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Catfolk

2019-07-10T02:34:36Z

2600:1700:BF90:B950:49B0:3E38:7B87:2D31: /* Monstergirls */

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{{Monstergirls}}
/tg/ and the [[furry]] fandom have long had a great deal of hostility towards each other. And yet, hate and love can be said to be two sides of the same coin. Furries have often shamelessly involved themselves in roleplaying games, from the likes of [[Ironclaw]] and its [[weeaboo]] spin-off [[Jadeclaw]] to [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] And Other Strangeness. And yet, even more mainstream games have thrown them some encouragement.

Cats are, without a doubt, one of the most commonly admired of animals by furries. Consequently, anthropomorphized cats are a common feature in fantasy and science fiction settings, even in games; ironically, [[catgirl]]s, despite being [[monstergirls]], are very much a rarity in official game materials, because they are seen by many writers as being "too [[/d/|deviant]] and/or [[weeaboo]]". Yet '''catfolk''' somehow get a pass on this. Catgirls were introduced into science fiction literature by Murray Linebarger, writing as "Cordwainer Smith", first appearing in his short story "The Ballad of Lost C'mell".

Anyway, there's a lot of different cat-people races that run around various game settings. This article will serve to house and refer to them all.

The notorious Pooka of [[Changeling: The Dreaming]] can easily be adapted into catgirl form, as can certain others -- hell, there's an entire ''catgirl kith'' called the Nyan. Likewise, [[Changeling: The Lost]] has kiths/seemings you can spin as catgirls. [[Big Eyes, Small Mouth]], being "the anime RPG", of course lets you design catgirls as fantasy races or aliens. These are just a couple of examples. Also there is a /tg/ homebrew rpg for them, named [[CATastrophe]].

[[Chakat]]s are not cat girls and are terrible. Even most furries don't like them.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
Catfolk in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] go all the way back to first edition, with [[Rakasta]] first appearing in the modules [[X2: Castle Amber]] and X1: [[Isle of Dread]], alongside the [[Lupin]] (dog/wolf-people, another hugely common furry race), and Tabaxi first appearing in the Fiend Folio. The Rakasta have a long enough history to warrant their own page, but as for other D&D catfolk...

===Tabaxi===
<center>
<gallery>
File:Tabaxi 1e FF.jpg|The original tabaxi from the Fiend Folio.
File:Tabaxi 2e MC.jpg|The revised tabaxi from 2nd edition.
File:Tabaxi 2e MM.png|And they wonder why there are so many furries in D&D.
File:Tabaxi 5e.jpg|The latest take on the tabaxi; looks kind of like the Cheetos mascot.
</gallery>
</center>

Initially appearing in the Fiend Folio, Tabaxi are a reclusive race of humanoid felines native to tropical and subtropical jungles. They live in Stone Age-level clans, shyly hiding from most other sapient humanoids and hunting native game like peccaries and capybaras. The Tabaxi were later made a native race of the [[Forgotten Realms]] indigenous to [[Maztica]] - because of course you're going to have jungle-dwelling cat-people in the South America expy, right? - in the Fires of Zatal adventure. They were then chosen to be added to the official [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] Monstrous Manual.

In the shift, tabaxi went from having an implicitly [[catgirl]]-like appearance and tiger-colored pelts to a [[furry]] appearance and a yellow with black spots pelt with either solid spots (like a leopard) or roseate spots (like a jaguar); those tabaxi who look like leopards pronounce their species name as ta-BAX-ee, whilst those who resemble jaguars instead call themselves tah-BAHSH-ee.

Maztican tabaxi share something in common with [[lizardfolk]], in that they have a larger, more powerful, innately magic and utterly evil "lord" version that possibly has infernal origins and which sometimes enslaves their clans. Unlike the Lizard Kings, though, "tabaxi lords" appear as huge, talking, non-anthro male jaguars or leopards. They're most notable for the fact that they're bitter rivals of [[couatl]]s, and in fact were probably made to be expies for the Huitzilpochtli and Quetzalcoatl rivalry, and the fact that they can only reproduce by humping the female tabaxi, which is kind of squicky even for many furries.

Speaking of which, the fact their picture in the Monstrous Manual depicts a naked, big-breasted female tabaxi was probably responsible for more than its share of closet D&D furries.

Tabaxi became a full-fledged PC race in 5th edition, appearing in Volo's Guide to Monsters. They are notable as one of the absolute ''fastest'' races in the game, with a base speed of 40 feet per round and the ability to make a super-charged Dash that eats up their next turn's movement action... which is a pretty cheap price for moving close to 160 feet in a single turn. This turned out to be something of a mistake, as their base speed was actually a good 10 feet slower, but still, tabaxi can really sprint, which is odd, given they were jaguars & leopards, not cheetahs.

The 5e Tabaxi PC writeup looks like this:
::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Vision: Darkvision 60 feet
::Feline Agility: When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of your turn. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns.
::Cat's Claws: You have a Climb speed of 20 feet and can make unarmed strikes with your claws, dealing 1d4 + Str modifier Slashing damage instead of the normal bludgeoning damage.
::Cat's Talent: You have Proficiency in Perception and Stealth.

===Catfolk===
In 3rd edition, when [[Mystara]] was lost in [[Wizards of the Coast|WoTC's]] files, they created a more generic anthro cat race, and they called them... catfolk. First appearing in the Miniatures Handbook, they were later reprinted with a fuller racial writeup in the Races of the Wild. They're described as basically a primitive and nomadic tribal society of humanoid big cats, most commonly resembling lions, with leopard, tiger and cheetah-like individuals being just a difference in coat patterns. They're described as having an emotional nature and tending to act in "fits and starts" rather than in a smooth, continuous effort. Bursts of activity interspersing consistent laziness. They have the habit of leaping impulsively out of hiding and into combat when a foe is in the vicinity, and this is among the reasons why they tend towards Chaotic Neutral alignment. Many catfolk favor the use of charms and totems that they braid into their hair for luck in battle, success on the hunt, and good fortune in other such endeavors.

:: +4 Dexterity, +2 Charisma.
:: A catfolk’s base land speed is 40 feet.
:: Low-Light Vision: Catfolk can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
:: Racial Skills: Catfolk have a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Move Silently checks.
:: +1 natural armor bonus.
:: Automatic Languages: Common, Feline. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Halfling, Sylvan.
:: Favored Class: Ranger.
:: Level adjustment +1.

===Amurrun===
[[File:PF Catfolk (Original).jpg|200px|thumb|right|The first ever Amurrun, in all her [[catgirl]] glory!]]
[[Image:Catfolk Serendipity Shaman.png|thumb|200px|left|A Serendipity Shaman, one of the unique class styles developed by the Amurrun.]]
[[Pathfinder]] also includes catfolk, which refer to themselves in-universe as the Amurrun, as part of their fantasy kitchen sink approach. This elicited some query from fans over differences in artwork, portraying them various as [[catgirl]]s and as catfolk, until it was clarified in one splat-book that Amurrun are very "mutable" and so the exact ratio of cat to human in their appearance varies wildly between areas, or even between individuals, sort of like the Khajiit of The Elder Scrolls. Whether or not this has to do with humans tending to screw Amurrun is left unclear.

Like many of the more popular Pathfinder races, Amurrun have a wide array of alternative racial traits and options.

'''Core Amurrun Traits:'''
:: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom
:: Racial Type: Humanoid (Catfolk)
:: Medium
:: Base Speed: 30 feet
:: Low-Light Vision
:: Cat's Luck: Roll a Reflex saving throw twice and take the better result. This can be done once per day.
:: Natural Hunter: +2 racial bonus to Perception, Stealth and Survival checks.
:: Sprinter: +10ft racial bonus to speed when using the Charge, Run or Withdraw action.

'''Variant Amurrun Traits:'''
:: Cat's Claws: Replaces Natural Hunter, grants the ability to make claw attacks (inflict 1d4 damage) as primary attack-class natural weapons.
:: Clever Cat: Replaces Natural Hunter, grants a +2 racial bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks.
:: Climber: Replaces Sprinter, grants a Climb speed of 20 feet and a +8 racial bonus to Climb checks.
:: Curiosity: Replaces Natural Hunter, grants a +4 bonus on Diplomacy checks made to gather information, Knowledge (History and Local) are always class skills, +2 racial bonus to Knowledge (History and Local) if they take a class with those skills.
:: Nimble Faller: Replaces Sprinter, the catfolk lands on its feet after a fall even if the distance caused lethal damage, +1 racial b onus to CMD against Trip maneuvers.
:: Scent: Replaces Low-Light Vision, grants the Scent trait.
:: Jungle Stalker: Replaces Cat's Luck and Sprinter, grants +2 racial bonus to Acrobatics checks, ignore the first square of difficult terrain caused by foliage in each round.

===Tibbet===
Perhaps the most obscure of all the D&D catfolk, tibbets are a race of shapeshifting sapient felines that originated in [[Dragon]] Magazine #135 as a monster before being rewritten for 3rd edition as a PC race in the Dragon Compendium Volume 1.

The original tibbit, or cat-were, was an absurdly overpowered little freak. Said to be a very rare (5% chance) result of crossbreeding between a feline [[wizard]] familiar and an ordinary housecat, they were magical cats with "Very High" intelligence, 15% magic resistence, and the ability to shapeshift between the form of a "fat but energetic" black-furred housecat and a small, stealthy, dark-skinned humanoid with cat's ears. Roguish and mischievous by nature, tibbets are naturally chaotic race - 85% Chaotic Neutral, 15% Chaotic Good. As shapeshifters, they are immune to mundane weapons, needing at least a +1 to be hurt, and their feline natures give them both keen senses, making them immune to surprise, and feline agility, making them immune to falling damage.

In its humanoid form, the AD&D tibbet has the powers of a 10th level [[Rogue|Thief-Acrobat]], whilst in cat form, it can use its meow to Dispel Magic 3/day, spend 1 round licking itself or another tibbet to cure 3d8 hitpoints of damage 2/day, or generate a Mirror Image by arching its back 1/day. Its spell-like abilities are cast as a 10th level [[wizard]]. In either form, it has access to the psionic powers of Body Equilibrium, Precognition, and Telempathic Projection, which it can use as a 10th level [[psion]].

If that's not enough ridiculousness for you, just once in its lifetime, a tibbet can make a one-way Plane Shift that transports itself and up to 200lbs of various materials to the plane of [[Pandemonium]], where tibbets apparently dwell "in great numbers". Given that this was made before [[Planescape]] recognized the planes, it's probably more logical to place them on the [[Beastlands]] now. The tibbets who remain on the mortal world can also issue a plea for help, summoning 5d10 of their fellows from Pandemonium who will fight on their summoner's side for 30 rounds before they are drawn back into the planes.

And the cherry on top: if you ever kill 20 or more tibbets in one place, there's a 25% chance that the Cat Lord, a powerful lesser deity that watches over all cats, will materialize at that spot and seek vengeance for their killing.

The 3rd edition version is altogether less powerful, and is essentially what you get if you try to mix "werecat", "[[catgirl]]" and "[[halflings]]" in a pot. They are now described as having evolved from wizardly bonded cats generations ago, so you can no longer try and engineer the birth of tibbits by crossbreeding your familiar with other cats. In their humanoid form, they look pretty much like halflings or maybe [[gnome]]s; small humanoids with pointed ears. Their feline-like eyes and their cat's fur-colored hair betray their true nature. In feline form, they look like any normal housecat.

Moody, curious and often rather arrogant, tibbits are by nature both hedonistic and adventurous, flexible, but surprisingly loyal to those they consider a true friend.

Their stats are as follows:
::Monstrous Humanoid (Shapeshifter)
::+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength
::Small
::Base land speed 20 feet
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Feline Transformation: A tibbet can spend a standard action at will to transform into a house cat. In this form, it becomes Tiny, gains +2 to AC and attack rolls, +8 to Hide checks, +10ft speed, suffers -8 Str (dropping it no lower than Str 3) and gains +2 Dex and the Scent ability.
:::It gains a natural bite attack (1d3 piercing damage) and 2 natural claw attacks (1d2 slashing damage) and its only full attack option is to make 2 claw attacks and 1 bite (-5 penalty), no matter its base attack bonus.
:::Weapons, shields, armor and robes are melded into the tibbet's body during the transformation and cannot be used. Items that require a physical apparatus to function, such as rings or boots, shift into an appropriate form for a cat and remain viable.
:::In cat form, a tibbet can't speak or use its paws to manipulate fine objects, which prohibits the use of casting spells with verbal or somatic components, using scrolls, or activating magic items.
:::Whilst in cat form, a tibbet's true nature is only revealed to any effect that can pierce the effects of a Polymorph spell. If slain in cat form, a tibbet reverts to its true form in 1 round. Returning to its humanoid form takes a full-round action and, once it has done so, the tibbet must wait for 1 hour before transforming again.
::+2 to Spot checks, Jump checks and Escape Artist checks.
::Can speak to cats as an innate ability.
::Favored Class: [[Rogue]]

===Paka===
[[File:Paka 3e.jpg|200px|thumb|right|An elegant, well-groomed, aristocratic [[swashbuckler]] catgirl... pity she'd rather eat your heart than win it.]]
[[File:Paka 2e.gif|thumb|200px|left|The original Paka artwork from 2e... yes, 2e Ravenloft art could be kind of crap.]]

Though certainly not as obscure as tibbets, few but the setting's most devoted fans remembers the existence of '''pakas''', a race of evil feline lesser shapeshifters hailing from the [[Ravenloft]] setting. Possibly drawing their inspiration from a cheesy horror flick called "The Cat People", pakas are evil, malicious [[catgirl]]s (and catboys) who can take on a human form to disguise themselves amongst the ignorant, xenophobic peasants that make up 99% of the non-monstrous population in the Demiplane of Dread. Except, in this case, they're justified trying to burn pakas at the stake, because pakas are fucking douchebags. Seriously; their whole fluff is that they believe humans committed some transgression against them long ago, and so now they want revenge on all humanity. They don't even remember what humans supposedly ''did'', they just take it as religious doctrine that humans did something, and that nebulous something is justification to trick, harass, and even kill or eat humans forever. Yeah, they're assholes.

That said, they are capable of gratitude, and are known to appreciate and repay acts of kindness, generosity and mercy towards them. This was even used as justification in Quoth the Raven #19, which houses the largest amount of paka-related lore in any Ravenloft book, to give them potential PC status. After all, they're a chaotic species more than an evil one, and so that means there are some paka out there who decide that the whole revenge deal is stupid and devote themselves to just having fun instead.

Beyond being able to switch between catgirl and human forms, pakas have the magical ability to telepathically communicate with and control felines of all kinds, from common housecats to great cats like lions or tigers. They can also heal wounds by licking them, though not very often.

Paka society is essentially matriarchal pride-structure; females group together and form stable bands, whilst males roam as they see fit, occasionally hooking up with a pride (usually to bang any interested females) and then leaving when they're not interested anymore, with kittens being raised by the female prides.

''4e Stats:''
::Mandatory Ability Score Increase: +2 Dexterity
::Flexible Ability Score Increase: +2 Intelligence OR +2 Wisdom
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 6 squares (30 feet)
::Skill Bonuses: +2 Bluff, +2 Stealth
::Shapechanger: You have the Catform at-will racial power (shift between your paka form and your human form as a minor action) and are considered a Shapechanger for effects and conditions that target racial types.
::Lick Wounds: Racial encounter power, only usable when bloodied, use a minor action to spend a single healing surge.

''Pathfinder Stats:''
::+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Strength
::Medium
::Normal Speed (30 feet)
::Low-Light Vision
::Change Shape (Su): A paka can use a standard action to shift between its normal form and its "human guise", a single specific human identity of the same gender as its normal form. In human guise, a paka has a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to pass itself off as a human. This otherwise functions as Alter Self, save it does not adjust ability scores.
::Claws: A paka has two primary natural claw attacks dealing 1d4 damage.
::Jumper: A paka is always considered to have a running start when making a jump.
::Lick Wounds (Su): As a standard action, a paka can lick its wounds, gaining fast healing 2 for 1 round. A paka can use this ability to heal 2 hit points per character level each day.
::Speak With Cats (Sp): Once per day, a paka with a Charisma score of 11+ can communicate with any feline; beyond species restriction, this functions as a Speak With Animals spell with caster level equal to the paka's character level.
::Sneaky: +2 racial bonus to stealth checks.

===Terali===
The '''terali''' are a race of leopard-featured catfolk native to the jungles of southern Termana in the [[Scarred Lands]] campaign setting. Materially primitive - they are a Stone Age people, using wood, bone and ivory as their primary materials - they are, none the less, one of the more civilized races of Termana - certainly compared to their [[gnoll]] neighbors.

These leopard-people live a seminomadic lifestyle; traveling in tribes up to 200 strong, they build vilages for shelter during the rainy season, and then roam the jungles following the game and living out of temporary shelters during the dry season. As natives of the Gamulganjus, part of the region of Termana so colorfully known as the Land With No Gods, they give no fealty to God nor Titan. Instead, they worship a pantheon of spirits, both ancestral and territorial.

A terali tribe is led by a hereditary chieftain, who is advised by a council of elders and tribal sorcerers. These latter souls are instantly recognizable; they are melanistic, giving them an entirely black coat in comparison to the black-dappled yellow of their kinsfolk. Only 1 in 20 terali are born with this trait, and they are highly revered by their fellows for being so obviously touched by the spirits.

For the most part, the terali are content to stay in their jungle, but every so often one of the tribe's marked ones will declare that a terali must be sent to the outside world in search of wisdom - or even be chosen by the spirits for this role themselves. This is in no small part because their spirituality is heavily defined by ritualistic approaches to cleanliness, with outsiders being considered impossibly filthy by spiritual standards - it takes a month to "decontaminate" any terali who returns from the outside world.

Whilst the spirits worshipped by the terali are never defined, a D&D player could do worse than to look up 4e's "Primal Power", which gives one of the most detailed looks at such "spirit religions" as D&D has ever had and whose [[Primal Spirits]] are certainly minable for inspiration.

Terali have yet to appear in the 5e update for the Scarred Lands, and in 3rd edition, appeared in the Termana Gazetteer with the following profile:
::+2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom
::Medium
::Base speed 40 feet
::Low Light Vision
::Natural Weapons: 2 claw attacks (1d3 damage each) per round, or 1 bite attack (1d4 damage) per round; a terali cannot use these when armed with a weapon or carrying a shield, and still provokes attacks of opportunity when using them unless it has the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.
::+2 racial bonus to Listen, Search and Spot checks.
::+2 racial bonus to Wilderness Lore checks in jungle and forest terrain.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Druid]] and [[Ranger]] for normal terali, [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] for marked one terali.

{{D&D5e-Races}}
{{Pathfinder-Races}}

==The Elder Scrolls==
[[File:Khajiit Family.jpg|200px|thumb|right|A family of Khajiit. Given how these things work it is very possible that the housecat the catgirl is holding is the father of the tiger in the back. TES is weird like that.]]
{{topquote|If you have coin, Khajiit has wares.|Any Khajiit merchant proving that money overlaps the barriers of race and language.}}

Yeah, [[The Elder Scrolls]] is technically /v/ rather than /tg/, but it's popular enough on /tg/ to get its own article, so it counts for here.

In the world of Nirn, the indigenous catfolk are a people called the Khajiit. Like the [[lizardfolk|Argonians]], khajiit predate the arrival of elves in Tamriel, the continent where all the games take place. This gives them some unique cultural aspects, most notably in that whilst their pantheon has some clear similarities to the mainstream religion of Tamriel, they believe their gods to take the form of mighty dragon-cats. They are a tribal people, with related tribes forming greater groups called clans, and matriarchal, in that a (typically hereditary) female khajiit called a Clan-Mother, who has authority over her clan and with greater government matters being settled by meetings of Clan-Mothers.

Of course, because Tamriel is full of racist pricks, the khajiit have traditionally suffered from prejudice and oppression, even being kept as slaves in some provinces. Ironically, they share a strong, mutual dislike for the argonians, despite both being in the same boat.

One thing that makes khajiit unique is how mutable they are: all khajiit start life as a non-morphic kitten, and grow up into a unique form based on the states of Nirn's two moons - the large moon, Masser, and the small moon, Secunda - during that kitten's birth. This can result in anything from the standard humanoid cat, with different sizes and appearances earning different names, to creatures that resemble housecats with human sapience, to sentient tigers and dire tigers. In fact, there have been ''seventeen'' named variants of khajiit, all based on the different moon statuses, although they are readily grouped into four categories based on Masser's state: Large Quadruped khajiit are born when it's Full, Large Biped khajiit are born when it's Waxing, Small Biped khajiit are born when it's New, and Small Quadruped khajiit are born when it's Waning.

For obvious reasons, the moons are an important part of khajiit culture and religion. Indeed, their one supreme spiritual authority is a being called the Mane; a living god-king born on the incredibly rare convergence of Masser and Secunda, which in the khajiit tradition forms a third moon. He's known as the Mane because for reasons of tradition, all khajiit shave their manes (head-fur) to represent the dawning days of their race, when only the Mane was allowed to wear a full mane. In fact, he's traditionally supposed to weave the shorn-off manes of all his tribe into his own hair, which leads to modern Manes being gigantic shaggy balls of fluff that can't even walk under the weight of all that hair.

Another way the importance of the moons to khajiit is shown is in their holy mana, a substance they call "moon-sugar" due to believing it originated as crystalized moonlight before being carried in by the tides to the region where the sugarcanes they produce it from grows. Khajiit do have a massive sweet tooth, but they also consider moon-sugar to be sacred, and consuming it is very important to their religion. Unfortunately, this has only made their reputation with other races worse; see, moon-sugar functions like a drug when consumed by any creature other than a khajiit, who have racially immunized themselves by ingesting it in just about every sweet food they make (which is just about everything). On its own, moon-sugar is a fairly mild drug, but the problem is, if you mix moon-sugar with nightshade, you can create a super-nasty opium-like narcotic called "skooma", which is irreversibly addictive and tends to really fuck you up.

One rather notorious book in Daggerfall mentions that, like real cats, the males have barbed penises.

==Magic: The Gathering==
[[File:MtG Wild Nacatl.jpg|200px|thumb|right|A wild nacatl warrior-woman from the plane of Alara.]]

Given the wide array of monsters in [[Magic: The Gathering]], and especially what they did with [[minotaur]]s, you shouldn't be surprised to know that there are quite a diverse array of catfolk scattered across the [[plane]]s.

One of the very first catfolk breeds to appear in M:TG were the Cat Warriors of Jamuraa, a continent on the plane of [[Dominaria]]. There are multiple different physical subspecies - tigers, leopards, jaguars and cougars - and various different cultural tribes, but not a lot is known about them. They scattered across Dominaria after the Phyrexian Invasian devastated their homeland.

Dominaria is also home the Panther Warriors, a culture made-up of exiles from Jamuraa who sometimes serve dark forces, but are mostly neutral in their outlook.

The Leonin are a race of lion-folk found on two planes. The more well-known are the White Mana-aligned leonin of [[Mirrodin]], a highly religious and honorable race that worships the white sun of their world. They tame the pterons, flying reptiles, as steeds. In contrast, the leonin of [[Theros]] are disgraced outcasts who scrabble on the edges of civilization.

The Nacatl are a race of "jungle-themed" catfolk from Naya, a shard of the plane of [[Alara]]. They resemble tigers, jaguars and ocelots, and are divided into three strains; Cloud, Wild and Savage. See, the nacatl used to ''own'' Naya, their empire stretching far and wide, but a religious nut named Marisi came out of the woods preaching that civilization had corrupted and weakened the nacatl, arguing that they needed to go back to a more primal lifestyle. The resultant civil discord as nacatl either fell for her dribble or shunned her ended up destroying the empire. Now, the bulk of the nacatl race are the Wild Nacatl - stone-wielding tribals who stalk the lowland jungles. The Cloud Nacatl are those who dwell in the mountaintop ruins of their former empire and still preserve their former civilization. Savage Nacatl are an extremist branch of the Wild Nacatl who refuse to even use stone tools, instead relying on teeth and claws like their primal ancestors.

The nishoba are a race of [[ogre]]-sized sabertoothed snow-leopard-folk, native to the continents of Terisiare and Otaria of Dominaria.

[[Rakshasa]] are black magic-practicing catfolk native to [[Tarkir]], whose dark practices have warped them until they are considered both Cats and [[Demon]]s in terms of creature type.

==Warhammer 40,000==
The back of the Warhammer 40k 6th Edition rulebook mentions "Homo sapiens hirsutus", or [[Felinid]]s as one of the fifteen known races of [[abhuman]]s. Because [[Games Workshop]] never gave a definitive description for [[Felinids]] from [[Warhammer 40,000]] other than the fact that they're [[abhuman]]s and have a suggestive feline name, /tg/ likes to imagine them as catgirls, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuvHPr4BGk regardless of other, more literal interpretations]. So if you see an [[Imperial Guard]] regiment with cat ears and the player insists it's canon, that's why.

==Red Dwarf==
[[Image:Evolution of Cat.jpg|thumb|left|Evolution of Cat to Catfolk]]
The first non-human "party member" of the Red Dwarf TV show was Cat, the survivor of a race of humanoids who evolved from Lister's pet cat over the three million years that the ship was flying off aimlessly into deep space. So, naturally, in [[Red Dwarf - The RPG]], Evolved Cats are one of the player options.

Unlike most catfolk, Red Dwarf catfolk aren't furries; they look like humans with slightly pointy ears and elongated canines. Sort of like downplayed elves with vampire teeth, really. Though according to dialogue in the show, they have six nipples, and it's implied the women thusly have six tits. They are characterized for being vain, shallow, short-sighted and self-centered, more interested in themselves and in looking as sexy as possible than in anything else, to the point of tending to ignore bigger issues to focus on their personal grooming.

In the Red Dwarf RPG, Evolved Cats have maximum Agility 7, Dexterity 6, Strength 5, Perception 7, Intelligence 5 and Willpower 6. They get 1 free point in both the Awareness and Athletics skill, but their vanity and self-absorbed nature imposes a -2 penalty to all Empathy checks.

==Monstergirls==
[[File:BloodAngelsLovesCats.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Everybody loves catgirls, even the Space Marines. See [[Felinid ]]above. Totally not a [[Xeno]]. Any such claims will be considered [[Heresy]]. ]]
The catgirl is one of the most iconic forms of [[monstergirls]] in the known world, with a popularity that transcends multiple media and which means many actually don't recognize them as such, since catgirls are often held up as more of a "cute Japanese thing". They are endemic in Japanese media, especially fantasy settings ranging from classical to urban to star opera, and because of this, there are some on [[/tg/]] who don't accept them as legitimate fantasy creatures, deriding them as [[weeaboo]].

Like all of the "[[beastfolk]] [[monstergirls]]", exactly how cat-like they are differs hugely from depiction to depiction. At the lowest, most vanilla tier, you end up with a perfectly human girl who merely dresses up in a cat motif, has hair styled to resemble cat ears, and probably makes use of the iconic meowing verbal tic. These are, ironically, the most contentious of the catgirls, with most monstergirl fans mocking them as not really proper monstergirls, for the same reason "humans wearing cat-ear hairbands and strap-on tails" aren't considered catgirls. The average catgirl at the least has cat ears atop her head and a cat's tail sticking out of her rump, and this is the most iconic form for the race.

But, Japanese artists in particular like to get a bit more beastly: clawed (or outright paw-like) hands and/or feet, limbs covered in fur, and digitigrade legs are all common aspects on more "monstrous" catgirls. Some catgirls go so far as to have human-like faces but bodies entirely covered in fur (or at least colored to look that way), a rare but not unheard of "blending point" between the [[beastfolk]] and [[monstergirl]] fetish zones. In some corners of the internet, this is known as the "Flora Paradox", after a particularly prolific webcomic that uses this look for its catgirl protagonist: "If you'd hit that, you're a [[furry]]; if you wouldn't, you're gay". On /co/, this is known as either the Tigra Paradox, after the Marvel superheroine who happens to have that exact look or, more traditionally, the Cheetara Paradox, after the female protagonist of [[Thundercats]].

Particularly in anime and Japanese media, catgirls often display cat-like mannerisms, such as loving fish, being easily distractible or lazy, hissing at people they don't like, etc. One especially iconic Japanese trait is a verbal tick where where they frequently say or finish their sentences with "nyan" (Japanese for "meow") which sometimes comes in [https://youtu.be/KlwVBKs5T_E?t=25 the form of a speech impediment] instead. This is intended to ramp up the cuteness factor.

Whether or not the [[sphinx]] should be considered a catgirl is a topic of some debate. On the one hand, she literally is a blending of woman and cat. On the other hand, she traditionally very much doesn't look the typical catgirl, closer to a lion-centaur.

===Gallery===
<center>
<gallery>
File:Catgirl Back.jpg
File:Catgirl Maid.jpg
File:Catgirl Martial Artist.jpeg
File:Catgirl Qipao.jpg
File:Catgirl Witch.jpeg
File:Chainsaw catgirl.jpg
File:Coy Catgirl.png
File:Disheveled Catgirl.jpeg
File:EleGoth Catgirl.jpg
File:Everyday Catgirl.jpeg
File:Fishnetted Catgirl.jpg
File:Flora Promotional Banner.jpg
File:Punk Catgirl.jpg
File:Risque Catgirl.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Furry]] [[Category: Monsters]]

Order of the Stick

2019-07-10T02:21:25Z

2600:1700:BF90:B950:49B0:3E38:7B87:2D31: /* Team Evil and other antagonists */

{{/co/}}
[[Image:PostersTogetherBig.jpg|center|500px]]

{{Topquote|Holy shit, this is still ongoing?!|Every anon, at some point}}

'''Order of the Stick''' (also known as '''WORDSWORDSWORDS'''), written and drawn by Rich Burlew, is by far one of the most popular /tg/-related [[webcomic]]s in existence. Essentially, it's about a party of classic [[Dungeons & Dragons]]-style adventurers on an epic, high fantasy adventure, except they are well aware they're actually in a game (which isn't to say that they break the fourth wall, but rather they casually discuss things like saving throws and to-hit bonuses as though they were common knowledge). However, it quickly grew from a very funny parody of D&D to serious pastiche of fantasy in general (this is known by our friends at TVTropes as [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CerebusSyndrome Cerebus Syndrome]), gaining a complicated-yet-interesting plot, a host of characters from all sides of the [[Alignment]] table, while retaining the humourous tone the comic is known for.

This has caused OotS to devolve into a [[skub]] topic, at least on /tg/. Half of /tg/ thinks the comic has shit pacing, poor jokes, and an army of sycophants who refuse to see that everything has gone wrong, whereas the other half of /tg/ believes that the comic is just as funny as it always was, and with better plotlines than most fantasy novels to boot. Many fa/tg/uys also complain that the comic is "too simplistic" art-wise, given it has a strict stick-figure aesthetic. Burlew has proven his drawing chops on many occasions and notes in the FAQ that the stick-figures "bring the right air of humor to the strip," not to mention the fact that the style, for better or worse, has become the comic's hallmark and can't be changed now. Also, compared to [[Servants of the Imperium]], the later OotS strips are pure gold. That being said, Burlew is a fan of the "wall of text" method of comic design, and frequently seems like he'd be much happier just writing a book.

In other words, standard skub stuff, and has given rise to the fa/tg/uy project [[thog edits]], redos of the comic to eliminate the words and in the process twist the dialogue into something dirty.

[[Image:Miko_ready_to_smite.png|thumb|Spared no expense on the art budget for this climax]]

Rich Burlew's only other claim to fame is coming in second place (or, as he likes to call it, "first loser") in [[Wizards of the Coast]]'s "design a campaign setting" contest. He lost to Keith Baker's [[Eberron]]. This is either a great thing or a terrible thing, depending on how you feel about Eberron. Unfortunately, WotC kept all rights to the setting and put the designers under NDA, so we'll never actually see his entry, as it seems they locked it in a darkened room and forgot about it.

The comic has been put into a number of printed volumes, with the latest volumes funded via [[Kickstarter]].

==The Cast==
Of course a D&D story would be nothing without [[PC]]s, [[BBEG]]s and a supporting cast of [[NPC]]s. They are on all sides of the spectrum between [[skub]] tier and god tier.

{{spoilers}}

===The Party===
The titular Order of the Stick, named first for the artstyle, then retconned into a nearby object. All of their builds are purposely terrible (on Burlew's part) to both A) make the fight scenes last longer than two panels, and to B) emphasize reliance on clever tactics and teamwork to win. The exception, impossibly enough, being Elan.

* Roy Greenhilt, the party's [[fighter]] and leader. Despite avoiding the whole "INT is a fighter's [[dump stat]]" thing, he still spends most of his time hitting things with his green-hilted (get it?) greatsword, putting up with the party's bullshit and, for a good chunk of the comic, being dead. Comes up with the plans and gives out the orders too, if they'd <s>down</s>upgraded to 4e he'd be a [[warlord]]. Or a tactician archetype in [[Pathfinder]]. Or a battle-master in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]]. Or... let's just say that subsequent editions were much kinder to his archetype than the one he's playing in. There was a gag about him not going for [[warblade]], a class he'd probably excel at, because his bitter old wizard father didn't want to shell out for a ''doctorate'' from Fighter College.
* Haley Starshine, the party's [[rogue]] and second in command. [[Blood Ravens|Will steal everything that isn't bolted down, then steal the bolts, followed by stealing the thing that was bolted down.]] Has an actual reason to do so: to pay off her father's life-sentence in prison. Then, when she met him he wanted nothing to do with her because she was snackin' on the rapier of the son of the man who put him there. Welp. Wields a bow and is comfortable with fighting as dirty as possible to win. Despite her greed and cynicism she is a loyal party member, and manages to stay "[[Chaotic Good]]-ish." Dating Elan after a messy incident involving her being unable to speak for about a hundred comics and him meeting a Final Fantasy character.
* Elan, the party's [[bard]]. He is the living embodiment of every derpy character you ever rolled up just to screw with your friends. He's as thick as a loaf of fine [[meatbread]], sucks at barding duties (often resulting in "wacky" hijinks) and has a [[prestige class]] that forces him to make bad puns as he fights. As the story goes on, he starts to suck less, and it helps that he's the ONLY member of the team with an optimized build. (Maxed CHA for everything bard-related, plus that prestige class adds it to his attack and damage, meaning that he doesn't suffer from [[MAD]] as much as a typical bard.) Apparently, if Haley can be trusted, that maxed CHA is worth a good deal "under the hood." As a bard consciously aware that he exists in a fantasy story, Elan is the character most, "narratively equipped," to deal with the environment and is often able to use rules of traditional storytelling to predict, even manipulate events. In other words, he's a metagamer.
* Durkon Thundershield, the [[dwarf]]en [[cleric]]. Gruff, dutiful and honorable, as all good dwarves should be. Pretty stereotypical and solid in his support of the team. Has an accent so thick that it affects the way his dialouge is spelled, despite no other dwarf family in the comic talking like him. His clan had a vision that his return would herald a great cataclysm, so they sent him away and told him they'd tell him when he could come back and never did, because no one in fantasy stories has ever read a fantasy story. Was turned into a [[vampire]] for 200 strips until he got staked, died, got resurrected, died ''again'' 30 seconds later after an ill-advised marriage proposal, then got resurrected for real. Received a hell of a plot dump from Thor while dead, and was tasked with convincing Redcloak to betray his dark god and save the world(s). Also now wields a powerful lightning hammer which Thor told him where to find.
* Belkar Bitterleaf, the chaotic evil [[halfling]] [[multiclassing|multiclassed]] [[ranger]]-[[barbarian]]. A hard-drinking, hard-fighting, hard-fucking killing machine, Belkar is one of the best characters in the comic. [[Murderhobo|He kills what he can't fuck and he fucks what he can't kill, sometimes fucking things before he kills them]] (but not the other way around, ew). His style of fighting involves stabbing as many dudes as possible with as many knives as possible. Despite being able to steamroll regular enemies, his low Will means that any spellcasters he faces will kick his ass, and his effed-up build (barbarian-ranger is an unhappy marriage where XP is concerned, and his low STR means he mostly has to kill minions with tricky maneuvering) means that bigger people (like Roy) can still kick his ass. Still, he is murderously awesome and the PC with the biggest body count thus far. Has a pet cat called Mr. Scruffy, hurting him will cause Belkar to rip you inside out,and vice versa. Also has a motherfucking allosaurus (currently polymorphed into a small lizard).
* Vaarsuvius, the [[elven]] [[wizard]]. V's undescribed gender is something of a running joke -emphasis on "something"- in the series (which makes you wonder what their voice must sound like for it to be of no help in the matter). V's primary M.O. is "fireball", if that doesn't work it's "more fireball" (fitting, given their name). Other forms of blaster magic may or may not be prominent. The fact that this is probably the worst way to play a wizard in no way diminishes the fact that V is easily the most powerful member of the Order by a country-mile, able to turn the tide of entire battles unless some convenient dramatic device takes them out of the action for a while, which it often has. While they used to possess an ego befitting both an elf and a wizard, V was recently taken down a notch when they were forced to sell their soul to a [[Tanar'ri|demon]], [[Baatezu|devil]] and [[Yugoloth|daemon]] (all at the same time) to save their spouse and (adopted) children from a black [[dragon]]. Is currently flipping the fuck out for having [[powergamer|killed up to a quarter of all black dragons in existence]] alongside their direct non-blood related (read: non-dragon) families in order to posthumously spite said dragon.

===Team Evil and other antagonists===
* Xykon the [[lich]]. An [[epic]] level [[sorcerer]], Xykon is bored out of his skull and as such toys around with holes in reality that serve as gates to [[Warp|a dimension containing a world-eating snarl]]. Doesn't like [[wizard]]s because they were condescending to him during his life, and likes beating the shit out of them with his ability to cast spells over and over again (like Energy Drain). He is wholly and unapologetically evil, and [[Eldrad|kind of a dick]], but he's still kind of funny because his charisma is through the fucking roof.
* Redcloak the [[goblin]] [[cleric]]. Xykon's main henchgoblin and ruler of a major goblin tribe, Redcloak is the guy who's told to "get it done". And hoo boy, does he get it done. He murders the resistance to his people's occupation of a major city, has another of Xykon's servants eaten by her own wights and reveals that he was using Xykon from the beginning for the good of his people, all in the span of a half dozen pages. Has a lot of backstory in the prequel comic, but you have to pay for it so f*#$ that noise.
* The Monster in the Darkness is a creature of many mysteries and few truths. All we know that it has two yellow eyes and acts even stupider than Elan. It also is stupidly powerful: it can punch people so far they are launched into the sky; it stomping on the ground is powerful enough to cause localized earthquakes; and it can teleport people with but a word and a thought. Has the personality of a child (a non-evil one). After extended contact with O-Chul, has begun to think for himself, discovering, to his own surprise, that he is actually ''extremely'' intelligent and doesn't ''want'' Team Evil to win, and so has begun subtly undermining their efforts from within, something that has been enormously successful because none of his teammates see it coming or expect him to do ''anything'' smart. [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488773-Summon-MitD-IX-Roll-on-Section-3a If you think you've got the brains, feel free to jump on the ride that never ends and try to follow the breadcrumbs and figure out what he is.] We'll wait. [[Troll| Remember to only pick ones with Trenchant Political Analysis as a listed special attack!]]
* Tsukiko, a mystic theurge. A necrophile necromancer with a crush on Xykon. She was in charge of the wight brigade until she discovered Redcloak's plan to double-cross Xykon, which got her eaten by her own wights for her troubles.
* '''The Linear Guild''' started out as evil counterparts of the PCs (which was deliberately done by their leader, Elan's twin brother Nale (get it? Nale is Elan backwards!)). The Guild consists of three core members:
** Nale, a Fighter-Rogue-Sorcerer multiclass specializing in enchantment, which is, if you didn't notice, basically a [[bard]] only [[Tzeentch|more complicated]] and capable of being Lawful Evil. Is permanently dead; he was stabbed by his father and was subsequently disintegrated.
** Sabine, a [[succubus]] and Nale's lover with whom she shares a deep and fulfilling relationship based on human sacrifice. Is currently stuck somewhere in the Lower Planes, trying to get revenge on her boyfriend's murderer.
** Thog, a [[Half-Orc]] [[barbarian]] who's part of the Dumbass Triumvirate alongside Elan and the Monster in the Darkness. Current whereabouts unknown, likely imprisoned.
* On the four different occasions the teams have clashed the Linear Guild employed a subset of the following people:
** Zz'Dtri, the [[drow]] wizard. An obvious copy of [[Drizzt]], he was hauled off by the lawyers of [[Wizards of the Coast]] for being an obvious [[Drizzt]] copy. [[Wat|Yes, that happened]]. Later returned ([[Wat|because he was a parody, not a copy, protected speech bitches!]]) and clashed with V using all the interim levels to tailor his build just to fighting the wizard. This did him no good against Durkon, the party cleric, particularly with that vampire strength boost. Currently dead
** Hilgya Firehelm, a dwarven cleric of [[Troll|Loki]] who fucked, fought and fled from Durkon during the Guild's first encounter with the Order, in that approximate order. Reappeared after over 1000 strips to save the party from a vampire horde in the nick of time. Has a self-serving memory, believing everyone around her is selfish when she's one of the most selfish beings on the planet. Brought Durkon's baby into the battle [[Dwarf_Fortress|like a true dorf]].
** Yikyik the [[kobold]] ranger. Was beheaded by Belkar and turned into a [[hat]]. Currently dead.
* '''Second Encounter'''
** Pompey the [[half-elf]] wizard (get it? Pompey and Vaarsuvius are named after Pompeii and Vesuvius! We're clever). Had a crush on Roy's sister and teamed up with the Linear Guild so that he could have her, but he was defeated, imprisoned, and then escaped, signing on with Leeky. Has not been seen since.
** Leeky Windstaff the [[gnome]] [[druid]]. Turned into a giant monster and rampaged through a city (get it? [[CoDzilla]]!) before being defeated by Durkon and escaping alongside Pompey.
** Yokyok, son of Yikyik. A parody of [[The Princess Bride|Inigo Montoya]] who attacked Belkar for... oh do I even have to say it? Belkar was under a curse preventing him from killing, so he set a tavern full of [[adventurer]]s loose on Yokyok, then turned his head into a nacho repository. Currently dead.
* '''Third Encounter'''
** Yukyuk. Yet another kobold: this one was dominated (the status effect, mind you) by V and got used as a litter box and living trap-springer before dying in a horrific accident protecting a [[cat]]. Currently dead.
* '''Fourth Encounter'''
* The fourth encounter with the Linear Guild included Tarquin and Malack (as below). It also involved Chancellor Kilkil (Urd, a Kobold variant... with wings! Its in the 2nd ed MM), who is more a clerk and personal assistant than a combatant, though he is a hyper-competent bureaucrat and a flying calculator.
** General Tarquin, a human [[warlord]], general of the Empress of Blood and de facto ruler of the Empire of Blood. Despite the suggestion of him being aligned to [[Khorne]] this is far from the truth: he is a friendly and cheerful person like his son Elan, but at the same time is outright ruthless and has the evil smarts like his other son, Nale. He is the ultimate in [[Alignment|Lawful Evil]]: he understands that his rule is not eternal, but his legacy can be. As such he is forging an entire continent into his empire: even when he is defeated (which he holds as being inevitable) he gets to be a legend. Though he's not very keen on the "being stabbed by a hero" part, it would mean he gets to live like a god for who-knows-how-long, and only the last few minutes sucked. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html The man himself explains it best.] On the other hand, given his Lawful obsession with forcing the messy chaos of reality to conform to the outline of a neat little story, refusing to conform to the character archetype he expects you to fill (e.g. playing a [[bard]] when he thinks you're the protagonist) causes him to quickly fly into a fit of [[butthurt]] rage to put [[That Guy]] to shame and start [[railroading]].
** Minister Malack is a lizardfolk (possibly yuan-ti) cleric of Nergal and serves as adviser to the Empress of Blood and Tarquin. Is actually a [[vampire]] and has just turned Durkon into one. Like his former adventuring companion Tarquin, Malack is an affable and well-spoken person and is the heir to the Empire of Blood after Tarquin's death. When he does become the next Emperor he plans to [[Emperor|sacrifice a thousand people to his god per day]] [[grimdark|in rooms that serve as gas chambers/abattoirs, the sacrifices generated by a continent's worth of people living and dying for the glory of Nergal]] (although the writer later stated he means meat packing rooms as he plans to use the thousand sacrifices to feed to himself and his vampiric spawn, who'll be running the empire). Like I said, real nice guy. Has a beef with Nale for killing three of his "children", but set aside his grudge at Tarquin's behest. Even then he is a honorable person: when he promises not to kill someone despite it serving his goals, he does so. A very different sort of Lawful Evil, but still fits. Perma-dead, having been killed by Nale with sunlight, which has a disintegration effect on vampires.

===Other Characters===
* Miko Miyazaki, an absolutely and fanatically [[Lawful Stupid]] [[Paladin]]. None of the other paladins like her so they send her on far away missions as much as possible. She is sent to capture the Order of the Stick after they destroy one of the gates containing the Snarl and though Roy initially is attracted to her he later realizes that she really is a horrible unlikeable person. She is so convinced that she is a good person who does everything right due to being a servant of the gods that she becomes increasingly detached from reality as the evidences stacks up that she is doing wrong. After losing her paladin powers, she tries to redeem herself by sacrificing herself to save the day, but [[Fail|the only thing she accomplished was making the situation worse]].
* O-Chul. The Lawful [[Awesome]] Paladin. He is everything that a paladin should be and everything that Miko isn't. He is reasonable and a nice guy. While captured by Team Evil, he is put through all kinds of tortures both for Xykon's amusement and Redcloak trying to get information and survives all of them, never giving up defying them. During his time as a prisoner he manages to befriend The Monster in the Darkness and convince him that Xykon and Redcloak are not his friends. He is another poorly optimized character. He used to be a normal Fighter so his charisma score is terrible, and thus is bad at casting his paladin spells, but has an insanely high constitution that lets him tank godly amounts of damage (he has a hit point total on par with ''young adult dragons'').

==Before You Get Butthurt About Battle Strategies...==
''Here's the thing: No matter what I draw in any battle scene, within ten minutes of posting it someone chimes in about how the characters are stupid for not executing this, that, or the other tactic. Never mind that said tactic would likely end the fight in one panel when it is my job to provide you with an entertaining battle scene. Never mind that said tactic may result in the person winning whom the plot does not need to win. Never mind that the fight may not be over yet. No, all that matters is that these characters are not living up to someone's imagined D&D tactical mastery.''

''Well, I don't give a damn anymore. The characters fight the way they fight to make an interesting page. They may make subpar decisions, I don't care. I don't spend enough time with the D&D rules anymore to eke out all of these Ultimate Killer Strategies anyway, so we're really running up against the limits of my knowledge and ability. The characters can't be better strategists than I am, and I care more about other aspects. Such strategies are usually boring to read and visually bland to look at anyway. There aren't going to be a lot of invisible save-or-die effects thrown around, because there are only so many ways I can draw characters succeeding at Fortitude saves (and then I still have to verbally explain what just happened). You should stop expecting them, because I'm not going to use them.''

''My job is to entertain, not to showcase perfect D&D tactics. If you can't be entertained by anything BUT perfect D&D tactics, that's on you.''

--A quote from the author

It helps that Burlew has never revealed what anyone's level is, specifically so he can fudge the rules. To pull a random example, Vaar snags 13 people in Mass Enlarge Person, implying they're level 13, only to immediately use four Wiz6 spells (Mass Bull's Strength, Mass Bear's Endurance, two Disintegrate's) in less than two minutes -- level 13 Wizards should only be able use two Wiz6 spells per day.

In spite of this, however, fans have speculated extensively on the levels, abilities, and feats of various characters, and have managed to create a [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?545476-Class-and-Level-Geekery-XV-What-s-the-Damage-of-a-Thrown-Pineapple fairly comprehensive list] of these, usually accurate to 1-2 levels.

== Links ==
* [[Skub]]
* [http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html The website]
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick The TVTropes article] where you can see all the clichés Burlew uses/makes fun of.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Webcomics]]

Order of the Stick

2019-07-10T02:18:57Z

2600:1700:BF90:B950:49B0:3E38:7B87:2D31: /* Team Evil and other antagonists */

{{/co/}}
[[Image:PostersTogetherBig.jpg|center|500px]]

{{Topquote|Holy shit, this is still ongoing?!|Every anon, at some point}}

'''Order of the Stick''' (also known as '''WORDSWORDSWORDS'''), written and drawn by Rich Burlew, is by far one of the most popular /tg/-related [[webcomic]]s in existence. Essentially, it's about a party of classic [[Dungeons & Dragons]]-style adventurers on an epic, high fantasy adventure, except they are well aware they're actually in a game (which isn't to say that they break the fourth wall, but rather they casually discuss things like saving throws and to-hit bonuses as though they were common knowledge). However, it quickly grew from a very funny parody of D&D to serious pastiche of fantasy in general (this is known by our friends at TVTropes as [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CerebusSyndrome Cerebus Syndrome]), gaining a complicated-yet-interesting plot, a host of characters from all sides of the [[Alignment]] table, while retaining the humourous tone the comic is known for.

This has caused OotS to devolve into a [[skub]] topic, at least on /tg/. Half of /tg/ thinks the comic has shit pacing, poor jokes, and an army of sycophants who refuse to see that everything has gone wrong, whereas the other half of /tg/ believes that the comic is just as funny as it always was, and with better plotlines than most fantasy novels to boot. Many fa/tg/uys also complain that the comic is "too simplistic" art-wise, given it has a strict stick-figure aesthetic. Burlew has proven his drawing chops on many occasions and notes in the FAQ that the stick-figures "bring the right air of humor to the strip," not to mention the fact that the style, for better or worse, has become the comic's hallmark and can't be changed now. Also, compared to [[Servants of the Imperium]], the later OotS strips are pure gold. That being said, Burlew is a fan of the "wall of text" method of comic design, and frequently seems like he'd be much happier just writing a book.

In other words, standard skub stuff, and has given rise to the fa/tg/uy project [[thog edits]], redos of the comic to eliminate the words and in the process twist the dialogue into something dirty.

[[Image:Miko_ready_to_smite.png|thumb|Spared no expense on the art budget for this climax]]

Rich Burlew's only other claim to fame is coming in second place (or, as he likes to call it, "first loser") in [[Wizards of the Coast]]'s "design a campaign setting" contest. He lost to Keith Baker's [[Eberron]]. This is either a great thing or a terrible thing, depending on how you feel about Eberron. Unfortunately, WotC kept all rights to the setting and put the designers under NDA, so we'll never actually see his entry, as it seems they locked it in a darkened room and forgot about it.

The comic has been put into a number of printed volumes, with the latest volumes funded via [[Kickstarter]].

==The Cast==
Of course a D&D story would be nothing without [[PC]]s, [[BBEG]]s and a supporting cast of [[NPC]]s. They are on all sides of the spectrum between [[skub]] tier and god tier.

{{spoilers}}

===The Party===
The titular Order of the Stick, named first for the artstyle, then retconned into a nearby object. All of their builds are purposely terrible (on Burlew's part) to both A) make the fight scenes last longer than two panels, and to B) emphasize reliance on clever tactics and teamwork to win. The exception, impossibly enough, being Elan.

* Roy Greenhilt, the party's [[fighter]] and leader. Despite avoiding the whole "INT is a fighter's [[dump stat]]" thing, he still spends most of his time hitting things with his green-hilted (get it?) greatsword, putting up with the party's bullshit and, for a good chunk of the comic, being dead. Comes up with the plans and gives out the orders too, if they'd <s>down</s>upgraded to 4e he'd be a [[warlord]]. Or a tactician archetype in [[Pathfinder]]. Or a battle-master in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]]. Or... let's just say that subsequent editions were much kinder to his archetype than the one he's playing in. There was a gag about him not going for [[warblade]], a class he'd probably excel at, because his bitter old wizard father didn't want to shell out for a ''doctorate'' from Fighter College.
* Haley Starshine, the party's [[rogue]] and second in command. [[Blood Ravens|Will steal everything that isn't bolted down, then steal the bolts, followed by stealing the thing that was bolted down.]] Has an actual reason to do so: to pay off her father's life-sentence in prison. Then, when she met him he wanted nothing to do with her because she was snackin' on the rapier of the son of the man who put him there. Welp. Wields a bow and is comfortable with fighting as dirty as possible to win. Despite her greed and cynicism she is a loyal party member, and manages to stay "[[Chaotic Good]]-ish." Dating Elan after a messy incident involving her being unable to speak for about a hundred comics and him meeting a Final Fantasy character.
* Elan, the party's [[bard]]. He is the living embodiment of every derpy character you ever rolled up just to screw with your friends. He's as thick as a loaf of fine [[meatbread]], sucks at barding duties (often resulting in "wacky" hijinks) and has a [[prestige class]] that forces him to make bad puns as he fights. As the story goes on, he starts to suck less, and it helps that he's the ONLY member of the team with an optimized build. (Maxed CHA for everything bard-related, plus that prestige class adds it to his attack and damage, meaning that he doesn't suffer from [[MAD]] as much as a typical bard.) Apparently, if Haley can be trusted, that maxed CHA is worth a good deal "under the hood." As a bard consciously aware that he exists in a fantasy story, Elan is the character most, "narratively equipped," to deal with the environment and is often able to use rules of traditional storytelling to predict, even manipulate events. In other words, he's a metagamer.
* Durkon Thundershield, the [[dwarf]]en [[cleric]]. Gruff, dutiful and honorable, as all good dwarves should be. Pretty stereotypical and solid in his support of the team. Has an accent so thick that it affects the way his dialouge is spelled, despite no other dwarf family in the comic talking like him. His clan had a vision that his return would herald a great cataclysm, so they sent him away and told him they'd tell him when he could come back and never did, because no one in fantasy stories has ever read a fantasy story. Was turned into a [[vampire]] for 200 strips until he got staked, died, got resurrected, died ''again'' 30 seconds later after an ill-advised marriage proposal, then got resurrected for real. Received a hell of a plot dump from Thor while dead, and was tasked with convincing Redcloak to betray his dark god and save the world(s). Also now wields a powerful lightning hammer which Thor told him where to find.
* Belkar Bitterleaf, the chaotic evil [[halfling]] [[multiclassing|multiclassed]] [[ranger]]-[[barbarian]]. A hard-drinking, hard-fighting, hard-fucking killing machine, Belkar is one of the best characters in the comic. [[Murderhobo|He kills what he can't fuck and he fucks what he can't kill, sometimes fucking things before he kills them]] (but not the other way around, ew). His style of fighting involves stabbing as many dudes as possible with as many knives as possible. Despite being able to steamroll regular enemies, his low Will means that any spellcasters he faces will kick his ass, and his effed-up build (barbarian-ranger is an unhappy marriage where XP is concerned, and his low STR means he mostly has to kill minions with tricky maneuvering) means that bigger people (like Roy) can still kick his ass. Still, he is murderously awesome and the PC with the biggest body count thus far. Has a pet cat called Mr. Scruffy, hurting him will cause Belkar to rip you inside out,and vice versa. Also has a motherfucking allosaurus (currently polymorphed into a small lizard).
* Vaarsuvius, the [[elven]] [[wizard]]. V's undescribed gender is something of a running joke -emphasis on "something"- in the series (which makes you wonder what their voice must sound like for it to be of no help in the matter). V's primary M.O. is "fireball", if that doesn't work it's "more fireball" (fitting, given their name). Other forms of blaster magic may or may not be prominent. The fact that this is probably the worst way to play a wizard in no way diminishes the fact that V is easily the most powerful member of the Order by a country-mile, able to turn the tide of entire battles unless some convenient dramatic device takes them out of the action for a while, which it often has. While they used to possess an ego befitting both an elf and a wizard, V was recently taken down a notch when they were forced to sell their soul to a [[Tanar'ri|demon]], [[Baatezu|devil]] and [[Yugoloth|daemon]] (all at the same time) to save their spouse and (adopted) children from a black [[dragon]]. Is currently flipping the fuck out for having [[powergamer|killed up to a quarter of all black dragons in existence]] alongside their direct non-blood related (read: non-dragon) families in order to posthumously spite said dragon.

===Team Evil and other antagonists===
* Xykon the [[lich]]. An [[epic]] level [[sorcerer]], Xykon is bored out of his skull and as such toys around with holes in reality that serve as gates to [[Warp|a dimension containing a world-eating snarl]]. Doesn't like [[wizard]]s because they were condescending to him during his life, and likes beating the shit out of them with his ability to cast spells over and over again (like Energy Drain). He is wholly and unapologetically evil, and [[Eldrad|kind of a dick]], but he's still kind of funny because his charisma is through the fucking roof.
* Redcloak the [[goblin]] [[cleric]]. Xykon's main henchgoblin and ruler of a major goblin tribe, Redcloak is the guy who's told to "get it done". And hoo boy, does he get it done. He murders the resistance to his people's occupation of a major city, has another of Xykon's servants eaten by her own wights and reveals that he was using Xykon from the beginning for the good of his people, all in the span of a half dozen pages. Has a lot of backstory in the prequel comic, but you have to pay for it so f*#$ that noise.
* The Monster in the Darkness is a creature of many mysteries and few truths. All we know that it has two yellow eyes and acts even stupider than Elan. It also is stupidly powerful: it can punch people so far they are launched into the sky; it stomping on the ground is powerful enough to cause localized earthquakes; and it can teleport people with but a word and a thought. Has the personality of a child (a non-evil one). After extended contact with O-Chul, has begun to think for himself, discovering, to his own surprise, that he is actually ''extremely'' intelligent and doesn't ''want'' Team Evil to win, and so has begun subtly undermining their efforts from within, something that has been enormously successful because none of his teammates see it coming or expect him to do ''anything'' smart. [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488773-Summon-MitD-IX-Roll-on-Section-3a If you think you've got the brains, feel free to jump on the ride that never ends and try to follow the breadcrumbs and figure out what he is.] We'll wait. [[Troll| Remember to only pick ones with Trenchant Political Analysis as a listed special attack!]]
* Tsukiko, a mystic theurge. A necrophile necromancer with a crush on Xykon. She was in charge of the wight brigade until she discovered Redcloak's plan to double-cross Xykon, which got her eaten by her own wights for her troubles.
* '''The Linear Guild''' started out as evil counterparts of the PCs (which was deliberately done by their leader, Elan's twin brother Nale (get it? Nale is Elan backwards!)). The Guild consists of three core members:
** Nale, a Fighter-Rogue-Sorcerer multiclass specializing in enchantment, which is, if you didn't notice, basically a [[bard]] only [[Tzeentch|more complicated]] and capable of being Lawful Evil. Is permanently dead; he was stabbed by his father and was subsequently disintegrated.
** Sabine, a [[succubus]] and Nale's lover with whom she shares a deep and fulfilling relationship based on human sacrifice. Is currently stuck somewhere in the Lower Planes, trying to get revenge on her boyfriend's murderer.
** Thog, a [[Half-Orc]] [[barbarian]] who's part of the Dumbass Triumvirate alongside Elan and the Monster in the Darkness. Current whereabouts unknown, likely imprisoned.
* On the four different occasions the teams have clashed the Linear Guild employed a subset of the following people:
** Zz'Dtri, the [[drow]] wizard. An obvious copy of [[Drizzt]], he was hauled off by the lawyers of [[Wizards of the Coast]] for being an obvious [[Drizzt]] copy. [[Wat|Yes, that happened]]. Later returned ([[Wat|because he was a parody, not a copy, protected speech bitches!]]) and clashed with V using all the interim levels to tailor his build just to fighting the wizard. This did him no good against Durkon, the party cleric, particularly with that vampire strength boost. Currently dead
** Hilgya Firehelm, a dwarven cleric of [[Troll|Loki]] who fucked, fought and fled from Durkon during the Guild's first encounter with the Order, in that approximate order. Reappeared after over 1000 strips to save the party from a vampire horde in the nick of time. Brought Durkon's baby into the battle [[Dwarf_Fortress|like a true dorf]].
** Yikyik the [[kobold]] ranger. Was beheaded by Belkar and turned into a [[hat]]. Currently dead.
* '''Second Encounter'''
** Pompey the [[half-elf]] wizard (get it? Pompey and Vaarsuvius are named after Pompeii and Vesuvius! We're clever). Had a crush on Roy's sister and teamed up with the Linear Guild so that he could have her, but he was defeated, imprisoned, and then escaped, signing on with Leeky. Has not been seen since.
** Leeky Windstaff the [[gnome]] [[druid]]. Turned into a giant monster and rampaged through a city (get it? [[CoDzilla]]!) before being defeated by Durkon and escaping alongside Pompey.
** Yokyok, son of Yikyik. A parody of [[The Princess Bride|Inigo Montoya]] who attacked Belkar for... oh do I even have to say it? Belkar was under a curse preventing him from killing, so he set a tavern full of [[adventurer]]s loose on Yokyok, then turned his head into a nacho repository. Currently dead.
* '''Third Encounter'''
** Yukyuk. Yet another kobold: this one was dominated (the status effect, mind you) by V and got used as a litter box and living trap-springer before dying in a horrific accident protecting a [[cat]]. Currently dead.
* '''Fourth Encounter'''
* The fourth encounter with the Linear Guild included Tarquin and Malack (as below). It also involved Chancellor Kilkil (Urd, a Kobold variant... with wings! Its in the 2nd ed MM), who is more a clerk and personal assistant than a combatant, though he is a hyper-competent bureaucrat and a flying calculator.
** General Tarquin, a human [[warlord]], general of the Empress of Blood and de facto ruler of the Empire of Blood. Despite the suggestion of him being aligned to [[Khorne]] this is far from the truth: he is a friendly and cheerful person like his son Elan, but at the same time is outright ruthless and has the evil smarts like his other son, Nale. He is the ultimate in [[Alignment|Lawful Evil]]: he understands that his rule is not eternal, but his legacy can be. As such he is forging an entire continent into his empire: even when he is defeated (which he holds as being inevitable) he gets to be a legend. Though he's not very keen on the "being stabbed by a hero" part, it would mean he gets to live like a god for who-knows-how-long, and only the last few minutes sucked. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0763.html The man himself explains it best.] On the other hand, given his Lawful obsession with forcing the messy chaos of reality to conform to the outline of a neat little story, refusing to conform to the character archetype he expects you to fill (e.g. playing a [[bard]] when he thinks you're the protagonist) causes him to quickly fly into a fit of [[butthurt]] rage to put [[That Guy]] to shame and start [[railroading]].
** Minister Malack is a lizardfolk (possibly yuan-ti) cleric of Nergal and serves as adviser to the Empress of Blood and Tarquin. Is actually a [[vampire]] and has just turned Durkon into one. Like his former adventuring companion Tarquin, Malack is an affable and well-spoken person and is the heir to the Empire of Blood after Tarquin's death. When he does become the next Emperor he plans to [[Emperor|sacrifice a thousand people to his god per day]] [[grimdark|in rooms that serve as gas chambers/abattoirs, the sacrifices generated by a continent's worth of people living and dying for the glory of Nergal]] (although the writer later stated he means meat packing rooms as he plans to use the thousand sacrifices to feed to himself and his vampiric spawn, who'll be running the empire). Like I said, real nice guy. Has a beef with Nale for killing three of his "children", but set aside his grudge at Tarquin's behest. Even then he is a honorable person: when he promises not to kill someone despite it serving his goals, he does so. A very different sort of Lawful Evil, but still fits. Perma-dead, having been killed by Nale with sunlight, which has a disintegration effect on vampires.

===Other Characters===
* Miko Miyazaki, an absolutely and fanatically [[Lawful Stupid]] [[Paladin]]. None of the other paladins like her so they send her on far away missions as much as possible. She is sent to capture the Order of the Stick after they destroy one of the gates containing the Snarl and though Roy initially is attracted to her he later realizes that she really is a horrible unlikeable person. She is so convinced that she is a good person who does everything right due to being a servant of the gods that she becomes increasingly detached from reality as the evidences stacks up that she is doing wrong. After losing her paladin powers, she tries to redeem herself by sacrificing herself to save the day, but [[Fail|the only thing she accomplished was making the situation worse]].
* O-Chul. The Lawful [[Awesome]] Paladin. He is everything that a paladin should be and everything that Miko isn't. He is reasonable and a nice guy. While captured by Team Evil, he is put through all kinds of tortures both for Xykon's amusement and Redcloak trying to get information and survives all of them, never giving up defying them. During his time as a prisoner he manages to befriend The Monster in the Darkness and convince him that Xykon and Redcloak are not his friends. He is another poorly optimized character. He used to be a normal Fighter so his charisma score is terrible, and thus is bad at casting his paladin spells, but has an insanely high constitution that lets him tank godly amounts of damage (he has a hit point total on par with ''young adult dragons'').

==Before You Get Butthurt About Battle Strategies...==
''Here's the thing: No matter what I draw in any battle scene, within ten minutes of posting it someone chimes in about how the characters are stupid for not executing this, that, or the other tactic. Never mind that said tactic would likely end the fight in one panel when it is my job to provide you with an entertaining battle scene. Never mind that said tactic may result in the person winning whom the plot does not need to win. Never mind that the fight may not be over yet. No, all that matters is that these characters are not living up to someone's imagined D&D tactical mastery.''

''Well, I don't give a damn anymore. The characters fight the way they fight to make an interesting page. They may make subpar decisions, I don't care. I don't spend enough time with the D&D rules anymore to eke out all of these Ultimate Killer Strategies anyway, so we're really running up against the limits of my knowledge and ability. The characters can't be better strategists than I am, and I care more about other aspects. Such strategies are usually boring to read and visually bland to look at anyway. There aren't going to be a lot of invisible save-or-die effects thrown around, because there are only so many ways I can draw characters succeeding at Fortitude saves (and then I still have to verbally explain what just happened). You should stop expecting them, because I'm not going to use them.''

''My job is to entertain, not to showcase perfect D&D tactics. If you can't be entertained by anything BUT perfect D&D tactics, that's on you.''

--A quote from the author

It helps that Burlew has never revealed what anyone's level is, specifically so he can fudge the rules. To pull a random example, Vaar snags 13 people in Mass Enlarge Person, implying they're level 13, only to immediately use four Wiz6 spells (Mass Bull's Strength, Mass Bear's Endurance, two Disintegrate's) in less than two minutes -- level 13 Wizards should only be able use two Wiz6 spells per day.

In spite of this, however, fans have speculated extensively on the levels, abilities, and feats of various characters, and have managed to create a [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?545476-Class-and-Level-Geekery-XV-What-s-the-Damage-of-a-Thrown-Pineapple fairly comprehensive list] of these, usually accurate to 1-2 levels.

== Links ==
* [[Skub]]
* [http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html The website]
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick The TVTropes article] where you can see all the clichés Burlew uses/makes fun of.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Webcomics]]