Question about Poster, Priest of Loki

[AlaskaOOTSFan]

Ok, so the Priest of Loki is located on the left half of the poster, in the middle-right. But all the "good" guys are on the left and the "evil" are on the right...

Unless he was neutral? Story-wise he didn't do anything evil (IMO). He was actually "good" with respect to the Order of the Stick.

Here's da link - http://www.giantitp.com/Images/PostersTogetherBig.jpg

[ti'esar]

Unless he was neutral? Story-wise he didn't do anything evil (IMO). He was actually "good" with respect to the Order of the Stick.[/url]

Which is, presumably, why he's on the "good" side.

[ORione]

I think it's more of an OotS and Allies vs Enemies thing. He's friendlier with OotS than their enemies, so he's on their side. No pun intended.

[NerfTW]

Ok, so the Priest of Loki is located on the left half of the poster, in the middle-right. But all the "good" guys are on the left and the "evil" are on the right...

Unless he was neutral? Story-wise he didn't do anything evil (IMO). He was actually "good" with respect to the Order of the Stick.

Here's da link - http://www.giantitp.com/Images/PostersTogetherBig.jpg

It's not alignment. It's protagonists and antagonists, with the exception of Miko and the Oracle, grouped for balance. (Miko with the guard, Therkla with Kubota, and the Oracle on the team evil side)

The priest of Loki is chaotic evil, but he's still a protagonist that helped the Order. You'll notice Belkar is on there too. You'll notice he's still grouped with the guild, just facing the opposite direction.

[Idhan]

From what I can tell: he's basically a mercenary who will help out people who can pay in exchange for money and also occasionally help out people he regards as personal friends (e.g., Old Blind Pete before he sold him out). He's probably neutral. I don't think we've seen enough of him to really say for sure.

From a pure mechanical perspective, it's notable that in #603 there's a dialogue:

Haley: Do you have any transport or combat spells prepared?

Cleric of Loki: No, I was on temple duty. I've got healing, mostly.

A few rounds later, in #611, he casts inflict serious wounds on a halfling rogue type. This would seem to indicate that he is capable of spontaneously casting "inflict" spells. This would be consistent with a neutral or evil alignment. I think neutral is most likely.

That said, he is on the "good" side of the poster, so I suppose he could lean a bit toward the good side.

UPDATE: Or what ORione and NerfTW said, maybe.

[Chronos]

Just having healing spells prepared at all would suggest that he channels negative energy, since a good (or positive-channeling neutral) would have no reason to bother preparing those. Though we see little enough of his actions that he could easily be consistent with either neutral or evil.

In any event, Belkar's position on the poster shows that it's not actually alignment that's relevant, anyway, and the priest of Loki is definitely more of an ally than an enemy to the Order.

[KillianHawkeye]

From a pure mechanical perspective, it's notable that in #603 there's a dialogue:

Haley: Do you have any transport or combat spells prepared?

Cleric of Loki: No, I was on temple duty. I've got healing, mostly.

A few rounds later, in #611, he casts inflict serious wounds on a halfling rogue type. This would seem to indicate that he is capable of spontaneously casting "inflict" spells. This would be consistent with a neutral or evil alignment. I think neutral is most likely.


Just having healing spells prepared at all would suggest that he channels negative energy, since a good (or positive-channeling neutral) would have no reason to bother preparing those. Though we see little enough of his actions that he could easily be consistent with either neutral or evil.

Yeah, he doesn't have to be Evil to channel negative energy. He get's that from worshipping Loki, an Evil deity, which he could still do even if he was (for example) Chaotic Neutral.

[Idhan]

Just having healing spells prepared at all would suggest that he channels negative energy, since a good (or positive-channeling neutral) would have no reason to bother preparing those. Though we see little enough of his actions that he could easily be consistent with either neutral or evil.

While I do think that the evidence points to the cleric being a negative energy channeler, there's more to healing than "cure" spells, and those have to be prepared even by positive-energy clergy. For a non-adventuring cleric doing temple duty, "remove disease" might be in greater demand than any cure spell. (How often have you gotten an amoxicillin scrip vs. how often have you been in an ER for broken bones and such?) For a violent city like Greysky City, cure spells might be in more demand than in, say, Cliffport or pre-invasion Azure City, but still...

[Kish]

Belkar is on the "good" side of the poster. The hypothesis that being on the left side means someone is good is rejected with gusto.

[AlaskaOOTSFan]

Thanks for the replies folks!

[Cranica]

Belkar is on the "good" side of the poster. The hypothesis that being on the left side means someone is good is rejected with gusto.

In before a 400 page thread on how Belkar's just a misunderstood Lawful Good.

[An Enemy Spy]

I don't understand why the Oracle is on the bad guy side. Especially all big and in front with Xykon, Nale and the rest of them.

[An Enemy Spy]

Belkar is on the "good" side of the poster. The hypothesis that being on the left side means someone is good is rejected with gusto.

Belkar might not be good, but he is still one of the "good guys".

[Killer Angel]

Belkar is on the "good" side of the poster.

Lead sheets help. :smalltongue:

[The Succubus]

My take is that it's really more a matter of aesthetics than alignments. I think Rich went a "roughish" idea of the two sides but didn't spend hours agonizing over the Cleric's alignment, the Oracle's alignment and so on. You'd have to be some sort of crazy person to spend hours obsessing over something like that.

[Studoku]

I don't understand why the Oracle is on the bad guy side. Especially all big and in front with Xykon, Nale and the rest of them.
He's closer to being an antagonist than an ally. He's also the only antagonist major enough and small enough to be opposite to Belkar on the poster.

[Bulldog Psion]

Well, as far as the Oracle goes, he sure doesn't belong with the heroes, so where else to put him except on the bad guy side?

My personal feeling is that the Cleric of Loki was probably Chaotic Neutral -- more callous and looking out for #1 than actively malicious. Though I'm not sure how the Brainy Pete episode affected that -- it was pretty cold, but then again, Pete was a pretty deserving case, too. :smallamused:

[Morty]

Rich has said before that we shouldn't read too much into the placement of people on the poster, after people asked why the Oracle is on the Evil side. The Priest of Loki was too minor a character to judge his alignment, in my opinion - we've seen relatively little of him.

[Mr. Snuggles]

It's not about alignment - good vs. evil.

The poster is about PROtagonists vs. ANtagonists. Even though the Priest of Loki serves an evil god (and is most likely evil himself), he was still on the side of the protagonists. That's it, that's the entire explanation.

[Kish]

I don't understand why the Oracle is on the bad guy side. Especially all big and in front with Xykon, Nale and the rest of them.
You know, there's a useful post here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220195).

[dps]

Rich has said before that we shouldn't read too much into the placement of people on the poster, after people asked why the Oracle is on the Evil side. The Priest of Loki was too minor a character to judge his alignment, in my opinion - we've seen relatively little of him.

Also, it would appear (though it's not been confirmed AFAIK) that the relative size of the characters on the poster is related to their relative importance to the overall plot. That's what puts the Oracle opposite Belkar. Though that suggests that he's more important overall than we've seen yet.

Aside from Belkar, we know that Roy's sister is True Neutral, yet she's well over into the "good" side of the poster. So obviously, placement on the poster isn't all about alignment.

[ThePhantasm]

Also, it would appear (though it's not been confirmed AFAIK) that the relative size of the characters on the poster is related to their relative importance to the overall plot. That's what puts the Oracle opposite Belkar. Though that suggests that he's more important overall than we've seen yet.

No, it doesn't suggest that at all. You are reading too much into it. You should read the Giant's quote on the subject.

You'll find it in the Art section of the IGC.