal 'deadly' damage, and some other measure of 'non-lethal' damage. Then, just have cats (and other common pets, etc) just fall into that category.

Again - don't know 100% of the rules then nor now... maybe something like this already exists?

[aart lover]

:eek:dang. bit graphic there, eh giant?:smallwink:. but seriously...PWND

[Azukar]

That was... graphic. :smallwink:

[Cerlis]

And again, someone died because V didn't help them. Only, unlike with the Azurites, V could absolutely have done something in this case. :smallfrown:
Ok, Belkar would probably have killed the guy sooner or later anyways, but still...

Curse you Vaarsuvius. For not anticipating the housecat would break its leesh and eviscerate fighters!

[137beth]

Finally, now we'll stop getting 32859238572 threads claiming that Belkar will die in the arena!:smallsmile:

[CN the Logos]

Comic was awesome. I have to say though, I find the number of weak stomachs here to be absolutely astounding. Have any of you ever watched a horror movie? Or even a nature documentary? Or played a video game bloodier than Tetris? Seriously people, it's comically over-the-top stick figure gore, not Wikipedia's pictures for the necrosis page.

Now, if it won't give y'all the vapors, I'm off to play my game about an evil witch murdering angels with the aid of guns, swords, guillotines, iron maidens, breaking wheels, and chainsaws. It's a lot of fun, if I do say so myself.

[Badgercloak]

Yes. Just yes. Just freaking yes.

[Callista]

So... am I the only one who thought to herself, "Hmm... those aren't anatomically correct intestines"?

Just me, then? Okay...

[aart lover]

So... am I the only one who thought to herself, "Hmm... those aren't anatomically correct intestines"?

Just me, then? Okay...

nope, i also thought they were a bit too...short? i know SOMETHING was missing, that's for sure.

[aart lover]

Comic was awesome. I have to say though, I find the number of weak stomachs here to be absolutely astounding. Have any of you ever watched a horror movie? Or even a nature documentary? Or played a video game bloodier than Tetris? Seriously people, it's comically over-the-top stick figure gore, not Wikipedia's pictures for the necrosis page.

Now, if it won't give y'all the vapors, I'm off to play my game about an evil witch murdering angels with the aid of guns, swords, guillotines, iron maidens, breaking wheels, and chainsaws. It's a lot of fun, if I do say so myself.

YES YES YES! i just love bayonetta:smallsmile:. i'll horribly embarrassed if that's not the game u had in mind...

[Cerlis]

well yea, its not suppose to be realistic. Cat scratches him and he dies.

its not suppose to be like roy hitting someone and their head popping off.


its Tiny housecat runs in to rescue. Tiny housecat scratches commoner across the middle. Both fighters think nothing of it. OMFG IM DYING!!!!!

if belkar had a wolf as an animal companion then there wouldnt be any guts. cus a wolf can already kill a person in a horrible way so there is no point in playing on that. but a cat cant gut you in real life, but ironically it can kill you in DnD , hence the joke.

p.s i dont see a pool of blood. only some silly string coming out of his stomach in an unnatural way. Now if the commoner was seen trying to hold his guts in with a panicked face crying about his failed life...then it would be sad.

but the dudes last words are "Grr, being a redshirt sucks"


p.s. Bayonetta is awesome.

[Swordpriest]

Comic was awesome. I have to say though, I find the number of weak stomachs here to be absolutely astounding. Have any of you ever watched a horror movie? Or even a nature documentary? Or played a video game bloodier than Tetris? Seriously people, it's comically over-the-top stick figure gore, not Wikipedia's pictures for the necrosis page.

Now, if it won't give y'all the vapors, I'm off to play my game about an evil witch murdering angels with the aid of guns, swords, guillotines, iron maidens, breaking wheels, and chainsaws. It's a lot of fun, if I do say so myself.

1. As a matter of fact, I don't like horror movies, precisely because so many of them are so gross. Is it necessary to like horror movies in order to read OotS? I'm not sure I follow your logic here. :smallconfused:

2. The blood and guts nature documentaries aren't too pleasant either, occasionally.

3. Well, the goriest video game I've played was Diablo II. Plenty of blood splashing around, some spider guts, etc., but on the other hand, I was expecting it there. Here, it's unexpected, so it stands out. Someone may enjoy a fairly violent video game because they're expecting it, but go to a stick figure comic for something a bit more lighthearted.

As far as that goes, I was sort of indignant at the "teabagging" reference also, but was willing to let it pass. What's next, though -- bursting eyeballs? Why not show Pete's brains spatter out, after all? If you take one step away from cartoonish violence, you might as well take 'em all.

4. Fine that you enjoy that video game. But how does that affect the fact that other people are entitled to their opinion that an onscreen disemboweling is not what they want from OotS? :smallconfused:

[Mr. Scaly]

Huh. That was...odd.

Eh, swing and a miss on this one I think. No biggie.

[Maryring]

Comic was awesome. I have to say though, I find the number of weak stomachs here to be absolutely astounding. Have any of you ever watched a horror movie? Or even a nature documentary? Or played a video game bloodier than Tetris? Seriously people, it's comically over-the-top stick figure gore, not Wikipedia's pictures for the necrosis page.

Now, if it won't give y'all the vapors, I'm off to play my game about an evil witch murdering angels with the aid of guns, swords, guillotines, iron maidens, breaking wheels, and chainsaws. It's a lot of fun, if I do say so myself.

Yes, yes and yes. However, in a horror movie, or on animal planet, or any game on X-box, you expect there to be senseless gory violence. However in OOTS you expect any violence to be neatly glossed over by the fact that blood is just a simple line and skeletons look extremely cheesy. It's jarring as it completely breaks with expectations of the level of shown violence within the comic.

Also, you mentioned Bayonetta without mentioning motor cycles. For shame.

Also, also. Cats have a far lower terminal velocity than humans and can survive falls that bring them up to such a high speed. Of course, humans have survived falling out of planes too. It's not impossible.

Also, also, also. The characters have three fingers, and you worry about their intestines being wrong? :smalltongue:

[KoboldRevenge]

and yet there is no blood spilling out with the entrails, but it's still a good attack of teh kitty!

[Castamir]

A D&D cat is CR 1/4, that means that the crazy cat lady's pets should be EXPECTED to GAK a coordinated strike team of half a dozen armed and armored skilled warriors in a fair fight. This is not any house cat I've ever met. It's not even a wild-cat. It's maybe a leopard or cheetah or something.
You haven't seen my brother's wife's (and so now his as well) cat. She's a pretty tiny one -- yet two huge dogs on the yard run or hide in a corner when she comes into view. Most people are afraid of her since they know there will be blood spilt.

On the other hand, my sis has a huge Norwegian Forest cat. A weak creature that is deathly afraid of a dog one third its size.

[Velaryon]

Probably.

Not that Elan is helping much to keep the Masquerade going, though...

Yep, Tarquin definitely knows now that Belkar (and probably Roy by extension) is connected to them somehow. From there it's a short deductive leap to the fact that Durkon is also with them since he showed up at the same time, and Haley also jumped to cover that just like she did with Belkar. All assuming that Tarquin didn't know already, that is.


What do you mean? Belkar actually showed character growth by applying a lesson he learned instead of killing at the first oppertunity! This is far more worthy of xp than killing a lvl1 commoner.

edit: also, there is a theory that the cat has become Belkar's animal companion (which would explain some of its previous combat prowess), in which case he gets xp from the kills.

Except that a level 1 commoner is so far below him that it doesn't matter who killed him, Belkar isn't going to get anything for it.


As early as strips #5 and #19 Belkar is doing the high jumping attack moves.

Where has the Ring of Jumping come into play directly? Perhaps someone who knows the comic better than I would be able to say?

In addition to the times others have pointed out, there's also this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0261.html).

[Chance Gardener]

Just 3 words regarding the gore: Itchy and Scratchy

[Collen]

Just 3 words regarding the gore: Itchy and Scratchy

But you would expect that kind of thing on a show like that. This was sort of unexpected.

[Valley]

I have to say though, I find the number of weak stomachs here to be absolutely astounding. Have any of you ever watched a horror movie? Or even a nature documentary? Or played a video game bloodier than Tetris? Seriously people, it's comically over-the-top stick figure gore, not Wikipedia's pictures for the necrosis page.
.

Kind of interested in that also....we witnessed slaves, who just got their freedom, being soaked in oil and made into human torchs to spell out ELAN.

We're seen an army of goblins destroy and enslave a city. We have seen them murder, kill, torture in return for their own kind being killed, murdered and chased down for generations by human. Well, Paladins.

How many people reacted to that?

But one guy gets gutted by a cat in your face and oh no, how sad.

BAD humankind, BAD!

[squidbreath]

Actually, it's well known that D&D characters of almost any level above first are ludicrously tough--that level 3 Fighter/level 3 Thief would have, on average, 30 hit points, which would mean they could easily survive a 50 foot fall onto solid concrete. Real people can't do that--heck, even a real *cat*, who are known for their ability to fall great distances, wouldn't be able to survive a fall like that!

Actually: http://dba-oracle.blogspot.com/2005/09/terminal-velocity-of-cats.html

[Shatteredtower]

Heh, horrible graphic disembowelment.

Wait, that's not even remotely funny. Why would anybody think about it in terms of a good punchline?

Anyone who has ever quoted Monty Python at a D&D table knows why that was a good punchline. It comes down to the incogruity and the excess. It isn't absurd enough to see a house cat scratch the commoner once. The results must be as visually over the top as the results would be in game. Without the graphic detail, it's just a worn out old rule joke. With the detail, it's a highlight on the absurd, reminiscent of the organ donor scene in Meaning of Life.

[Dvandemon]

Comic was awesome. I have to say though, I find the number of weak stomachs here to be absolutely astounding. Have any of you ever watched a horror movie? Or even a nature documentary? Or played a video game bloodier than Tetris? Seriously people, it's comically over-the-top stick figure gore, not Wikipedia's pictures for the necrosis page.

Now, if it won't give y'all the vapors, I'm off to play my game about an evil witch murdering angels with the aid of guns, swords, guillotines, iron maidens, breaking wheels, and chainsaws. It's a lot of fun, if I do say so myself.

And then you'll watch an anime about angels that strip their undergarments so they can turn them into weapons and hunt evil spirits? (no? too bad)
1. As a matter of fact, I don't like horror movies, precisely because so many of them are so gross. Is it necessary to like horror movies in order to read OotS? I'm not sure I follow your logic here. :smallconfused:

2. The blood and guts nature documentaries aren't too pleasant either, occasionally.

3. Well, the goriest video game I've played was Diablo II. Plenty of blood splashing around, some spider guts, etc., but on the other hand, I was expecting it there. Here, it's unexpected, so it stands out. Someone may enjoy a fairly violent video game because they're expecting it, but go to a stick figure comic for something a bit more lighthearted.

As far as that goes, I was sort of indignant at the "teabagging" reference also, but was willing to let it pass. What's next, though -- bursting eyeballs? Why not show Pete's brains spatter out, after all? If you take one step away from cartoonish violence, you might as well take 'em all.

4. Fine that you enjoy that video game. But how does that affect the fact that other people are entitled to their opinion that an onscreen disemboweling is not what they want from OotS? :smallconfused:
Yeah, his argument was weak, but he's just talking about the apparent cringie-ness people seem to get from this strip. Okay, both sides get it, you don't mind the gore, you are disturbed, it's pretty old from the both sides now @.@

You shouldn't really expect something to not happen in OoTS. If something happens that you don't like (like the Empress of Blood apparently) just let it go, it's not the Giant's problem and you not reading isn't going to make it any less fun.
But you would expect that kind of thing on a show like that. This was sort of unexpected.

By this point I am confused. Is it the actual gore you don't like because OoTS has implied far worse things happening to pplz.

[Ninja Dragon]

And that guy was supposed to fulfill Belkar's death prophecy? LOL

Sirs, this comic has (another) new badass character. Mr. Scruffy, the cat!

[ScottishDragon]

And that guy was supposed to fulfill Belkar's death prophecy? LOL

Sirs, this comic has (another) new badass character. Mr. Scruffy, the cat!

Yeah, but the next guy he's up against might be someone tougher. Were gettin waay to close to belkar possibly dying for my comfort zone.:smalleek:

[CN the Logos]

YES YES YES! i just love bayonetta:smallsmile:. i'll horribly embarrassed if that's not the game u had in mind...

Yeah, it is. Honestly, how many games in the "evil witch sets out to murder a metric ****ton of angels" subgenre are there?

(That's an honest question. I mean, I'd heard of Bullet Witch for the X-Box 360, but I don't have a 360, so I don't know the details of that one. Don't recall angels in the bits of it I did see though.)


1. As a matter of fact, I don't like horror movies, precisely because so many of them are so gross. Is it necessary to like horror movies in order to read OotS? I'm not sure I follow your logic here. :smallconfused:

My point was, this is a stick figure comic. It's about as abstract as art can get without having to be labeled or "interpreted." The offending picture in question consists of pink squiggly lines.


3. Well, the goriest video game I've played was Diablo II. Plenty of blood splashing around, some spider guts, etc., but on the other hand, I was expecting it there. Here, it's unexpected, so it stands out. Someone may enjoy a fairly violent video game because they're expecting it, but go to a stick figure comic for something a bit more lighthearted.

That's fair enough, however...


As far as that goes, I was sort of indignant at the "teabagging" reference also, but was willing to let it pass. What's next, though -- bursting eyeballs? Why not show Pete's brains spatter out, after all? If you take one step away from cartoonish violence, you might as well take 'em all.

The slippery slope argument is not your friend. If OotS was to degenerate into Mortal Kombat d20, I'd be as unamused as you are, because this is a (fairly) lighthearted webcomic (except when it isn't). However, in this particular situation, the Giant was using a bit of the old ultraviolence to draw attention to an especially ludicrous consequence of D&D's rules. It's meant as parody, not as a sign that Rich Burlew has recently become a cultist of Khorne.


4. Fine that you enjoy that video game. But how does that affect the fact that other people are entitled to their opinion that an onscreen disemboweling is not what they want from OotS? :smallconfused:

You are entitled to whatever opinion you like. I, in turn, am entitled to question your opinion and advance one to the contrary.


Yes, yes and yes. However, in a horror movie, or on animal planet, or any game on X-box, you expect there to be senseless gory violence. However in OOTS you expect any violence to be neatly glossed over by the fact that blood is just a simple line and skeletons look extremely cheesy. It's jarring as it completely breaks with expectations of the level of shown violence within the comic.

Again, in this case, it strengthens the parody. The over-the-top nature of a housecat killing a guy is mocked by rendering the fight as a single-stroke battle (complete with the loser not realizing he's lost until he falls apart) and the wound is depicted as horrific to contrast D&D housecats with real life housecats.

...Although seriously, cats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57VbE0J9niw) are more awesome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sAF8gMN9c0&feature=related) in real life (http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/47871732.html) than people give them credit for.


Also, you mentioned Bayonetta without mentioning motor cycles. For shame.

Haven't gotten that far yet, actually. I was convinced to buy it by Moviebob's character analysis, and after following the TV Tropes links to Crowning Music of Awesome, I know there is a ridiculously flamboyant man named after a Norse god that I may call Father. No playable bike scene so far though. Something to look forward to, I guess.

[joela]

Oh, my. My AD&D 1st edition, 1st level human illusionist PC nearly got killed by a cat. Good times...not. (Another reason I loathed that game.) :smallfurious:

[Trazoi]

For me, my objection was not a question of being "squeamish", it's that according to the established art style of OotS I wouldn't expect someone to be disembowelled on screen. As far as I remember the most violent combat has involved slicing someone in two neatly or slicing out an eye with a single red cut. Having squiggly guts fall out is an extra level of realism which I didn't expect. In short it's an art issue, not a story one.

Edit: And yeah, I also think it detracted from the "commoner killed by housecat" joke.

[Mr. Scaly]

Kind of interested in that also....we witnessed slaves, who just got their freedom, being soaked in oil and made into human torchs to spell out ELAN.

We're seen an army of goblins destroy and enslave a city. We have seen them murder, kill, torture in return for their own kind being killed, murdered and chased down for generations by human. Well, Paladins.

How many people reacted to that?

But one guy gets gutted by a cat in your face and oh no, how sad.

BAD humankind, BAD!

Yes yes, we're all horrid people. Didn't make the comic funny. And yes, that's subjective.

[tribble]

I think this is probably the most graphic scene of violence in the strip thus far.

[Geordnet]

Way to pull one out of left field Rich, way to go! :biggrin:

[stimepy]

First off. Good comic, laughed and enjoyed.

Second. Explain how walking over a bunch of clearly dead bodies covered in blood (ok ok, red marks representing blood) isn't gory. I mean honestly if you've read this comic up til now and haven't noticed an equivalent amount of gore you probably need to re-read.

1 example: I'm sure there are others.
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0439.html (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0439.html)

Though I'll admit it was a different gory then usual but that was about it.

Honestly they show this much gore on kid shows (Not thinking preschool shows! Unless they've all turned to into barney or equivalent in the last year or so. Can't say I don't have the ability to watch random TV much anymore.)

Now as quoted before You are entitled to your opinion, if this is too much gore for you fine. As I said before, maybe reread the comic...

[Sutremaine]

Well, that was unexpected. I didn't think we'd be getting an epic battle from the title, and... I don't know if I was right or wrong.

Question for the biology people: are the small intestines stuffed into the abdomen like a length of spaghetti, or are they connected to themselves? I vaguely recall reading that there was a kind of 'core' of connective tissue that the gut length attached to on one side to keep the whole thing together as a unit.

[The Succubus]

Poor guy. Looks absolutely gutted about not getting his 2nd level.

[Swordpriest]

Kind of interested in that also....we witnessed slaves, who just got their freedom, being soaked in oil and made into human torchs to spell out ELAN.

Yep, we witnessed it all, graphically, in the comic. Popping eyeballs, burning hair, melting flesh, agonized screams, pleas for mercy ....

Oh, wait, we didn't. :smallsigh:


We're seen an army of goblins destroy and enslave a city. We have seen them murder, kill, torture in return for their own kind being killed, murdered and chased down for generations by human. Well, Paladins.

Cartoonish violence. Not much torture onscreen other than a single whiplash that I can remember. Are we reading the same comic? :smallconfused:




But one guy gets gutted by a cat in your face and oh no, how sad.

BAD humankind, BAD!

Well, it's by far the most graphic death yet shown in OotS. Not talked about, shown. If you expect people not to react, and just tow the line, well, you're going to be disappointed, a lot..

And for the "if you don't like it, don't read it" crowd -- well, maybe we like reading the comic and don't want to see stuff that will cause us to not read it put in. Makes sense, doesn't it? Or are we supposed to be passive doormats to your opinion?

[Warren Dew]

For me, my objection was not a question of being "squeamish", it's that according to the established art style of OotS I wouldn't expect someone to be disembowelled on screen. As far as I remember the most violent combat has involved slicing someone in two neatly or slicing out an eye with a single red cut. Having squiggly guts fall out is an extra level of realism which I didn't expect. In short it's an art issue, not a story one.
I loved the strip, but I'm inclined to agree with you there. If the guts were drawn in a more cartoonish fashion - like Elan's spleen early on, more in tune to the style of artwork in the rest of the comic - I think it would be better.

[Dvandemon]

Well, it's by far the most graphic death yet shown in OotS. Not talked about, shown. If you expect people not to react, and just tow the line, well, you're going to be disappointed, a lot..(point)

And for the "if you don't like it, don't read it" crowd -- well, maybe we like reading the comic and don't want to see stuff that will cause us to not read it put in. Makes sense, doesn't it? Or are we supposed to be passive doormats to your opinion?

I expect you not to be so fickle over one offense from a parody. It's kind of like jumping to conclusions @^:They seem to me, cartoony enough, just pink lines with absolutely no blood. I take that as a plus

[Ridureyu]

I JUST GOT THE JOKE.

The guy's a level 1 Commoner? Yeah, by D&D rules, a housecat can totally slaughter a level 1 commoner. This is common knowledge.

[Hiro Protagonest]

You haven't seen my brother's wife's (and so now his as well) cat. She's a pretty tiny one -- yet two huge dogs on the yard run or hide in a corner when she comes into view. Most people are afraid of her since they know there will be blood spilt.

On the other hand, my sis has a huge Norwegian Forest cat. A weak creature that is deathly afraid of a dog one third its size.

Fun fact: a cougar will run up a tree if a poodle yaps at it. No joke.

[Gift Jeraff]

I don't think people are offended by the gore so much as they are disgusted by it. And the pile of hobgoblins with cartoony red slits isn't quite squick-worthy.

Also, anyone betting that the "weaker" gladiator has been feigning weakness and will actually kick all kinds of arse?

EDIT:

Oh, OoTS will be in every article, eventually it shall (even ones that don't involve it's genre)The worst part is that people really do actively try to shoehorn their favorite works in every article for no reason.

[Particle_Man]

Fun fact: a cougar will run up a tree if a poodle yaps at it. No joke.

On the other hand, I saw pics of a housecat that treed a black bear. Intimidation has no size modifier. :)

[Particle_Man]

Anyone who has ever quoted Monty Python at a D&D table knows why that was a good punchline. It comes down to the incogruity and the excess. It isn't absurd enough to see a house cat scratch the commoner once. The results must be as visually over the top as the results would be in game. Without the graphic detail, it's just a worn out old rule joke. With the detail, it's a highlight on the absurd, reminiscent of the organ donor scene in Meaning of Life.

I was thinking of the rabbit scene in Holy Grail, myself. :smallsmile:

[Particle_Man]

On an unrelated note, I wonder what's gonna happen to Mr. Scruffy when Belkar dies.:smallconfused:

Based on precedent, Mr. Scruffy will have to find a new cohort. Maybe Tarquin - he has the bloody-mindedness of Belkar and the rulership abilities of Shojo.

I wasn't sure if this would count as spoiler text, so I am playing it safe.

[The Pilgrim]

So, has the debate about "Mr Scruffy is Chaotic Evil" started yet?

[Steinkügeln]

I had a D&D game where the GM let a guy play a 25th level commoner. It was kinda funny. He had a lot of social skills.

[rayne_dragon]

Alright, this is now officially my favourite OoTS strip. All hail the noble house cat!

[Emperor Flumph]

Wait... 1st level Commoner? I thought that guy was a Warlock.

[ungolhir]

This comic is decidedly more gory than all previous instances. We enjoy this new development. Also, this is exactly why one should have a large force of cats when taking over the world. Superb work Mr. Burlew.
So say we all.
Cheers!

[Calmness]

Mr. Scruffy just gave us all a good lesson on how to disembowel pigs.

[Zolem]

What meme is in this strip? OOTS doesn't have to be in every TVTropes article.

It's not a trope, it's a meme. There is a difference. 'Houscats kill 1st level commoners' is a joke meme about the piss poor stats commoners have.

[Xorbon]

Heh. 9 pages of comments in less than a day. This proves the people love Mr. Scruffy!

By the way, is the Empire of Blood going through a crippling shortage of rusty blades? I won't be able to sleep until I know!

[Xorbon]

While I'm here, I love how this comic makes fun of the classic D&D weakling commoner/human trope/meme/whatever you call it.

[Messenger]

So... Mr. Scruffy is truly Belkar's animal companion. He's appropriate for his size and matches his deadliness. It wasn't just Belkar and Lord Shojo getting along, it's all three. Not surprising at all. Chaotic Evil, Chaotic Good and... Chaotic Neutral?


That was... disturbing. :smalleek:You said it. :smalleek:

[Marillion]

Poor guy. Looks absolutely gutted about not getting his 2nd level.

:smallannoyed:

bahahahaha