OOTS #1238 - The Discussion Thread

[KorvinStarmast]

There needs to be an "Order of the Stick Forums Drinking Game". Take a shot every time someone makes special note on the comic defying the "official lore" of certain D&D creatures re: their personalities and alignments, which shows they've kind of missed a central theme of this strip.

My liver would fail. Sorry, in this case no game is better than a bad game.

If a snail can do it, a chimera can.Ignoring the distaste/debate with the evil races trope,

Rather than trot out the tired trope twaddle, read up on the original Beholder as created by Terry Kuntz.

Eye Tyrants... a great globe of about 3' diameter...these monsters are avaricious. They are neutral in nature, although they tend to be chaotic

As this monster has morphed through various editions, they became classified as both Aberrations and in some cases (xanathar) insane. This makes them, to me, fit into an alignment classification (where it matters) on the third axis: the bacon-necktie axis. (see TV Tropes as necessary).

Spoiler: pithy saying

Show

Ye who walk with the Path of Bacon shall be with dinner blessed. Yet ye who follow the Way of Necktie shall be for dinner dressed

As with most things from the far planes and aberrations in general, they don't fit nicely into any particular pigeon hole, which then means to me that they can have pretty much any morality or any moral compass, and beyond that can switch and swap for their own alien, and likely inscrutable, reasons.

A beholder can make friends with whomever they like, for as long as they like. Serini having a beholder ally makes, to me, perfect sense. She's imported all kinds of monsters from the D&D/OoTS/Fantasy catalogue to defend the gate; befriending a few of them along the way as they wait, decades, for the expected attempts on the gate makes good sense for a gregarious halfling rogue.

Her expressed attitude of "preserve the gate no matter what it costs" leads to a huge menu of flexible options. A beholder ally is but one. A mimic ally seems to be another. I expect there to be yet others revealed before this book is completed.