When the Party Can't Agree On a Plan... Vox Machina, Ep. 53 | Critical Role Demystified
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- Vox Machina debates what to do about the dragon for most of the episode. There’s a lot we can learn from that…
Chapters:
00:00 - Recap: Keyleth Has Another Conversation About The Gods
04:18 - Lesson: Wilhand is the Breath of Fresh Air and Levity They Needed
10:28 - Lesson: Knowing When a Debate is Going Nowhere
20:24 - Lesson: Why the Other Players Get Restless When Rogues Wander
26:20 - Lesson: Making Attunement Matter
30:28 - Lesson: Scanlan’s Alignment
33:52 - Recap: Scanlan’s Proposal, Pike’s Confession
43:31 - Lesson: Making the Herd Situation a Lot More Complicated
48:24 - Outro
You can watch the full episode here:
Episode 53 - At Dawn, We Plan!
• At Dawn, We Plan! | Cr...
Timecodes:
The Party Debates Their Plan/Goals: 52:58 - 1:04:12
The Pyre Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Lost Frontier Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Immersed Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Anguish Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Dark Fog Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Thunderbird Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Decline Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Heavy Heart Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Rites Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Have your players ever gotten their hands on a golem (or a similar non-NPC companion)?
No, but I used AJ Pickett's description of an iron golem doubling over and shrieking in agony when The Lady of Pain's shadow passed across it.
Our artificer accidentally gave an automaton free will a few sessions back and now we have to track it down after it decided it no longer wanted to be in the city guard.
I got a Shield Golem on a Warlock once. Which let me do a double Fluffer-Nutter
My sister got hold of a goblin that she then gave a cursed sword to
One player wanted to reprogram a monodrone. That was fun, since I had it speaking in scat.
The Scanlan and Pike conversation is such a beautiful chaotic disaster, I love how no one knows what the fuck is going on
even Matt is just absolutely dying! :D
I think there's a bit of irony in how Wilhand thought the Herd of Storms came after him, when their motivations were a lot larger. Not unlike how Vox Machina thought that Chroma Conclave attacked and conquered Emon as a way of exacting revenge on them.
The funniest thing is that everyone except Keyleth almost immediately disregards Wilhands fear (not in a mean way but in a “he’s old and crazy lets let him have his moment” way) which just makes the Irony even more palpable
Honestly, I woudln't put it past Kevdak to be that petty and vengeful as at least part of his motivation. As for Vox Machina it does seem like they forced the Chroma Conclave into action sooner than they might have liked by killing one of their most powerful agents and then invading his lair and possibly uncovering their whole plan for all the Conclave knew.
"Experimenting with Fassbender, we should all be so lucky" is so good
my favorite part of this episode was when grog said "it's planning time (at dawn)" and totally planned all over the dawn
This might be my favorite iteration of this meme yet.
Edit: spelling errors, so many spelling errors. This keyboard has a mind of it's own...
At dawn, we plan!
At plan, we Dawn!
But I don't wanna get up that early.
@@an8strengthkobold360ok fine… At the break of 11:30, we plan…
Ugghhhhh, I’m gonna have to set an alarm
I love how "at dawn we plan" evolved into a running thing that still continues to this day in C3
Percy’s indignation at being beaten at golem construction fucking sends me. Hysterical. “Can’t be first, don’t want it!”
At dawn we plan is my favorite Grog quote of all time.
33:30 "While they're experimenting with Fassbender - we should all be so lucky - (...)"
The joke is spit-take worthy and the delivery doubly so. Thank you for that
the donna noble reference was a deep cut... that screenshot of her crying haunts me
the sound Matt makes when they tell Pike's granddad about the dragon XD
Iirc, this is the episode with my favorite Percy line: "New money. 🙄"
Close but I believe this happens after the dragon fight. That line comes when they are talking to the people of Westrunn about post dragon living.
@@pyrusblade39 I'm thinking you're right upon further thought. It's been a long time since I've watched the VM campaign.
I think a really easy semi-solution to the 'rogues are doing their thing and everyone is waiting' problem if it's taking too long is to invite the restless players to look around and have them find something not trapped (like a bookshelf or stack of papers) and have there be info in there that's valuable to the overall quest, or that can help guide the rogues. That way everyone can feel like they're doing something valuable. This can be extra fun if the restless players have good history or arcana since they can draw cool conclusions from what they find. It's also the type of thing that can be added into a scenario at any time, so if the rogues are quick there's no need to bring it up, but if things are taking a while the DM can bring that element in whenever it's needed, to whatever room the restless players are in. It's also the type of thing that's easy to add onto if you need to extend it, like you pull out this book and find something cool but rogues are still doing their thing? Well actually you notice a little white triangle, maybe a piece of paper sticking out behind the row of books. Oh look, it's a combination in case the owner forgot how to get into their safe. Now the restless player is contributing AND speeding up the rogues. Win-win.
Heck yeah! Best video series in all of D&D UA-cam.
Agreed! I scream a little every time I see the notification. It's always a pleasant surprise
I think the 1-2 combo of Ashley and Sam is the funniest duo out of a group of insanely funny duos.
Because, slight spoilers for campaign 2, the Yasha and Veth conversations are some of the funniest bits they've ever done, especially when Sam decides to be the most hilarious third wheel of all time.
Interesting opinion, would you like to have a talk about it down by the lava river? Or maybe we could borrow the Tower from Caleb for a night!
@@kjj26k oh, I'm sorry, we already booked Caleb's tower but I can reschedule if you need it
Sam having to hastily brush off "I killed my whole family" as a figure of speech will forever be among my favourite C2 moments.
Yeah, I agree. Ashley and Sam are so funny together, regardless of what characters they’re playing, and it’s a shame that their characters very rarely get to interact in most of the campaigns. I think my favorite Ashley-Sam comedic moment is way later in this campaign, though. I can’t talk about it because it involves major spoilers for the end of the Chroma Conclave arc, but if you’ve seen the campaign, you probably know what I’m talking about.
"at dawn we plan" sums up vox machina so well
"GROG GOT HIS BEARD BEFORE KRATOS"
As an addition to the point at 19:37, the great pulp writer Raymond Chandler once said, "When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand". Solid writing advice that I always stand by.
Anyone with the right proficiencies can sneak, find traps, disable traps, find secret doors, etc. Arguably Keyleth and Pike with their (presumably) good Wisdoms would make decent trap finders, while Percy (with his presumably decent Intelligence) might be good at figuring what they do. Pretty much anyone on the team except Grog (super low Int and Wis) CAN be useful in this scenario.
5e isn't 3.X where literally only rogues can make certain DC attempts. The entire ethos behind 5e is to find different ways to play roles. A barbarian trap finder? Sure, why not. A bard primary healer? They're REALLY good at it. A wizard melee combatant? Bladesinger is one of the most powerful sustained damage builds.
My personal headcanon as to why Pike tolerated Scanlan's worst tendencies is just that... she liked him. Not romantically, not at first, and no more or less or even differently than she did Vax or Keyleth, but when he's being an idiot with her or just flirting with her I don't recall a single time when she just shut the door on it? The most she said was that (post letter) he made her "confused", that he was "very charming" and "kinda wore you down" (to which Keyleth and Vex rightfully replied that it wasn't a good reason in any way!). She could've expressed frustration or been annoyed to another character, but Ashley chose not to do that. So yes, Scanlan was funny, Scanlan blew everything out of proportions where she was concerned, but he was also a good friend and she liked him.
You can clearly see the letter as a turning point, though, because that's when Pike started to believe that he might actually be serious. (And of course the conversation between them a couple of episodes ahead, which I won't spoil just in case.) But dang, there are so many reasons why they're my favourite CR ship beyond "heheh, funny gnomes." Like the fact that they both keep up a façade of "if I'm not okay I'll pretend to be for the others' sake" (except Scanlan's was about the fear of being perceived/Seen when Pike's was the habit of putting everyone before herself). Or the fact that their most used Level 1 spells respectively were Cure Wounds (x40 for Pike) and Healing Word (x47 for Scanlan).
Damn I wish Blindspot had been a miniseries :'/
I love them in the animation!
He has been so adorable when he was caring for Grog and she noticed it 🥰 and then the kiss... 😏
I'm still behind in the campaign, I have to start episode 39. I think here Pike is more softer if compared to the animation (even if I don't know about future episodes!) and Scanlan, as much as I loved him and how he is played, didn't have a serious moment before meeting Kaylie. But we'll see how it'll continue... ❤
Is it just me or is the pause between "Play fair" and "Have fun" getting longer with each episode?
Keep up the good work Mike. Love all your content. ❤
As someone who loves being the sneak thief I absolutely feel the annoyance Liam and Laura must have been feeling in the moment. I'd have been very tempted to just be like "Do you or do you not want to be able to walk through this house safely? Because if not I will just leave and let you have fun with the giant collection of death traps." I've just dealt with so many groups that all have this same mindset about infiltration missions being "boring." It's frustrating.
On god one of the best episode titles, so iconic
I love ashley's "I wanna be a monstahhh"
Just in general i love pike and grog, they are too cute
I would LOVE to see a deep dive into an examination of Faith and Belief from you.
They have to think of the consequences, they have to think diplomaticaly about the herd, they have to think about power level of the dragon. The challenges Vox Machina faced make C1 the best campaign of CR.
I’d argue the characters made C2 the best
Each campaign has its charm. High level DnD is just much more interesting to watch. Campaign 2's much more intensely personal stories makes it easier to care about the characters. And campaign 3 feels makes the world actually feel alive, by not isolating these world-shattering events from the lives of the cast.
They all have their low points to be sure, but they all have their merits too.
It definitely takes experience as a DM, combined with knowing your players/table, to work out what method(s) tend to work best in breaking up analysis paralysis.
These videos have been super helpful for me as I am DMing my first campaign. Thank you for all of your hard work!
Glad to hear it!
The clips with Grog showed a really cool side to Travis as a player!
This is a good channel. This is a good series. I like Mike.
Ah, so now you're covering episodes I haven't seen. I'd forgotten where I left off. Thanks, man.
The scene between pike and Scanlan shows even more how ROBBED we were of amazing Ashley Johnson playing cause of blindspot
I look forward to these every week, thank you for all the work you do to make these videos AWESOME!
Really admire your phenomenal effects work on that golem invisibility, I felt like I was reliving the scene all over again
"something wrong with me, in my inside meats" same, buddy. Same.
48:58 - “Hello and Welcome to A Tabletop the Forth Wall.”
On the subject of attunement, I like to narrate how the character gradually figures out how to utilise the item by sort of "flexing" their magical muscles and seeing what happens, especially in the absence of Identify. I basically have a pared-back version of the item's power manifest during the short rest. I once had a character attuning to a teleportation crown while travelling on a small boat and rolled to see which direction she would bamf while getting to grips with it. She went for a surprise swim. =)
Great video as always.
Big props to the person who got them a crib, you're awesome!
Ashley as Pike was amazing! Lol
33:33 I was listening to this while looking at another tab, and I had to come back and do a double take! XD
Well played, sir, well played.
An interesting topic to do a round table on would be how Matt sometimes limits the players choices without making it seem that way. I would love to be a part of that.
It's interesting seeing how created worlds with beings powerful enough to be considered deities deal with the concepts of atheism. I actually always liked how Golarian (pathfinder setting) redefined yhe term atheism to a belief that yes, the beings that call themselves God's exist and have tangible forms, but they deny these beings are actually divine and thus aren't worthy of blind faith or worship.
Yeah this is an interesting viewpoint that I think is still under explored in ttrpgs. I believe percy had this view of the gods for the most part. There are powerful beings that dwell beyond the material plane that call themselves gods. But they are basically just immortal assholes that meddle in mortal lives
Power does not inherently deserve reverence. Such a mindset would demand worship for any mortal that happens to become powerful enough.
The faithful worship because the object of their worship deserves it, according to the beliefs of that individual. And for no other reason.
I enjoyed the attunement scene in the movie. I liked it so much that it would be a factor in the campaign idea that I have where the magic of the land is constantly in flux and items can literally have a mind of their own. In order to attune the characters have to do some sort of check or challenge based on the item itself
Ashley’s Fearne is showing here. Which is so great.
I watched your content back when you were online episode 10. Liked it. But it stopped showing up on my timeline so I just kind of forgot about it. Yesterday was shown the Caleb one shot episode. Really enjoyed it and I think I may be hooked again.
lol my guy said "inside meats" xD ggwp. Thanks as always for your thoughts. Fun times
AT DAWN, WE PLAN!
I'm really sorry that my preferred viewing experience is waiting for a few episodes of this to come out then binging them all. I know that isn't best for the YT overlords and thusly the Al Gorithm but I'm here and watching and engaging and commenting cuz I love your videos.
That’s totally fine! Thank you for watching and commenting :)
When Vax talked to the Raven Queen about Vex stealing the broom, I always thought it was Liam somehow at the time conflating it with her death in the tomb (if she didn't die then Vax wouldn't be in the RQ's service), I'm pretty sure he makes a similar comment later later in the RQ's temple.
I usually play a character that recognizes gods existence come up but doesn't give them any specific reference. He usually sees himself as a pawn or a cog too small to be worthy of notice by the gods, and therefore sees them as being too small for him to notice in return.
Vax: What are we going to do about a FLYING dragon??
Later...
Scanlan: What about an... inside Job?
*hard cut to both of them inside the dragon*
😂
All that planning was completely worth it and I love how all of it paid off. I also completely love that the fight both went kind of how they were expecting and also NOT AT ALL how they were expecting🤣
Since alignment shifts are on the table, I absolutely would have shifted Scanlan’s. It’s not even like this was a trolley problem where Scanlan was forced to choose between two innocents or his friend; he made the active decision to cast a spell known for collateral damage (instead of anything else he could do as a bard), and then made the decision to target two innocent people he knew would die, instead of his friend he knew would not die (or even be harmed at all, as was likely). That’s just murder. If stealing an NPC’s item qualifies a shift from good to neutral (which in Vex’s case, I’d say it did), then this certainly should.
Dude! congrats on the baby!
Thank you!
I need to say this while in the middle of the video, specifically the part where "The Rogues wander of to do their thing", while the Rogue through expertise is a lot more likely to do these kind of things successfully, the rogue definitely is not the only class that can fulfill those roles. Yea we all know the Dex Ranger who tries to be a rogue, but in my current Campaign, we have one Kobold Paladin that builds Dex instead of strength, fights with a Rapier and a Shield, and has the highest stealth modifier of the group. She has competence in all the required skills to do these typically rogue jobs, but after a few feats the only difference between that kobold paladin and a rogue is just the doubled proficiency bonus and the armor they are wearing (Medium Armor without Disadvantage on stealth obviously).
(But i should also clarify that we use Homebrew rules that allows my players to take more Feats that i deem Roleplay Heavy, or not of use inside of Combat, to give them a little extra flavor. While this doesn't enable this kind of build outright, it makes it a lot easier for them without missing out on these "necessary feats for combat". I just love that my group forsakes Min maxing for making very interesting Characters with complex skills that tie in to their background.)
I don't really use alignment much, but I do use a third axis to measure alignment on. There's Good-Evil, Lawful-Chaotic, and Pragmatic-Idealic. Some people view their Morals as absolute laws that may never be broken, and others use them as general guidlines that help determine what actions they are able to realistically take when confronted with a moral dilemma.
LETS GO ITS DEMISTIFYING TIME
When doing the "rogue stuff" I find letting the other characters make a simple roll or two to represent them helping in some way stops them feeling left out. I also use general search rolls where possible rather than focusing on specific things to save time unless the players are being very specific in their attention.
In 5e you don't necessarily have to be a Rogue to search for traps you just need proficiency in Thieves Tools, which anyone can get with the right background or feats
This is a mechanical note, and something that doesn't matter for this party because firstly they're just playing for fun and going by party roles and secondly their rogues *we're* the best for this, buuut
Rogues aren't the only ones who disable traps, actually really any class can do it pretty effectively. Of course rogues are 'built' for disabling traps and 'built' for stealth, but what does that really mean? Well, looking at them objectively a rogue gets
--> Expertise (double proficiency on a few skills)
--> Starts with more skill proficiencies
--> Starts with thieves tools
--> Waaaay later gets Reliable Talent
The truth is this is all duplicatable by literally every class as long as you have a good dexterity. Artificers get expertise with thieves tools easily and actually get even better with them than a rogue later, Any class can take thieves tools from the background and from level 1-9 the only difference is like a +2 or a +3 on the dice it really isn't that significant, anyone can take stealth proficiencies and sleight of hand and in-fact the feat Skill Expert and various subclasses lets anyone get Expertise despite not being rogues too
One of my favorite characters I ever played was a Bard, they we're a Eloquence Bard who used a rapier and a dagger and played like 'A Rogue But Better', they had expertise in Thieves Tools, Stealth, Sleight of Hand via their own expertise + Skill Expert, then proficiency in a buttload of skills, then they had spells like Invisibility, Minor Illusion, Charm Person, Silent Image, Disguise Self, Enhance Ability, excetera + a few combat crowd control spells
I'm playing a rogue in a campaign and honestly don't love it. And this kinds of sums it up. Everything I can do someone else can do. I'm sneaky (but that's all based on rolls). I'm too squishy to get involved in the frey too much so I'm pretty rubbish in combat unless we can get the drop on them.
I've seen players find way to use wizards and rangers to do the investigation/trap finding stuff, and everyone but the cleric managing to be stealthy is something of a running joke with my crew.
Of course then you have Nott/Veth in C2 who rarely checked for traps which led to serious consequences in one of the later episodes.
I would say Rangers aren't that far behind Rogues in skill monkeying, it just takes a little planning and a good background. Especially since Tasha's.
But yeah, I remember being a Scout Rogue and questioning why I was the assumed "check for traps" guy. I made my guy to be a wilderness tracker, the Wizard has a higher investigation.
@@katiehusband1505 Sneak attack every round gives Rogues quite good damage output. At level 13, without factoring in specific subclass abilities or specialties, a rogue's expected damage per round beats out a fighter's by almost 20%. Even at level 5, where the fighter has its largest jump in damage output, the fighter is only ahead in damage output by about 15%.
The audio on this video is killing my ears xD but great video love these breakdowns if only because they bring back fond memories but they're good lessons too.
The Cure Wounds spell has the "no undead and constructs" addendum due to it being able to harm undeads in previous editions and healed only half to constructs (I.E Warforgeds) unless cast by an Artificer. 5e wasn't 100% sure by the time it came out wether it wanted to introduce Eberron or the Artificer as a class and they didn't want the mess of having a spell as Cure Wounds becoming a bunch of side effects vs undead
While overall I love the Vax and Vex dynamic, I love how much they love each other, I don't like how Vex is way too hard on Vax. And Vax ignoring Vex even when she has good points makes sense to me: if you were constantly being picked on by your sibling wouldn't you just ignore them at some point?
Great analysis. I tell every DM i've ever played with to watch The Kill Box: it is still the best combat ever.
I think Grog tuning to the Titan Stone Knuckles was described differently was because they were already in their exulted form. The other vestiges had been dormant for a long time, but the knuckles had been in use. So, while attuning to them, you would feel the power of their exalted form.
They’re not exalted yet, that will happen on-screen in a later episode.
the proposal 😭
In my current campaign, I play an "agnostic." We use a homebrew world that myself and my friend made - he and I switch back and forth as DMs, each running campaigns that tell different parts of the world's story. My character comes from a nation that plays into the magic=science trope, and is the most advanced nation in the known world. Its people hold an ethos of mortals being destined to make the gods obsolete. They don't revere them. They challenge their supremacy over creation. Many other nations find this "hubris" as reprehensible, particularly a rival theocracy. My character understands that gods exist, and that they have played a part in creation, but he is not faithful to them, and is adamant that no one else should be, either.
That was my way of getting around the idea that gods are a matter of fact.
In my next campaign, which I am DMing, I've taken our pantheon and completely re-imagined it. The location is isolated - cut off from the world. Its culture(s) are alien to that of the world we've seen already. The gods are depicted differently, in ways that reflect the people of the region. The gods have different names, based in the languages that are spoken in the region. Some gods' identities are perceived differently. For example, one of the progenitor (first) gods was the god of death (completing the cycle), but his role being limited to death drove him mad. To the rest of world, this marks him as evil. To this region, he is not evil, nor is he mad. He is the personification of the ambivalence of death. He is oblivion. No more evil than death itself. The same is true of many of the "evil" deities in the pantheon.
I've also played a character in the past who developed a whole theory of "existential arcanum." The basics were that all things in creation were expressions of arcane forces. That included gods. The question was never the nature of a being, only the magnitude of its expression. This particular character wasn't especially reverent either.
The only character I've played that was devout was a tiefling cleric, who was on the extreme end of being a zealot.
I just don't particularly enjoy having a character beholden to something outside the realm of their control. It can be way too easy to remove character agency, and to make their self-determination insignificant. I don't want my character to be an accessory. So yeah. I say power to the people who don't want to play "gods go unquestioned" types of characters.
Hell yeah.
Although it somewhat fell flat because my player struggled to solve the puzzle that was meant to be kinetic but was entirely verbal so my player it was for kinda struggled to process the puzzle until retrospect when I gave her the full flavour text for the magic item, but I did try an attunement puzzle for a special ring I made for my sorcerer in my current game. She's a draconic origin sorcerer and I made a special ring with a crystal vial inlaid on it that can be opened , and letting a drop of the blood of a draconic sorcerer into this open vial is how you attune to it. (Flavour text explained how it was invented to help the first sorcerers who had their magic reigning wildly and needed support to contain and control their magic, until over time the magic became inherently more latent and tame so these weren't needed, and now becomes a way to heighten the power of their magic), but even if it didn't fully work, it was a good experiment and I'm glad I had the idea.
I really want to know what was in the letter... still watching the show but could anyone tell me if we ever find out? Not what it says but like do we get the details?
I played in a game where the party was dungeon crawling until they found a mess hall for a heap of orcs. Like, fifty of them. It was at this moment the party had analysis paralysis about how to address the encounter - what sort of surprise or AoE spell to use. Who should go first. It got heated and players were Shout-arguing with each other. Eventually, the party agrees to a plan and attempts to open the door stealthily. Turns out, the whole mess hall heard the party's LOUD arguing about the plan, and all drew weapons around the door. Zero ambush happened, it ended up being a run-away moment.
TIL Marisha's ab workout is just listening to Sam babble incoherently.
RIP Geralt
i think when it comes to not believing in gods, in a world where they do most certainly exist, not believing in them isnt like not believing in their existence, its like not believing in them as people or as an institution
I feel like travis keen mind (heh) and grogs could apparently clash, but if you grew up in a warrior culture (that was at least one point more than just raiding and pillaging as is implied with the herd before kevdad) you will just naturally pick up on things.
Kinda like grogs nat 20 for the stone giant fortress, just without the roll
Alignments are hard. In our party we shifts aligments themselves, when having some hard decisions. I think it's not about actions as much as your decision behind them. Good people can make bad things, and if they feel guilty they are still good people in their core. And bad guys can do good things - for their selfish reasons.
Believing in the divine but not having faith in the divine … realistic, as in there are folks in our world who do that.
It changes D&D but the way I play … anyone can search for traps-if it's there, you found it and you'll know how to avoid setting it off as long as you're not distracted. Hard to avoid stepping on the wrong tiles in a fight, say. You can try to disarm the trap just like you can try to open the lock if you've got tools. The thief always has the tools (assumed they can improvise) and WILL succeed. But doing these things costs time, and in dangerous situations time is your enemy.
I love that systems like Shadowdark handle it this way. Keep everyone engaged!
I'm paying Mike $1 buck a month! Can confirm, it's the cheapest subscription I've ever paid for, and I'm looking forward to weekly Demystified sometime!
Thank you, Steegen!
I love this too .. I love this.... & I love that "At Dawn We Plan" has become a touch stone of not just Critical Role but the whole community.... and being a touch stone has spawned off a million puns... some bad.. some good.,... Some so bad... You get it.... For example I'll Start "At Dawn WE BAN" .... bad puns you know??? ***Ducks and runs... 😜😜😜
Sure about the rogue, but i play an artificer. Battle master with guns. Full int and dex, expertise in thieves tools. Other classes can do it to
2 campaigns and 8 or so years later, they still do not read the details of their spells.
I have a video coming out about this in a few weeks
@@SupergeekMike Oh, don't get me wrong, I can understand that there are a variety of factors at play. New spells, testing the limits, leveling up, experience in playing, personalities, playstyle etc. If there is a spell that I haven't seen anyone use before or that I haven't used myself, I check to make sure that it's being used correctly. That way I can play the effect of it as it is described. Some people play fast and loose with the rules, other people try to keep to the rules as much as possible. I've noticed that Marisha and Ashley are the former while Liam, Sam, and Taliesin are the latter with Laura and Travis are kind of in the middle, sometimes leaning to one side and sometimes the other. But I find that it's always good to keep people on their toes when it comes to spells and the expectations that it comes with.
Why not count the twitch subscriber too for the weekly thingy ?
Because it’s not the number itself that matters, is making enough money to full time UA-cam without having to get a full time job to pay bills
At plan, we dawn
AT PLAN WE DAWN!!!
(commenting at about 22:15) The rogue's expected to be the trap finders kind of worked weird for the one short time I played a rogue. My rogue was just a guy more than a true adventurer, he was a locksmith by trade (giving him "thieve's tools") and was just really bad with people so he got good at walking quietly and avoiding them when going about. However, his lack of charisma led to his family business failing and her turned to adventure for coin. But he didn't know the intricacies of exploring or finding traps and it wasn't instinctual for him, so the party would be like rogue go inspect for traps and I'd describe him going like "oh uh alright" then looking at the door knocking softly on it then just picking the lock. - I want to play this character again so bad, he ended up dying before I could really explore him (my first and only dead character so far, also just for clarification he died in combat to pumpkins not to traps he failed to identify)
as a roguish main the whole pick locks and find traps thing isnt just up to your rogue any class with higher dex witch all want but the 2 heavy armor classes (but dex fighters and paladins can still be good) and take a background with thieves' tools and get prof in investigation or perception you're just as good if not better at being a "rogue" than the rogue specially a bladesinger, bard. ranger or monk just lack sneak attack and cunning actions
I honestly forget you’re actually talking to us about you patreon and I just watch it with my brain off
I think Keyleth was also curious about Melora (aka the Wildmother) because the Spire of Clonflux is one of her relics, and it's obvious that Matt intended this Vestige for Keyleth specifically. Maybe she's starting to wonder if her destiny might end up tied to a god the way Vax's is? But also, there's probably curiosity in how much/little Melora's domain overlaps with the Ashari.
Taliesain: At dawn, we quorum!
Me: So THAT's what that faction name in Campaign 3 means!
I've seen Matt Coleville's "Orcs attack" video, but given a game I'm playing right now, I'm going to call that technique SQUID.
I'm playing in a campaign with one rogue in the party, and I fully get the feeling of traps/locks being "the thing only the rouge can participate in". My campaign used to be in a town with some RP and moments for my high-Insight/Perception Ranger to be useful, but we've been in a dungeon crawl for basically a year now and even my Perception isn't too useful given that nearly everything in here leans Investigation. (And I dumped Int because that's fun) I still get to do cool stuff in combat, and taking Detect Poison and Disease came in clutch a few times, so it's not the worst thing in the world. But I get what you're saying.
...I forgot how much I loved Percy's childish temper tantrum when he finds out someone else made a "giant robot" before him.
So this is the origin of Pike's "I'm a monstah"? I forgot that.
"Everything in that letter, I promise to do... IF you die." Another of my favourite lines. (Though it takes on a new meaning now we know WHAT was in that letter)
2014 called, it wants its notion that only rogues (and only rogues) can scout and look for traps back…
Scanlan's proposal isn't quite as stressful or second-hand embarrassing as the one from Steven Universe Future, but it reminded me of that
New one dropping today?
2nd (Michael) Fassbender appreciation video so far
"I don't believe in the gods" in a setting where gods are kinda interventionist, even if via clerics and paladins rather than hands-on doesn't vibe for me personally.
"I don't believe the gods are worthy of worship" and "I dont' care about the gods" are both paths I can get behind, however.
But if someone wants to play their character as... Assuming magic channeled by paladins and clerics doesn't prove gods exist because arcane magic is a thing (and, also, Warlocks) I guess? In a setting with less obvious divinity? Sure, why not.
As another great, famous golem once debated:
"But the gods plainly do exist," said a priest.
"It Is Not Evident."
A bolt of lightning lanced through the clouds and hit Dorfl's helmet. There was a sheet of flame and then a trickling noise. Dorfl's molten armour formed puddles around his white-hot feet.
"I Don't Call That Much Of An Argument," said Dorfl calmly, from somewhere in the clouds of smoke.
Feet of Clay, #GNUTerryPratchett
At dawn... we quorum!
On the gods topic, I'll add to that that even in worlds where everybody is pretty sure gods exist there is still room to say "Yes, that god exists, but this other one? No, I don't think so." I'm sure lots of people would believe different gods are actually aspects of one or fewer gods, etc. That kind of stuff happened in our reality as well all the time...granted, a good chunk of that was due to forced assimilation efforts, but that could also be happening in your TTRPG settings too.
Кудос Марише за то, что спросила ГМа, а не заклинание. Наш Мастер иногда любит немного поменять действия заклинаний для большей логики своего мира, так что с такими незнакомыми вещами лучше уточнить
In regards to the D&D characters that don't follow gods. I had a druid who saw nature as over arcing the gods. "The gods are just an other part of nature like any man, beast, or plant."
So he at most respected gods but didn't worship them.
I have to say that...
The I do not love the planing senes and even more so, actively deapise them.
But this demystified episode was very good, and thank you
Ps, I loved the dynamic between the twins
The atheist topic reminded me of people in the movie Santa clause not believing in Santa clause 😂😭
It's all downhill from here (at least according to the very very narrow metric of episode titles because this one is impossible to top. Critical Role just keeps getting better).
Kratos has had facial hair since 2005. Sure, he may have gotten a great big bushy viking beard later, but from the PS2 era, he's had at least a goatee.
I think part of solving the Rogue problem, certainly here, could have been letting one or a handful of quick checks solve the housepuzzle. Y'know, it's one thing if the Rogue is checking for traps in between fights in an old-school dungeon, something quite different when it's just a bunch of traps all clumped together in a house. I was thinking about this sort of thing earlier today when watching a video by the creator Razbuten about his non-gamer wife trying to play Baldur's Gate 3 and a point where she got frustrated talking to NPCs one at a time to find clues for a quest, which made me think of the fact that at the table, you could just skip that with a roll or two.
Excuse u jugs and rods hasn't happened yet
There's definitely been times the crew made some in-character decisions as a way to respond to unnecessary behavior from the fans much like Vax's prayer to the Raven Queen underlining to leave Laura alone about the broom.
I'm on my first listen through of the campaign and there is definitely a shift after the Clasp incident where everyone seemed to make two moves: 1. Whenever they could highlight how awesome and cool Keyleth was, and 2. downplay Percy and make him the butt of a LOT more jokes (primarily done by Taliesin himself). I wasn't part of the Critters Community at the time, but despite the argument of "ultimately it was Vax's decision," the conflict still seemed to boil down to Percy vs. Keyleth, and #TeamPercy I can only imagine weren't the nicest about it. (or I'm wrong and Percy is portrayed as much more of a punchline to underline that he's not the edgy kinda-possessed dude anymore)
It's definitely a line you have to walk right though, because unfortunately you risk opening a much more massive can of worms if you outright call people out on it (on stream at least). Not to get too spoilery, but there's a moment a few episodes from now where Taleisin has to step in and walk Liam back for getting *too* meta (something Taliesin's done multiple times so far I've noticed)