History YMMV / Nodwick

%% * {{Anvilicious}}: Occasionally.
* EvilIsSexy: Brought up to explain why [[spoiler: Countess Repugsive]] pretends to be male.
-->[[spoiler: '''Repugsive''']]: Evil girls are only taken seriously when they're hot. [[TheUndead While I was alive]], I didn't look much better than I do now.
-->'''[[FishOutOfTemporalWater Zorion]]''': That would explain the "wonderful personality" you were famous for...

* MissingEpisode: The webcomic skips from the end of 2005 to Q4orce, then to the Comic ''Books'' which were transferred over starting in 2008. According to the archive listing there were a lot of comics posted in 2006-7, but they cannot be accessed now and the Webcomic Saga leaves off on a cliffhanger.

* MagnificentBastard: Baphuma'al.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Occasionally.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Only Piffany could disable an evil cleric with '''GOSH-DARNED SMILEY FACES'''.
** Remember that thief that was in the party before they hired Nodwick? The reason the group couldn't get rid of him was because his contract stated that unless he was caught stealing from the party, they couldn't fire him. Unfortunately, he was so good that no method the group tried could catch him in the act and Yeagar ultimately ended up resorting to scrambling his grey matter with a cursed artifact in order to get him out of the party. When this proved to be a temporary solution, it's Nodwick who saves the day by rigging the swag he was carrying so that a precious and valuable item that said thief wanted to steal would serve as a lynchpin. Its removal buried the thief under the pile of loot, resulting in him being caught and finally being fired from the party. Said thief got the last word though, as he responded by stealing the clothes off Nodwick's back before leaving.
** Then there was the time when Yeager was being controlled by the Gauntlet of Supremacy, which caused him to raise an army to wage a world war with. When Nodwick and co. go in his mind to save him, they find Yeager practically broken by the Gauntlet. [[spoiler: [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?p=1032 Yet when reminded of Rowen, the one woman he's ever loved, he breaks free. From the mind control of a god-created epic item of evil!]]]]
** [[spoiler:Of course, the ''real'' Rowen wasn't exactly the GirlNextDoor his mind depicted her as...]]

* HarsherInHindsight: [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?p=471 Here.]] Some monsters get credit they can't really afford against a henchman's back pay that he hasn't seen a copper piece yet of after the henchman signs the I.O.U over to them... yeah.
* PuritySue: Piffany's goodness is so infamous that at one point she is courted by every goodly aligned being in the cosmos to be their avatar, because she's SO virtuous and pure that having her would increase their power exponentially. How does she get out of this sticky wicket? It's revealed in another entry below...
** This is even lampshaded by WordOfGod. Her character sheet actually states that harming or attempting to harm Piffany can be considered an act of pure evil. One comic even had Artax and Yeager beat the crap out of a [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike complaining rescued]] noble for making Piffany cry.
** "[[http://comic.nodwick.com/?p=654 She had a tragically supportive upbringing]]". Probably.
* TearJerker: A representative of the Powers What Is offers Nodwick a chance to stay dead forever. Nodwick balks, whereupon the rep takes him into the possible future after his death [[spoiler: only to find Piffany having a perpetual HeroicBSOD over Nodwick's final death, building and maintaining a huge monument and garden in memory of "the one I couldn't save".]]

** Then there was the time when Yeager was being controlled by the Gauntlet of Supremacy, which caused him to raise an army to wage a world war with. When Nodwick and co. go in his mind to save him, they find Yeager practically broken by the Gauntlet. [[spoiler: [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2010-07-26 Yet when reminded of Rowen, the one woman he's ever loved, he breaks free. From the mind control of a god-created epic item of evil!]]]]

** "[[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2008-03-26 She had a tragically supportive upbringing]]". Probably.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: In the FutureBadass strip, upon hearing that Nodwick has become a competent, powerful adventurer in his own right as a result of constant time-looping, Yeager expresses the opinion that he's not sure if he likes the idea of Nodwick being better then all three of them, and Artax agrees to wipe his memories of his true power once he gets them out of this mess. Not only do they say this out loud and in front of Piffany, Piffany quite blithely encourages them to do so by telling them to keep an eye out for a spare left hand she can use to replace the hook the Adventurer-Nodwick has.

* StatisticallySpeaking: Either Inverted or played straight. Nodwick, whose stats say he's weaker than Artax, can lift an impossibly heavy object and move it across the room because somebody decided it would look better there, but if he were to lift it on his own it would surely snap his spine. RuleOfFunny at work, which one character even lampshades when he suggests that this distinction between whether or not Nodwick can carry an object indicates something worrying about the universe. Eventually, the print comic published a special Henchman class for 3rd Edition DungeonsAndDragons that got ridiculous bonuses to Strength ''only'' for the purposes of carrying stuff (up to +100 Strength at 20th level).
* TearJerker: A representative of the Powers What Is offers Nodwick a chance to stay dead forever. Nodwick balks, whereupon the rep takes him into the possible future after his death [[spoiler: only to find Piffany having a perpetual HeroicBSOD over Nodwick's final death, building and maintaining a huge monument and garden in memory of "the one I couldn't save".]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil:/LoveRedeems: When Yeager describes his history with Rowen it sounds like he became a jerk because things didn't work out between them. When Rowen describes the past it sounds more like he only acted nice sometimes for her.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: only Piffany could disable an evil cleric with '''GOSH-DARNED SMILEY FACES'''.

** Then there was the time when Yeager was being controlled by the Gauntlet of Supremacy, which caused him to raise an army to wage a world war with. When Nodwick and co. go in his mind to save him, they find Yeager practically broken by the Gauntlet. [[spoiler: [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2010-07-26 Yet when reminded of Rowen, the one woman he's ever loved, he breaks free. From the mind controll of a god-created epic item of evil!]]]]

* StatisticallySpeaking Either Inverted or played straight Nodwick whose stats say he's weaker than Artax can lift an impossably heavy object and move it across the room because somebody thought it would look better there, but if he were to lift it it would surely snap his spine.

* LoveMakesYouEvil:/LoveRedeems: When Yeager describes his history with Rowen it sounds like he became a jerk because things didn't work out between them. When Rowen describes the past it sounds morelike he only acted nice sometimes for her.

* DumbIsGood: Both played straight with Piffany (good, but stupid) and Artax (smart, but utterly amoral), and subverted with Yeagar (dumb as a stump and not very nice) and Nodwick (smart and good, making it a wonder he ever became a henchman in the first place).
** This troper thinks this page is too hard on Piffany. It's not stupidity, per se, that makes her swallow Artax's and Yeagar's excuses without question, it's her unswerving dedication to happy thoughts and puppies, which makes her incapable of thinking badly of others, especially when they're friends and allies. Naivete, maybe, but not really straight out stupidity.
---> '''[[NoNameGiven Good Townsperson]]''': You're '''''[[AC:heavily]]''''' into denial, aren't you?
---> '''Piffany''': [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/nodwick/dragon/nodwick06.html If I wasn't...]]

LoveMakesYouEvil:/LoveRedeems: When Yeager describes his history with Rowen it sounds like he became a jerk because things didn't work out between them. When Rowen describes the past it sounds morelike he only acted nice sometimes for her.

LoveMakesYouEvil:/LoveRedeems:

LoveMakesYouEvil/LoveRedeems

* TearJerker: A representative of the Powers What Is offers Nodwick a chance to stay dead forever. Nodwick balks, whereupon the rep takes him into the possible future after his death [[spoiler: only to find Piffany having a perpetual HeroicBSOD over Nodwick's final death, building and maintaining a huge monument and garden in memory of "the one I couldn't save".]]

* CharacterAlignment: Not surprisingly, since it's inspired by ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]''. This is less YMMV then normal because they actually have official character sheets (for 2nd Edition) that were published in DragonMagazine and then later added to the online archive. Then again, the dissonance between their sheets and how they act is a deliberate part of the humor.
** For those interested, Piffany and Nodwick are LawfulGood (to no-one's surprise), Yeagar is apparently ChaoticGood, and Artax is NeutralGood (though gods know how, considering how they treat most of their fellow beings -- and Nodwick). Or, as the ''first'' strip says:
---> '''Nodwick''': I guess the "LawfulGood" in your want ad was a typo, right?
---> '''Yeagar''': Our cleric placed the ad; she's a bit of an idealist.
*** Presumably it's a joke at the expense of those roleplayers who end up playing good alignments as neutral -- certainly Artax ''acts'' TrueNeutral and Yeager is textbook ChaoticNeutral.
*** Artax's character sheet, specifically the section on how he joined up with Yeager, almost makes him look mildly NeutralEvil.

PuritySue: Piffany's goodness is so infamous that at one point she is courted by every goodly aligned being in the cosmos to be their avatar, because she's SO virtuous and pure that having her would increase their power exponentially. How does she get out of this sticky wicket? It's revealed in another entry below...