The Order of the Stick/Characters/The Order of The Stick

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The Order of the Stick

Roy: Let my people handle this, we're trained professionals. Well, we're semi-trained, quasi-professionals, at any rate.

Led by Roy Greenhilt, the Order is a group of six PCs (and two familiars), out to destroy the evil lich Xykon and prevent him from taking over (or worse, destroying) the world.

• Destructive Saviours
• Good Counterparts: To the Linear Guild.
• Five-Man Band: Well, six in this case.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Though that is assuming that Vaarsuvius is a girl.
• Line-of-Sight Name: In response to his teammates' lame attempts at coming up with a name for their group based on ridiculous things (like the fact that they were hired in a tavern, a trait that most adventuring groups share, or that it was a cloudy day), Roy sarcastically suggested they call themselves "the Order of the Stick" because there was a stick on the ground. To his dismay, the name struck a chord with everyone else.
• Meaningful Name: The above is of course in-story justification from the Prequel. The true reason for the name is, naturally, that they are Stick Figures.
• Player Characters
• Player Party
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Aside from Roy and Durkon, each hero has their own quirk that makes Roy think they're crazy. Belkar indeed is murderously insane. However, giving them a chance works out in his favor.
• True Companions: Except for Belkar, though it's debatable how little he cares about the other members of the Order of the Stick.
• With Friends Like These...

Roy Greenhilt

"Is that another 'Fighters are dumb' crack?"

Race: Human Gender: Male Class: Fighter Alignment: Lawful Good

A very intelligent human warrior with an ancestral sword and a serious problem with his unsupportive father ("Powerful mage, Devoted husband, Passable father"), Roy is the leader of the Order of the Stick. Deals with copious amounts of stress daily, often due to somewhat... er... unreliable teammates. Sworn to kill Xykon as part of his father's Blood Oath.

• Anti-Hero: (Type II)
• Back from the Dead
• Badass Normal
• Bald Black Leader Guy
• Bald of Awesome
• Bald Woman: While under the effect of the Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity.
• Berserk Button:

Roy: YOU! BROKE! MY! SWORD!

• • And also:

Roy: Bad guys not remembering their evil deeds is something of a pet peeve of mine.

• Black Dude Dies First: Although he was resurrected later.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Great Cleave!" Note that this is standard for the setting, though -- calling your attacks is how you make them.
• Came Back Strong: Roy trained with his dead grandpa during his stay in heaven, and learned a new sword technique when he came back.
• Carry a Big Stick: Temporarily, while his sword was broken.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Roy does this to Elan after the latter is captured by bandits. The inevitable rescue is then hilariously Subverted.
• Character Development
• Combat Pragmatist: He's willing to resort to underhanded tactics if his opponent is powerful enough that he can't win a straight fight. During his arena duel with Thog, he uses discarded crossbow bolts and a potion bottle as improvised weapons, chucks a handful of sand into Thog's face to blind him, and finally wins by goading Thog into collapsing part of the ceiling on himself.
• Cool Sword: His grandfather's Ancestral Weapon, a greatsword. Now it has been reforged with Starmetal alloy which causes it to glow with green anti-undead energy.
• Coup De Grace
• Dead Little Brother: Implied to be the original source of the rift between him and his father.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Death Is Cheap: Subverted, it took a long time to resurrect Roy due to Durkon being separated from his body.
• Diagonal Cut: Roy against an evil warrior in the afterlife -- with "QUARTER" as an Unsound Effect.
• Fatal Flaw: Not paying enough attention to what's going on around (because of a crappy Spot Check and lack of Sense Motive) and thinking he knows more about a situation than he actually does. As illustrated in "Grand Theft Identity".
• A Father to His Men: Albeit after some Character Development.
• Freud Was Right: Roy feels diminished without his sword.
• Friend to Psychos: Roy is kind of like this to Belkar, even putting in a good word to get the psychopathic halfling out of prison. Although in his case, it's more of a case of realizing that the Heroic Comedic Sociopath is better off in his charge, where he can keep him "pointed at the bad guys," rather then placing his bets on the idea that any prison can hold him.
• Gender Bender: While wearing the Belt of Masculinity/Femininity.
• Genius Bruiser: One wonders how many points our favorite fighter allocated into Int, and how many people who must have given him crap for it at the time are singing a different tune now.

Roy: THAT'S how I use my Intelligence score in combat, DUMBASS!!!

• • He's also able to figure out that the "Thog" that the team is fighting is actually not Thog because of small discrepancies like "leading with the wrong foot."
• Good Counterpart
  • To Thog. Though Roy disagrees.
  • Also, Tarquin.
• Good Is Not Nice: He's rather grumpy due to having to put with the antics of his teammates...aside from Durkon who he tolerates more than most.
• The Hero
• Hero Complex: Julia accuses him of having one, but in truth it's averted as Roy is too pragmatic for that.
• Heroes Prefer Swords
• I Am Not My Father
• I Call Him "Mister Happy": Roy calls it his "Trouser Titan" in "The Ultimate Sacrifice", while protesting Elan's idea to disguise him as a woman.

Roy: There's no way I'm saying goodbye to the Trouser Titan just so I can fool some lame-ass assassins. Elan: ... You call it the "Trouser Titan?" Roy: NOT THE POINT!

• Jerkass: Often, to both friends and enemies, and not always justified. He is called on this several times.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When he's not busy being a Jerkass.
• Joke Item: The Bag of Tricks. It's a bag that fires small animals.
• Knight in Sour Armor
• The Leader
• Leeroy Jenkins: He does this occasionally. His charges usually turn out fairly well, though. His ill-fated attack on Xykon isn't an example -- he knows he's outmatched and is as prepared as he reasonably can be.
• Lethal Joke Item: Roy eventually figures out how to use the Bag of Tricks in combat. It involved using them as a distraction, and finding out that there is a rhino in there. Unfortunately, the rhino kinda backfires on him.

Roy: You know, this bag of tricks isn't so bad once you get the hang of it.

• Made of Iron: Roy has a lot of hit points.
• Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Averted when Roy dons the Belt of Gender Shifting.
• Meaningful Name: His family got its name from the ancestral sword, which does have a green hilt.
• Mistaken for Special Guest: Roy is mistaken for the King of Nowhere when staying at an inn.
• Morality Chain: To Belkar, in a fashion. If Roy wasn't capable of knocking him out in one shot, Belkar would be far more difficult to control.
• Neck Lift: Favors this intimidation method.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Roy brushing off the deva in "Down to Earth".
• Only Sane Employee
• Only Sane Man
• Refusing Paradise: Roy enjoys a peaceful afterlife with his family in Celestia. However, upon realizing that his allies have failed to resurrect him on schedule, he rushes off to search for answers.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: See Berserk Button.
• Sticks to the Back: His sword.
• Straight Man: Mocked by Belkar in "The Power Behind the Throne".
• Super Strength: With the Belt of Giant Strength.
• Thunderbolt Iron: His reforged sword is an alloy.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Virtually always chooses Good over Lawful when pressed, but doesn't fall into Neutral Good by virtue of trying to be both whenever possible.
• The Unchosen One: Roy eventually takes up the quest to destroy Xykon not because of his father's Blood Oath, but simply because Xykon needs to be stopped.
• Unknown Rival: Xykon can barely remember who he is.
• Vetinari Job Security: The "Don't Split the Party" arc is one long proof of this.
• Weapon of Choice: The Greenhilt family greatsword. He used a large wooden club for a while when his sword was broken.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Subverted later in the comic series when he decides to stop taking that crap and calls out his father.
• Won't Take Yes for An Answer: Roy does this at least twice.
  • During his tavern recruitment of the party in On the Origin of PCs, after meeting with a refusal from some thirty adventurers, Roy begins to thank Haley for listening and saying that he understands, before realizing she just accepted to join.
  • In "Shattered Expectations", when the "Being of Pure Law and Good" renders the judgement of the Order's trial for weakening the fabric of the universe, Roy is so much expecting a guilty verdict that he starts saying "It Has Been an Honor" to the rest of the party, until the words "not guilty" actually register.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Even those enjoying the Gladiator Games.
• Wrecked Weapon: See Berserk Button.

Haley Starshine

"Winning the battle isn't on the table anymore. Surviving the battle is the priority now, and it's slipping away fast."

Race: Human Gender: Female Class: Rogue Alignment: Chaotic Good ...ish

A cute rogue with a motivation for her theft; if she can't come up with enough money, her father faces imprisonment for life. Incredibly neurotic with a very fragmented personality. Currently in a relationship with Elan. By her own admission, "Chaotic Good-ish".

• Action Girl
• The Archer
• Back Stab: Her obvious choice for dealing damage.
• Badass Normal
• Bags of Holding: Haley thinks one can never have enough extradimensional storage space, and carries a collection of them.
• Bare Your Midriff
• Bi the Way: Haley has a "Latent Bisexuality" alter ego amongst the many fractions of her psyche. And she kissed a girl once. More than once.
• Breast Plate: Haley buys one. The strip manages to hang a lampshade on the entire trope in the process.

Haley: I think some flaunting is in order.

• Calling the Old Man Out: Haley's reaction when her father judges Elan to be every bit as evil as his father, General Tarquin, accusing him of spying on her and tricking her into loving him.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Sneak Attack!"
• Cannot Spit It Out:

Haley: Elan... I think I'm in love with y-- Durkon: Cure Critical Wounds! Haley: ...Ukuleles.

• Character Development:
  • She has become less greedy over time, and got a justification for her greed.
  • She has also become more moral, best demonstrated by her attitude towards slavery changing from And That Would Be Wrong to freeing her host's slaves just because she can. This likely ties into her self-description as Chaotic Good-ish as opposed to strictly Chaotic Good. She started out leaning toward Chaotic Neutral, but through Character Development is now more solidly Chaotic Good. (See Morality Chain.)
  • She has also grown into the role of second-in-command; instead of just using the position to get a bigger share of the loot as she did in the beginning, she now uses her roguish experience to advise Roy on things a Lawful Good fighter might not consider.
• The Chick: Assuming V is male, she is the sole girl of the group. Doubles as The Lancer.
• Combat Pragmatist
• Covert Pervert: Not above taking advantage of a discount Invisibility Sphere to grope Elan. Also the first party member to notice the phallic symbolism of a Gigantic Purple Worm. After she and Elan hook up, the "covert" part goes out the window.
• Cypher Language: She was afflicted with this for a while.
• Fan Service: She parodies this in the prequel. And later plays it as straight as one can with the comic's art style.
• Fiery Redhead
• Flesh to Stone: Looks like she blew the saving throw.
• Give Me Back My Wallet
• Godiva Hair: Haley takes advantage of the Power Perversion Potential of magical cosmetics: "Picking Locks".
• Good Counterpart: To Sabine, Crystal, and Tsukiko.
• Goth: As a teenager, she was the gloomy, rebellious kind.
• Greed: Haley's initial personality, though she does receive character development and a real need to collect a lot of money.
• Guile Heroine
• Heroic BSOD: She was hit with this early in the series after several craploads of her loot were utterly destroyed in an explosion. Afterwards, she gets an episode of Cypher Language (see above), and finally learns to get over her abandonment issues and openly admit her feelings for Elan, the shouting of which cured her.
• Important Haircut: In "You're It", but latter subverted by "Picking Locks".
• Impossible Thief: In "It's a Shame She Didn't Grab That Script While She Was There", Haley steals a diamond from the cast page, resulting in said diamond replaced with an IOMe (it's not an IOU because Haley stole it from herself).
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: Does this to her rival Crystal. A bonus scene in Don't Split the Party gives her a better justification for this.
• The Lancer
• Loveable Rogue
• Luke Nounverber
• "Ma'am" Shock: "I'm not old! I'm 24! That's not old! Twenty! Four!"
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places
• Miser Advisor
• Missing Mom: Mia Starshine died when Haley was very young.
• Money Fetish
• Morality Chain: Of which she is fully aware, in two parts:
  • She wants to be Good because her dying mother urged her and her father to be better than the Vice City they lived in.
  • Associating with Elan makes her a better person.
• Ms. Fanservice
• Ms. Vice Girl: Haley is the most common version, since she's always looking for ways to get more loot from adventuring, but won't sabotage saving the world to satisfy her greed.
• Multishot: She can do this.
• Never Say That Again: Never tell her that treasure isn't that important.
• Number Two: She manipulated Roy into giving her the position for a greater share of the treasure. It backfires when in Roy's absence she finds herself actually in formal charge of the Order.
• Only Sane Woman: Took over this role in Roy's absence and did not like it one bit.
• Other Me Annoys Me: Haley's mental projections.
• The Power of Trust: She has this in Elan, in spite of her father's strenous objections.
• Rapunzel Hair: Haley gets this in "Picking Locks" after overcompensating for her short haircut before.
• Rebel Leader: After the timeskip, before handing that role off to Thanh.
• Red-Headed Heroine
• Refuge in Audacity: She steals two of Belkar's potions to heal Elan. When Belkar accuses her, she guilt trips him about being prejudiced.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: "Screw that, I'm just flat-out ignoring Roy right now."
• Shouldn't You Stop Stealing?
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Her love for Elan, as she explains to her father.
• Slipknot Ponytail: Happens to her during a trap search (along with Wardrobe Malfunction).
• Slipped the Ropes:

Gannji: Wait, weren't you tied up a moment ago? Haley: That was a moment ago.

• The Snark Knight: Mistress Shadowgale, a.k.a. Haley's Self-Loathing Alter Ego.

Mistress Shadowgale: Gods, I hate you all.

• The Sneaky Girl: As is fitting for a rogue.
• Spoonerism:

Haley: I'm gonna sit on this spin until the room stops chairing.

• Sticks to the Back: Her bow.
• Street Smart
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "SNEAK ATTACK -- BITCH!"
• Time to Step Up Commander: After Roy's death.
• Trick Arrow: After getting an Icy Burst Bow.
• Un Confession: In "Hawaiian Love", Haley, seriously wounded and apparently not expecting to live, starts to tell Elan that she loves him. She's interrupted by Durkon curing her wounds.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Averted, but Crystal is under the mistaken impression that Haley is lethally vulnerable to pickles. Just to be clear: Crystal is dumber than a post.
• Weapon of Choice: A longbow.

Elan

"♪ Bluff, Bluff, Bluff, Bluff the stupid ogre! ♪"

Race: Human Gender: Male Class: Bard/Dashing Swordsman Alignment: Chaotic Good

A fairly dim but highly charismatic bard with an idiosyncratic thought process and only a slight effect in battle, although the latter has been mitigated after he took his first level in Dashing Swordsman. Can be extremely slow on the uptake.

• Bad Liar: And how.

Haley Starshine: No offense, but you literally can't bluff to save your life. In fact, I think your bluffs usually endanger your life in new and exciting ways.

• The Bard
• Brainless Beauty: Very much so, even if the "beauty" part is difficult to tell thanks to the art style. Fairly unusual as a male example, especially among sympathetic protagonists.
• Beyond the Impossible: In strip #794, Elan seduced a succubus. As in, you know, a demon who is, by her own admission, an evil incarnation of illict sex. And then apologized to Tiny Stone Haley.
• Bumbling Sidekick: To Roy until the party got split, and even moreso to Sir Francois in On the Origin of PCs.
• Chaotic Stupid: Averted; Elan is Chaotic Good and Stupid separately (and has been working on the "Stupid" part... more or less).
• Character Development: Elan is not so much a dimwit now as at the start, but is still a Ditz nevertheless.
• Cheerful Child: Despite being at least 21 years old.
• Chick Magnet: It's been stated outright that he has 18 Charisma (the normal maximum at character creation). Indeed, Elan considers this part of his job description, and does not understand why Haley doesn't care for it.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Comedy as a Weapon: Elan's moves as a Dashing Swordman gain more power if he tells a pun while attacking. The worse the pun, the greater the damage.
• Companion Cube: Elan worships Banjo the Clown, his own hand-puppet.
• Consulting Mister Puppet: More like "Worshipping Mister Puppet".
• Contractual Genre Blindness: Played with in a rather confusing manner; in spite of being as Genre Savvy as he is (in that, since since Nale's corpse was never found, Elan knew that he must have still been alive), he acted surprised to find that Nale was, indeed, alive, but only because protagonists in a position like his are always surprised at such a revelation.

Nale: But... if you know that then how can you be surprised... Why didn't you realize that thinking I was dead was... I mean... Gah! I'm giving myself a migraine trying to understand the level of wilful ignorance that requires! Elan: First blood: ELAN!

• Despair Event Horizon
  • Briefly brought to the brink when he's half-goaded, half-Brainwashed (specifically, under the effects of Suggestion) by Nale into thinking Haley is The Mole, and almost kills her over it.
  • And again later, when realizing that his father is a Big Bad AND Dangerously Genre Savvy.
• Disorganised Outline Speech: We can't really not mention the epic one he gives just before the battle of Azure City.

Elan: Friends, Azurites, countrymen, lend me your ears. Not literally, because ewww. I mean, that would be disgusting. And messy. And since you'd just be lending them, we'd have to figure out how to reattach them all, and that'd be a lot of work. Today, we stand here on the wall, preparing to defend this city from the forces of evil. And probably chaos, too. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. And sisters. Definitely also sisters, they are part of the band too. I think they play drums. A day may come when the courage of men (and women) fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. And if the battle lasts through tomorrow, it's not that day either. It may or may not be the day after that, I'm not sure. Still too early to tell. But in case it's not that day, or it is that day but the battle is already over so it doesn't matter, I want you to remember this: No one ever won a war by dying for their country. They won by making the other guy die for his country. Which still applies even though hobgoblins don't live in countries. They live in caves, I think. So make them die for their caves. Which, admittedly, sounds a lot less heroic than dying for your country. But today will be the day when Azure City declared in one voice, "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" And the fact that it rhymes does not make it any less true! We'll stand here together and tell our enemies that they may take our lives... But they will never take our freedom! (acclaims) Unless... unless they kill us, then animate the dead corpses as zombies to fight for them. Then I suppose they've taken our lives AND our freedom. (Beat Panel) ♪ Fight, fight, fight, fight the-- ♪ Random Azurite Soldier: You suck!

• Dude in Distress: Happens often enough he lampshades it:

Elan: I wonder if I qualify for some sort of hostage-based prestige class by now...

• The Ditz: Very much initially, until Character Development toned it down.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Happens with Elan a few times.

Haley: Am I drunk enough yet that later, I won't remember getting out-logicked by Elan?

• Dumbass No More: Post timeskip he's gone from The Ditz to something between a Cloudcuckoolander and a Genius Ditz.
• Dumb Blonde
• Dumb Is Good: Played straight. His lack of knowledge and common sense is a running gag, and he is happens to be the nicest member of the group. Also played for laughs when he knows something the others don't.
• Dump Stat: Intelligence and Wisdom (they're getting better though).
• Evil Twin: Nale
• Eyepatch After Time Skip: Invoked and parodied.
• The Face: He's highly charismatic and has talked more than one female enemy into a Heel Face Turn. Roy invokes this trope when the group needs to talk to someone, like the teenage goblin in the first arc.
• Face Death with Dignity: When he believes that his father is going to kill him.
• Face Doodling
• The Fool
• For Happiness: Elan and his mother both always try their best to live up to this trope.
• Genius Ditz: Primarily due to being Genre Savvy, but also often because he's just that good a guy.
• Genre Savvy: Although he's been mistaken sometimes. Also occasionally suffers from Contractual Genre Blindness, as lampshaded and, in the process, subverted (when it gives Nale a headache) here.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: In addition to Chaotic Angel and Lawful Angel.
• Good Counterpart: To his own brother and father.
• Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: His rousing speech prior to the Battle of Azure City.
• Hair Antennae: Shared by his brother and father.
• Hair of Gold
• Happily Ever After: Elan's fate, according to the Oracle.
• The Heart: Refered to as such by Durkon. He's more heroic than The Hero and very likable. Even Belkar likes him.
• Heroes Want Redheads
• Hero with an F In Good: Sometimes because he's The Ditz (to the point at which Roy briefly abandons him to his fate) and sometimes because he's too Genre Savvy.
• Horrible Judge of Character: His obliviousness to his father, Tarquin, being evil. This isn't so much a case of Elan's ditziness as it is Wrong Genre Savvy -- Elan mistakes ruthlessness for the well-intentioned pragmatism displayed by Roy. Also, he understandably loves/trusts his father, and the affection is mutual despite his father's Card-Carrying Villainy.
• Idiot Ball
• Idiot Hero
• I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You: A good one from On the Origin of PCs:

Elan: Sir, I'm not about to tell an innkeep I just met about the priceless antique shield Sir Francois carries, or the pouch of rare gems he keeps hidden in his saddlebags, of his purse filled with platinum pieces that he hides in his left boot when he sleeps.

• Incredibly Lame Pun: The source of power for his prestige class.
• Informed Attractiveness: He's a stick figure character that doesn't look much different than any other, and yet has multiple girls flirting with him.
• Insane Troll Logic: See Invisible Streaker below.
• Instant Ice, Just Add Cold: When V "accidentally" encases him in ice, for helping with a concentration check.
• Invisible Streaker: Attempted inverted invocation. Elan tries to be this when he thinks that because wearing heavy armor makes you less stealthy, wearing less armor will make you stealthier and being naked will make you invisible.
• It's the Best Whatever Ever!: Elan has a habit of saying this, usually shortly before the other shoe drops.
• Keet
• Leet Lingo: Parodied, here.
• The Load: Elan for most of the beginning of the comic. Until he Took a Level in Badass, Roy compared him to adventuring with syphilis. He leans toward The Millstone when his music keeps making things worse, and especially when he blew up Dorukan's Dungeon.
• Loose Lips: It's a good thing the rest of the Order usually keeps an eye on him, because Elan is very bad at keeping secrets.

Haley: A secret kind of quest. Elan: Yeah, we need to find this guy, Girard Draketooth, and tell him that-- Haley: Elan!! What part of "secret" do you not understand? Elan: The part where I don't tell other people, obviously.

• Lover Not a Fighter: Initially. Subverted when he gains a prestige class that lets him use his Charisma as his primary attack stat.
• Man Child
• Meaningful Name: Elan -- "enthusiasm"/"liveliness".
• Meta Guy
• Metaphorgotten: A frequent trait of his, especially when giving speeches.
• Mr. Exposition
• Music for Courage: With varying success, though not for lack of trying.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Sometimes, as a result of his Genre Savviness.

Elan: ... Hey, did anyone else get that foreboding feeling just now?

• Naked People Are Funny: "I'm invisible!"
• Nice Guy
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
• Noble Shoplifter: Elan does this to get a new lute while fleeing Azure City. Earlier, after escaping the Cliffport prison, he leaves a word of excuse in the clothes shop he's stealing from.
• Odd Friendship: He gets along well with Thog.
• Picked Last: Elan is picked last when the party splits.
• The Power of Acting: The Dashing Swordsman class.
• Prestige Class: Dashing Swordman
• Rousing Speech: Spoofed in Elan's speech prior to the battle for Azure City.
• Royal Rapier
• Rule of Drama: He mostly follows it, though he also knows when to avert it.
• Running Gag: His bard songs making things worse instead of helping. Lampshaded by Belkar.
• Sarcasm Blind: Though Elan is slowly getting a better grasp of sarcasm, it's still hit-or-miss for him.
• Shipper on Deck: In book 4, he thinks Lien and Hinjo need to repopulate the paladin race.
• The Social Expert
• Something That Begins With Boring: Elan with Roy, while waiting in the dragon's cave.
• Spoony Bard: Elan's pretty much the prototype before taking a prestige class... and often afterwards as well.
• Super Window Jump / Soft Glass: His Dashing Swordsman Prestige Class gives him immunity against damage from shattered glass, so he's taken a liking to glass-breaking dramatism.
• There Was a Door: Elan prefers to jump through windows even when doors are present, because his Prestige Class gives him immunity against damage from shattered glass. And because it's dramatic.
• Took a Level in Badass: A quite literal example of this trope. Dashing Swordsman hugely improved his effectiveness because its power is based on his high charisma.
• Wandering Minstrel: He's a bard; his understanding of fictional devices is part of what gives him power.
• Weapon of Choice: A rapier, although he's lost a few. His current rapier was given to him by Julio Scoundrél.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Does this to V for disintegrating Kubota.
• What Would X Do?: When forced to think for himself, his default tactic seems to be "work out what Roy would say".
• With Catlike Tread: Elan has been known to foil the party's attempts at stealth in this manner, such as when he ROLLED A 4! on his Move Silently check, and when Haley had to remind him that singing to encourage his companions to move silently across the battlefield would be counterproductive.
• You Fight Like a Cow: It's part of his Dashing Swordsman skillset, but he hasn't exactly mastered this move yet. Although he did quite well during his battle with Nale just after getting the Dashing Swordsman class.

Nale: We're identical twins, you idiot! You just insulted yourself! Elan: Really? 'cause you seem to have a couple more holes in you right now.

Vaarsuvius

"I require a reminder as to why raining arcane destruction is not an appropriate response to all of life's indignities. Quickly, please, before they are out of range."

Race: Elf

Gender: Unknown

Class: Wizard (evoker)

Alignment: True Neutral (according to Word of the Giant) }}

An intelligent, if condescending, elf wizard of undefined gender. Extremely skilled in the arcane arts, and likely the most powerful member of the Order. Deeply dislikes Belkar; the feeling is mutual, and the two tend to play near-lethal pranks on one another. Has received a lot of attention during a rather controversial semi-solo arc that resulted in even more alignment confusion and much Character Development.

• Action Mom: If V is female (see below).
• Ambiguous Gender
• Ambiguously Evil
• Ambiguously Gay: Kyrie's gender is as unclear as V's and their children are adopted, and the background to V's transformation includes a pink triangle. No word on whether that was intentional. Approached at a convention on the subject, Word of the Giant was that Vaarsuvius' sexual orientation is not going to be revealed prior to V's gender.
• And That Would Be Wrong: Trope Namer. Namely, blowing people up over social problems.
• And Your Little Dog's Little Dog, Too: Familicide, courtesy of Haerta Bloodsoak.
• Anti-Hero (Type IV): V, despite hating Belkar, has come close to this due to V's easily-offended personality, especially after making a Deal with a Devil, a Demon, and a Daemon, actually to save his-or-her family.
• The Atoner: After the incident with the fiends and Xykon. And again, after learning that the Familicide spell V used to kill the black dragons has wiped out the Draketooths.
• Awesome but Impractical: V is a specialist Evoker who is denied access to Conjuration and Necromancy magic. This gives Vaarsuvius access to the best destruction spells, but most D&D players would say this is one of the worst ways to play a wizard.

Vaarsuvius: When I chose Conjuration as my barred school, Teleport was still a Transmutation spell. It's hardly my fault the universal laws have been revised since then!

• Bad Dreams: Or rather, Bad Trance Memories, complete with the Catapult Nightmare.
• Badass Bookworm
• Berserk Button: Do not question Vaarsuvius's magic skills, call V a Warlock, or threaten the elf's family. Gods help you if you threaten the family. In fact, gods help your family and their extended family too.
• Bob Haircut: From the beginning until the Power Makes Your Hair Grow incident.
• Break the Haughty: With a lot of salt being rubbed into the wound. Continued in a very literal fashion when V decides to take on Xykon single-handedly.
• Byronic Hero
• Calling Your Attacks: Subverted on occasion, as Vaarsuvius has both shouted out spell names for spells not prepared, and produced the effects of a spell without casting; in this case, describing the effect of Sleep put the monsters to sleep.
• Chain Lightning
• Charm Person: Suggestion Charm or Dominate spells form part of V's arsenal, and are typically employed if an opponent cannot be blasted with evocations for whatever reason.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Devoted to arcane knowledge, at the expense of pretty much everything else. This comes up twice in fairly quick succession when facing enemies that not only outclass the elf in magic but can also easily kill V in hand-to-hand combat: the ancient black dragon and Xykon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Only second to Roy in the snark, and even more deadpan.
• Deal with the Devil: And is theirs for 44:16.
• Deus Angst Machina
• Disintegrator Ray: V likes to disintegrate a lot, notably offing this way the adolescent black dragon, Kubota, and later the ancient black dragon.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Delivered to V and returned many-fold.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Admit it, you think Evil V looks cool too when committing mass murder.
• Dumb Is Good: Vaarsuvius is sometimes condescending towards others simply because of their lesser intelligence, making this an example of the "smart people are mean" part of the trope.
• Dump Stat: Strength (can only carry one Bag of Holding), Constitution (elf, plus a backstory that involves studying but not jogging), and Charisma (genuinely worried about being capable of apologizing to a friend). Hell, looking at decisions over the course of the comic, Wisdom is looking iffy too. Vaarsuvius' status as master of the dump stat has actually been Lampshaded, when V's singular focus was compared to Roy's extremely wide point spread as in the difference between a hamburger and a roast dinner.
• Elfeminate
• Good Counterpart: To Zz'dtri and Pompey.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: V knows that, but unfortunately choose to ignore it and accepted the IFCC's deal.
• Evil Makeover: The soul splice; though V wasn't actually affected apart from appearances.
• Expospeak Gag: V's comedic stock-in-trade.

Vaarsuvius: Fascinating. Durkon, I have just now formulated a theory that encompasses both Nale's likely method of engagement and the most suitable response on our part. Durkon: THA TREES BE ATTACKIN'!! RUN FER YER LIVES!!!! Vaarsuvius: Ah, I see you have already grasped the core principles of my theory.

• Fatal Flaw: Pride in the power of arcane magic, to the point where V's inability to admit to needing help has been a major factor in accepting a Deal with the Devil.
• Finger-Poke of Doom: "Disintegrate."
• Flight: With the Overland Flight spell.
• Functional Magic
• Glass Cannon; As described under "Dump Stat".
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: Once the soul splice is completed, V's hair grows quite long and wild. Upon reverting, it's tied up into a ponytail.
• Hearing Voices: On finishing the soul splice, Vaarsuvius' three "subcontractors" talk a lot amongst themselves and can be heard quite audibly. It's later revealed that they had as much influence over V's actions alignment-wise as cheerleaders.
• Heroic BSOD
  • Vaarsuvius is being driven insane by guilt over a perceived failure in Azure City, as well as many failures since. As a result, the elf has become completely obsessed with not failing and, by extension, with finally succeeding at something that will prove that V is not a failure.
  • V has a bigger one when on realizing the actual effects of the Familicide spell:not only did V kill all black dragons directly related to the ancient black dragon the spell was initially cast on, but also the entire Draketooth family, who descended from a black dragon, and everybody who the Draketooths had children with, and their families....

Vaarsuvius: (curled on the floor) My fault. I am the cause. It sprang from my brow.

• Hero with an F In Good: V has had some memorable Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moments.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Vaarsuvius is usually knocked out of fights quickly to prevent Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards from taking play. But when he is able to participate, the fight either ends quickly or is against a powerful opponent with some form of magic resistance.
• Idiot Ball
  • V got slammed with it in the epic battle versus Xykon, despite having had more than enough sheer power on hand to win if the battle had been fought in an even halfway intelligent manner. Justified Trope due to V's overwhelming power trip and arrogance.
  • Played straight elsewhere. The Oracle all but tells Vaarsuvius that the price for ultimate arcane power would be too high. V only hears that the power sought is coming.
• Ignored Epiphany: Even if the plan they laid out was unworkable, the fiends make sure that V is aware of the fact that the true motives for accepting their deal were pride and desire for ultimate power, rather than any nobler. Despite this being thrown in V's face, the elf accepts the deal, later learns the lesson, but only after the damage is done.
  • Vaarsuvius also fails to let the team know about the deal out of shame, setting them all up for a future fall if the fiends choose to exercise control before V's death. In this case, V's shame is very much the mirror of V's earlier Pride and proof the V still hasn't learned the lesson completely.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: So very much, particularly during the separation arc. During a string of (partially perceived) heavy failures and PTSD to boot, V becomes practically impossible to live with.
• Insufferable Genius
• Insult to Rocks: V apologies to the tables of the world for comparing them to Belkar.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Part of V's reason for not contesting the divorce.
• Jerkass: Particularly in the fleet/Soul Splice arc. Culminate with him/her threatening to kill Elan.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Just Eat Him-or-Her: Swallowed once by an owlbear and twice by black dragons...
• Kick the Dog: If offing Kubota didn't qualify, then taunting the black dragon about her dead son definitely does. And if that's not bad enough, then how about simultaneously committing familicide against every black dragon related to her.
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: Honestly, Kubota had it coming.
• Kill It with Fire: Fireball or Scorching Ray are often the first choice of offensive spell.

Vaarsuvius: Burn, you insufferably terse dullard!!

• Knight Templar Parent: Understatement of the millennium.

Vaarsuvius thinks "Familicide" is an appropriate response to threatening the children.

• Kuudere
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: The two days spent in the Semi-Elemental Plane of Ranch Dressing after being sent there by Zz'dtri is a story Vaarsuvius would much rather have go untold. Especially in the books.
• Lethal Joke Item: Doilies.
• Levitating Lotus Position: Vaarsuvius floats in this position while in a trance to regain spells. Belkar took advantage of this once to play a prank on V.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards
  • By the #600 comic point, V has incredibly powerful magic available, and is the most powerful of the group (by quite a lot) in terms of sheer damage-causing ability. However, this is tempered by V's "barred" schools, and the fact that if V gets too close to the action and gets either knocked out, gagged, paralyzed, transformed (lizard), or runs out of spells, will end up being not really very helpful... which was a causative factor behind a Heroic BSOD. Probably because of what happened in the flashback strip "Running Away". Also subverted by V's arrogance in doing everything personally, rather than working with others. Had V helped the rest of the order rather than seeking personal power, everything would have gone smoother for everyone.
  • Played with and ultimately defied in "Right Tool for the Job". V is up against a character who has tailored their very build to shut down the elf's entire spell list directly, even at its most effective. V gets around this by dominating the mind of an enemy crossbowman (crossbowkobold?), and correctly estimates the physical bolts as a weakness to be exploited. Hence, for all the supreme power V has, victory is achieved by using a ranger's abilities instead.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: But only the screams of people that are really hated. For example, forcing the Linear Guild's third kobold Yukyuk to serve as Mr. Scruffy's litter box while he is under mind control, and is very much aware of what's going on; V, as the one controlling him, is the only one who can hear his screams.

Vaarsuvius: His silent screams are a symphony I cannot share.

• Magic A Is Magic A
• Mama Bear or Papa Wolf: Whatever Vaarsuvius's gender is, you do not mess with V's kids.
• Mass Teleportation: "Epic Teleport!"
• Moment of Weakness: "I... I must succeed."
• Morphic Resonance^[context?]
• Murder Is the Best Solution
• My Gods, What Have I Done?: V seems to have at least half a clue as to what having a brief Super-Powered Evil Side has done. Also appears to have learned the other half when learning the Draketooth family are all descendants of an ancient black dragon.
• My Greatest Failure
  • Vaarsuvius is distraught over not having had enough power to win the battle at Azure City (though the wall would've fallen much earlier without V's aid), and failing to overcome the Cloister spell (though the elf very nearly succeeded with the bird-messengers, if not for a freak incident that was no fault of anyone).
  • The reconciliation with Durkon counts, as V is incredibly regretful of how the immense power gained from the Fiends was used and how, only after receiving a withering Hannibal Lecture from Xykon after being defeated did V become truly effective.
  • Vaarsuvius goes through it again when realizing that the Familicide spell inadvertently killed the Draketooth family. And anyone they mated with. And their families.
• Never Live It Down: In-Universe example.

Vaarsuvius: I have a plan. Blackwing: Does it involve selling your soul?

• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Whether or not the black dragons Vaarsuvius murdered were Acceptable Targets, the sheer undiscriminating effects of Familicide killed quite a few innocents tied to them as well. Including the Draketooth clan, the protectors of Girard's gate.
• Not Brainwashed: The Super-Powered Evil Side had absolutely no effect on alignment. Vaarsuvius Jumped Off the Slippery Slope without help.
• No Time to Explain:

Vaarsuvius: Time is at a premium, precluding extended discussion.

• Oh Crap
  • "Say 'disintegrate' one more time, Vaarsuvius. For me."
  • V also has this expression on discovering the ramifications of casting Familicide on the black dragon.
• Ostentatious Secret: Vaarsuvius's gender.
• Our Elves Are Better: Subverted. V struggles with a lot of very human troubles and flaws such as pride, stubbornness, and thoughtlessness towards others. Vaarsuvius feels these flaws more and more keenly as time goes on and is working to improve.
• Paint It Black
• The Plot Reaper: Vaarsuvius' killing of Kubota for this very reason.
• Pointy Ears
• Power Floats: While trancing.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: A side-effect of the Soul Splice.
• Powers Via Possession: Takes possession of three evil souls to gain their powers. Notably, V is Not Brainwashed by them.
• Prepositions Are Not to End Sentences With
• Pride
• Pronoun Trouble: For everybody else.
• Real Men Wear Pink: If Vaarsuvius is a male: his magical aura is always pink, and V's hair is worn his hair in a ponytail from the end of the previous^[when?] arc. Also, V's soul splice background is a pink triangle, and it causes V's speech bubbles to become black with pink lettering and borders.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Hoo boy, Xykon gives a potent one to Vaarsuvius about what power really means.
• Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Reason
• Ring of Power: A Ring of Wizardry, pried from Xykon's charred fingerbone.
• Running Gag: V's use of Explosive Runes during the earlier strips.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Which, at times, becomes a problem. At one point V overcomes one of the rules of the game (namely, that Talking Is a Free Action).

Vaarsuvius: Actually, now just [six seconds]. I was being particularly verbose just there.

• Shock and Awe: Lightning spells are amongst Vaarsuvius's favorites.
• Shut UP, Hannibal: "Disintegrate. Gust of Wind. Now can we please resume saving the world?"
• Sophisticated As Hell:

Vaarsuvius: I may be in error, but I believe the appropriate proclamation is, "Sneak Attack, bitch."

• Spock Speak
• Squishy Wizard
• Tears of Remorse: A little overdue, very out of character (up until then: see below)... and definitely meant, in "Lack of Foresight".
• The Smart Elf
• The Spock
• Took a Level in Jerkass: V's resistance to anything not involving Xykon directly, arrogance and overall occasionally rude behavior skyrocketed during the period after Azure City where V refused to trance for months. This culminated in threatening Elan and ditching the rest of the Order of the Stick. After the whole Deal with the Devil thing V returned to normal behavior or better, however.
• Tragic Hero
• Troubled Fetal Position: After finding out that V caused the deaths of countless innocents with the Familicide spell.
• Unwitting Pawn: Accepting the Deal with the Devil and attacking Xykon played right into the Xanatos Roulette spun by the Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission.
• Vancian Magic: Isn't too happy about it, as the article's epigraph indicates.
• Victorious Loser: Against Xykon.
• Wall of Blather
• Weapon of Choice: Spells. Prefers Fireball, Lightning Bolt/Chain Lightning, Disintegrate and Prismatic Spray as attack spells. Also, Explosive Runes -- *BOOM*
• What You Are in the Dark
  • V's state during the Deal with the Devil was actually this. The IFCC told him/her that the splice would affect alignment, while in reality it only was three additional shoulder devils, who didn't have any actual influence. The answer was going Drunk with Power and committing a genocide of black dragons. While the rest of the party don't know, Vaarsuvius's mate, familiar, and the Powers That Be (and Karma) do.
  • V's rescue of O-Chul qualifies. V is heavily injured, nearly out of spells, and completely out of the league, against Xykon, an Epic-level sorcerer and the Big Bad. V turns invisible and means to escape through a hole in the wall, one Feather Fall away from safety... Nobody could possibly know or blame V for escaping in that situation, but V instead chooses to go back and help O-Chul instead, rather than abandoning yet another person to their death. It is a very poignant and touching moment of partial redemption after everything V had done.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer: The way V's been using magic since the beginning. Trying to break the habit in the latest arc, with difficulties. And could be said to have succeeded, if "Right Tool for the Job" is anything to go by.
• Would Be Rude to Say Genocide: Familicide. Oops, V. Killing the Black Dragons? May not, in retrospect, have been your brightest hour.
• Wreathed in Flames: "Fire Shield."
• You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Belkar Bitterleaf

"I AM A SEXY SHOELESS GOD OF WAR!"

Race: Halfling Gender: Male Class: Ranger/Barbarian Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Even shorter than other Halflings, Belkar has deep-seated emotional problems. He tries to work these out by killing people he doesn't like, which is to say pretty much everyone. Still, he has some of the best lines and is a major source of (black) comedy.

• Abstract Scale: His evil is measured in KiloNazis.
• Alliterative Name
• Anti-Hero (Type V): The only thing that separates Belkar from being a Villain Protagonist is that he is being pointed towards the Big Bad. In fact, he might have joined Xykon if his poor impulse control didn't have him throw a cat in the recruiter's face for his own amusement.
• Ass Shove: Implied.

Belkar: But speaking hypothetically, if I had managed to conceal a Ring of Jumping someplace on my body that I was reasonably certain no one would search...

• Atop a Mountain of Corpses
• Badass: Three words: None Left Standing.
• Badass Normal: Although as a ranger, he should be able to cast spells... if he didn't have the wisdom score of a lemming.

Belkar: Hey, lemmings are cute.

• Becoming the Mask: There are hints that Belkar's fake character development is turning into real character development. It becomes very apparent in "Wild Empathy".
• Berserk Button: It doesn't matter who you are... if you value your head remaining attached to the rest of your body, you should never, ever, EVER threaten to harm Mr. Scruffy in his presence.
• The Berserker
• The Big Guy: Shares the role with Durkon (ironically, the two are the smallest humanoid members of the party).
• Black Comedy
• Blood Knight
• But He Sounds Handsome: "That Belkar, as stubborn as he is stone-cold sexy."
• Chaotic Stupid: Moreso in earlier strips, where he would do things like set a tent on fire just to watch it burn -- when they were trying to sneak into a camp stealthily.
• Character Development: Faked character development, which ironically is real development for him too.
• Charlie Brown Baldness
• Chef of Iron: He has ranks in the Profession (Gourmet chef) skill.
• Chekhov's Boomerang: The Ring of Jumping +20. First when he uses it to escape from prison in Azure City, and again when he lends it to Roy.
• Combat Sadomasochist
• Deadpan Snarker
• Devil in Plain Sight
• Does Not Like Shoes: Like all halflings.
• Dual-Wielding: Two daggers.
• Dump Stat: Wisdom
  • So much so that that in this early strip, when V buffs Belkar's Wisdom to enable him to use a healing scroll it completely changes Belkar's personality and life goals! Of course that would not only make Belkar less funny, but also less useful in a fight, so Status Quo Is God...
• Evil Counterpart
  • Inverted in his Good Counterpart, the late Yokyok, whose father he killed earlier in the comic.
  • Also both inverted and played straight by Yokyok's aforementioned father Yikyik, who's Belkar's counterpart and is genuinely evil because he's just like Belkar.
  • And then Yukyuk, whose relation to Yikyik and Yokyok is currently unknown, but he seems to be as evil as Yikyik.
• Evil Is Petty: Though he and Yikyik are alike in many, many ways, Belkar despises him simply because he is a kobold.
• Failed a Spot Check: All the time....
• Fan Nickname: Originating from his own words -- he is the SEXY SHOELESS GOD OF WAR.
• Fragile Speedster: Roy rather unsubtly shows him that he isn't as good at taking damage as he is at dishing it out, and he should stick to slaughtering Mooks.
• Gay Bravado: Is "confident enough in his sexuality" that he can make come-ons at Roy to Squick the latter out.
• Geas: The Mark of Justice. He breaks it half by accident: he kills the Oracle of Sunken Valley, but the Oracle had gotten just enough kobolds to move into the area to technically constitute a settlement.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Nope, it is shown instead that he's got two shoulders devils. The shoulder angel had to be institutionalized.

Angel: (twitching) ...and he kept stabbing them, again and again... He's a halfling, he's supposed to be jolly... Why isn't he jolly? WHY ISN'T HE JOLLY???

• Halfling: Of course, he subverts every expectation of the race.
• The Halfling They Couldn't Hang: "Hangin' Around"
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: A textbook example.
• He's Back: In a Crowning Slaughter of Awesome.
• Hidden Depths: Averted. Belkar has no depth at all, and his hallucination of Shinjo tells him that he better fake some Hidden Depths or he'll find himself in deep trouble.
• Ho Yay / Foe Yay
  • He gets the tingles when Roy goes all Badass.
  • See also New Year's Eve (if Vaarsuvius is male). Further, the fourth book includes a Cast Page with lines indicating the relationships between the characters. According to this Belkar wants to "shtup" V, which means exactly what you think it does.
• Hypocritical Humor: "What kind of idiot could screw up something as simple as protecting the casters?"
• I'll Take Two Beers, Too!: "There are exactly two sandwiches here, aren't there?"
• I Should Write a Book About This: Parodied, like other Halfling-related tropes.

Belkar: You know, I think I could make good money writing a guidebook to the jail cells of the world. Dark but clean, I'd give this three stars -- "Would be incarcerated again."

• I Will Show You X: When Belkar's friend Buggy Lou suggests eating Mr. Scruffy with a nice marinade.

Belkar: I got your marinade RIGHT HERE!

• Jerkass
• Jerkass Has a Point: From times to times. Even Hinjo, a paladin, has to admit it once.
• Karma Houdini: Lampshaded and subverted.
• Kavorka Halfling
• Kill It with Fire: "When in doubt, set something on fire."
• Kissing Under the Influence: With Vaarsuvius.
• Knife Nut
• Laughably Evil
• Leeroy Jenkins
• Level Grinding: It takes Belkar months of killing off undead to get one level after the Time Skip.
• Luke Nounverber
• The Millstone: Belkar's sociopathy and frequent refusal to listen to orders ruin the party's planning several times -- for example, leaving the spellcasters undefended to kill goblins, putting the bandit camp on fire because he couldn't wait, or killing the Oracle. He had somehow grown out of it after his Vision Quest... until that time in prison when he pushed Roy to snap during the gladiator selection for the games, dooming the leader of the OotS to a dangerous fight in the arena (though Gannji also helped for this to happen).
• Mind Screw: Favorite way of being a Jerkass to his teammates. He took the feat "Craft Disturbing Mental Image".
• Min-Maxing: Inverted! Belkar's "build" is (deliberately) badly constructed; as a halfling he gets a Strength penalty and a Dexterity bonus but hardly ever uses missile weapons. And taking Wisdom as a Dump Stat impairs his use of key Ranger skills and spellcasting. It doesn't seem to cause him much difficulty though.
• Morality Chain: Without Roy's restraining influence, he'd be an even worse psychopath.
• Munchkin: For example, wanting to murder a team member just to get the necessary XP to level up.
• Murder Is the Best Solution
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: His tactic of holding Miko back. He didn't quite think it through, though.
• My Friends and Zoidberg: He gets this treatment a few times.
• The Napoleon
• The Nicknamer: Belkar loves to give ludicrous (but creative) nicknames to about everyone or everything (including himself), but especially for Durkon.
• The Nose Knows: "Halfling sense activated!"
• Odd Friendship: Any actual friendship would be odd, but he really seems to care about Mr. Scruffy.
• One-Halfling Army: Proven in "Seeing Orange".
• OOC Is Serious Business: Yet another way he will screw with people's minds.
  • "Horse Sense"

Belkar: Are you feeling OK? I'm really worried about you.

• • "Probably About an '8'"

Belkar: I think they've worked out a good plan to end this pointless conflict without any more lives lost, and I support it fully. Let's stop the violence. (big grin)

• Pet the Dog
  • Or Pet the Kittycat: Mr. Scruffy is possibly the only thing he's ever cared for unconditionally.
  • There was also the time when he saved the two reptilian bounty hunters by releasing a huge freaking dinosaur to distract the soldiers trying to kill them. It's even pointed out that he could have just waited for the soldiers to kill them before letting loose the Allosaurus, since a bunch of dead guards, on their own, would have been funny. Dead mercenaries that he hated and eaten guards? Hilarious in his eyes. Though this strip reveals that he helped them because it reminded him of his relationship with Mr Scruffy
  • It's never a good idea to point out either of these incidents, however. Or your world will become pain.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse
• Real Men Wear Pink: He has ranks in gourmet cooking, he knows the score to "Meet Me in St. Louis" and his best friend is a small, white housecat.
• Restraining Bolt: The Mark of Justice. It works even better than Roy's threats of bodily harm. Kept him locked down for a while. It's been removed.
• Ring of Power: A Ring of Jumping +20; he puts it to very good use.

Belkar: A magic item that can allow me to rain death from above on my enemies AND lets me reach stuff on the top shelf? Done.

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Sixth Ranger
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick
• Square Race Round Class: Halfling Ranger/Barbarian? He makes it work, though...
• Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred: Belkar succeeds at doing this to Miko, but his effort is stopped by a well-timed Scorching Ray.
• Stupid Evil: He started out as this, but moved to true Chaotic Evil through a dream sequence with the spirit of Lord Shojo.
• Team Chef
• Technical Pacifist: The Mark of Justice forces Belkar to be one, within towns at least. Not that he doesn't find several creative workarounds.
• Time for Plan B: Belkar has a tendency to play with this phrase.
• They Have the Scent: Belkar tracks the way through the Windy Canyon by scent.
• Token Evil Teammate
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Punned on: "Step up gentlemen, I have two daggers, no waiting."
• Unusual Euphemisms: He spouts D&D-based euphemisms and innuendo regularly.

Belkar: Hey, Sweet Thing, wanna hold my Rod of Lordly Might? If you press the right button, it might extend!

• • Note that the title of said strip is Comically Missing the Point: "What? It's a Legitimate Magic Item."
• Vision Quest: As a result of his magically-induced hallucination of Lord Shojo, Belkar learns to fake character growth.
• Wants a Prize For Basic Decency: Parodied in On the Origin Of PCs. Belkar thinks he deserves a reward for the restraint he showed by not killing all the barmaids in a tavern brawl, and suggests that if humans don't want him to murder people, they should put up a sign saying, "Thank you for not killing more than five of us".

Prison Guard: We don't want you to kill ANY of us! Belkar: Now you're just being unreasonable!

• Weapon of Choice: His daggers, as mentioned above.
• Your Days Are Numbered: It's initially implied, then outright stated by the Oracle that he'll take his last breath before the end of the year.

Durkon Thundershield

"I stay 'ere because it's me duty. And bein' a dwarf is all about doin' yer duty, even if it makes ye miserable. ESPECIALLY if it makes ye miserable!"

Race: Dwarf Gender: Male Class: Cleric Alignment: Lawful Good

A dutiful dwarf cleric of Thor, and Roy's oldest friend. Sent away from his homeland by higher-ups, he was slow to adapt to human society, but fits in rather well now. Very pragmatic.

• Badass Beard
• Bald of Awesome
• Berserk Button: He takes it rather badly when people make fun of theology. Like, by worshipping hand puppets, or pretending to convert when handy.
• The Big Guy
• Combat Medic
• Dating Catwoman: With Hilgya.
• Drop the Hammer
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Most would be rather depressed by the idea that they'll never return home again except when their corpse is taken there for burial, but Durkon is happy about it because it means he'd be buried at home with his ancestors and not somewhere else. It also means he'll be buried with honor, instead of dying in the belly of some random monster while out adventuring.
• Good Counterpart: To Hilgya Firehelm, and later Leeky Windstaff. And further later, Malack...
• The Fettered: Believes in honor and obligations, no matter how hard they are.
• Funetik Aksent: Present even when he writes a letter.
• Good Shepherd:A lawful good and honest cleric.
• Grumpy Bear: For a brief period (in On the Origins of PCs), though he grew out of it after meeting Roy.
• Healing Hands
• Honor Before Reason: The dwarves know that he's so lawful he won't attempt to return to the dwarven lands until sent for (i.e. never). Subverted in that while even Miko knows he can be trusted to be unfailingly honest, he stil twists the truth a little to protect his friends.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He has no idea about the real reason he was sent away from the Dwarven lands.
• Luke Nounverber
• Magic Knight
• The Medic: In one early strip, the other party members visualise him as a walking medical kit.
• Milkman Conspiracy: Durkon is convinced that the trees everywhere are part of some giant conspiracy.
• Misery Builds Character
• Never Gets Drunk: Durkon loves his beer, but has never been drunk in the comic. In a New Year's Eve story, he and Belkar count down to midnight with 10 straight pints. Belkar kisses Vaarsuvius and passes out, but Durkon doesn't appear affected at all. Of course, Dwarves in this universe have two livers. According to him, it's a dwarven custom to take a drink every time someone counts down.
• Never Say That Again: Don't tell him that beer isn't important.
• Not That There's Anything Wrong with That:

Durkon: I love me god Thor will all me heart -- inna strictly heterosexual "buddies" kinda way. Not that there's anything wrong with the alternative.

• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: A parody of the concept that plays some traits straight.

Cleric of Loki: Can you tell me anything about him that differentiates him from every other dwarf?

• Prematurely Bald: Not explicitly stated, but evident with a little math based on the evidence- he's currently 55 years old, and says to Haley that he's been bald for "forty years," meaning he went bald roughly around 15 years of age. He almost never mentions it, but it's apparently a touchy subject.
• The Reliable One
• Shock and Awe: Thor's Lightning!
• Sizeshifter: Thor's Might!
• Static Character: Lampshaded in "Be Prepared".
• Straight Dwarf
• Turn Undead
• Weapon of Choice: A warhammer and shield. Though he also uses cleric spells quite often.
• What Would Thor Do?: In practice, not as applicable as one might hope.
• Why Did it Have to Be Trees?
• Will Not Tell a Lie: Though he bent the truth once or twice by using Exact Words when benefiting the rest of the order.

Durkon: I count "able to be picked by a rogue" as a pretty major defect, aye?

• You Can't Go Home Again: A prophecy stated that Durkon's return to his home would destroy the dwarven homelands. To keep this from happening, the higher-ups sent him off on a Snipe Hunt and told him not to return until they called for him. Which Durkon never did, because he's just that lawful. However, the higher-ups neglected to tell their successors about the prophecy. Durkon can now return whenever he wants, though the message telling him so was destroyed. Though according to the Oracle, he will be returning. Posthumously. The funny thing is, when he found that out, he was actually happy to learn that his body would be returned home, presumably for an honorable burial.

Blackwing

"I prefer to think of myself as a super-advanced flying stealth dinosaur."

Vaarsuvius's raven familiar. V ignored Blackwing for years, and in fact never even named him -- it was Haley who gave the bird its less-than-original moniker. For most of the comic's run, Blackwing just disappeared until V remembered needing him, but now V is trying to make up for the years of neglect, while Blackwing acts as the elf's much-needed conscience.

• Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny: He is still a raven, after all, and tends to fixate on shiny objects at inopportune times. Blackwing's first reaction to V being turned into a lizard is to try to eat it.

Blackwing: Wait a second, is that a bauble? I could use a shiny new bauble.

• Chekhov's Corvid: Early in the comic he only appears in order to be involved in jokes about arcane casters neglecting or abusing their familiars. Then O-Chul and Vaarsuvius need someone who can fly as part of their plan to destroy Xykon's phylactery, and he gets a promotion to one of the main cast.
• The Conscience: To Vaarsuvius, to an extent.
• Dark Is Not Evil
• Deadpan Snarker
• Familiar
• Flight
• Good Counterpart: To Qarr.
• Intellectual Animal: Once acknowledged as such.
• Morality Chain: Offers guidance to Vaarsuvius to try and avoid a repeat of his past transgressions. It must be effective on some level, as Qarr's immediate priority on crossing paths with the Order again is to try and get Blackwing out of the way.
• Non-Human Sidekick
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend
• Parrot Pet Position
• Psychic Link: With Vaarsuvius.
• Ravens and Crows
• Remember the New Guy?: Subverted and played with. The rest of the Stick members forgot V ever had a familiar to begin with because of his neglect, including Haley, who named him Blackwing in the first place. This leads to them thinking he has an illusion on his shoulder, infuriating the elf to no end.

Blackwing: Now that you feel my pain, the healing can begin.

• Sarcastic Devotee
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: "Screw THAT! You're on your own, mammal!"
• Talking Animal: A trait for raven familiars, though before he refused to talk in anything but his native raven given V's mistreatment of him, and therefore only communicated in caws and through V's empathic link.

Mr. Scruffy

"Meow?"

An ordinary white cat, at first Lord Shojo's pampered pet. He is then adopted by Belkar and becomes his animal companion.

• Cats Are Mean: Not originally. Thanks, Belkar.
• Cute Kitten
• Formally-Named Pet
• Good Counterpart: To Sir Scraggly.
• Head Pet: To Yukyuk, while the latter is dominated.
• Killer Rabbit: Proved in "The Duel Everyone's Been Waiting For", and justified by D&D 3.5 rules. All successful attacks deal at least one point of damage, and cats get up to three a round. An EL1 encounter of four stray cats can easily wipe out most 1st level adventurers (with actual class levels!) in a single round, especially if the cats use their insane racial stealth bonuses to launch a surprise attack. This is why 1st level commoners don't walk down alleyways at night. (To further cement that gladiator's demise, Mr. Scruffy is the animal companion of a high-level ranger, giving it further combat bonuses.)
• Loyal Animal Companion
• Morality Pet: For Belkar... though he's still Chaotic Evil, only a little bit less so.
• Right-Hand-Cat: To Lord Shojo, and then Belkar.
• Team Pet
• Timmy in a Well: "The Papers Chase"