I love their totally-not-a-Beholder-for-legal-reasons, it's a nice blend between referencing a Beholder while still remaining distinct and unique enough.
In the Game, Vax had an extremly OP pair of Boots, that could give him the Haste Buff without using concentration. That is how his catchphrase "Dagger Dagger Dagger" came to be. Action: Mainhand Dagger, Hasted Action: Mainhand Dagger, Bonus Action: Offhand Dagger. I really love that they merged that into the Vestege.
@@Omn1Media Yeah it was an item from their pre-stream days when they played Pathfinder. They tried to transfer it over to 5e as-is but it ended up being stupid broken. Click his heels together as a free action and get Haste. That's absurd. So they found a good way to incorporate him being the speedster he became in the game into the vestige he gets here. It works well.
Oh yeah, the Boots of Haste plus the Deathwalkers Ward broke Vax’s speed to the point Matt looked at the camera and was like “let this be a lesson on balancing any home brew items…” 😂 I believe either in the armors Awaken or Exalted state Vax was able to have a temporary movement speed of 450+.🤔
If Vex's death has taught us anything, it's that you don't make fun of the DM's character names. Had they not made fun of Pervon, maybe things would have went differently.
One thing to always remember with Matt's world is that even resurrection spells can fail (he requires more than the standard 'pay your diamonds, get your character back' D&D rules and it all comes down to the dice). Great reaction. :D
@@Omn1Media hey, were just dicks that like to mess with people. Also, we did only confirm and ride the "she's dead (at this moment)" wave like a born surfer😁 for your enjoyment and to have you not...completely comfortable and keep you in the cliffhanger mood😉
@@Omn1Media When we say "dead," it's more of a clarification that what happened to Vex was different to what happened to Cassandra and Keyleth is Season 1. Cass and Keyleth weren't dead. They were on Death's Door and could be Healed (and were). Vex was just straight up dead. And that wasn't a spoiler. It was a clarification of what they showed: Vex getting hit by pure Death Energy, hitting the floor, the light leaving her eyes, and her final breath leaving her body (which, incidentally, is EXACTLY how Matt described Vex's Death in the Campaign). It would have been a spoiler if we had told you that she didn't stay dead. So, really, we weren't trying to mess with you. We were clarifying the situation for you so that you could have the appropriate reaction to the next episode. But to @Miklos' point, Matt Mercer has trained us to be Long Con Dicks in the realm of Emotional Pain. We're well-versed in how to tell non-Critters/new-Critters exactly what they need to know to extract the appropriate emotions from them. Welcome to Critical Role and the Critter-verse. 😁
In the game, it wasn't necessarily a life to be paid for the vestige - for the Matron of Ravens, to the Matron death is a natural process that's not to be tampered with, except for very important reasons. It will become clear that she was looking for a new champion for a very particular reason... Can't wait to see all of this story finally unfold! 😄❤️
The reason for Vex’s death was she failed her saving throw, and took enough damage that it put her past saving throws, had she succeeded like Percy did they would have just taken the vestige with them.
No, the damage dropped her to 0 and the trap was modelled on a particular spell that killed at 0hp. (I think a mix of disintegrate and circle of death)
I don't think you want to see the item card for the vestige yet, cause it contains spoilers :D What I can say is that in the campaign he had Boots of Haste, so as a rogue who is already fast he was just zooooming over the battlefield. Seems like they combined that ability into the vestige, which is a great choice to keep Vax' iconic speed but make it more meaningful and not as complicated for viewers to have that many different items with properties.
If you watch the intro title sequence you'll actually see the glowing threads that show up during the Matron of Ravens parts. Worth noting also, that this is the first time anyone (Critters included) has seen Purvon fight since Matt has never described him in combat before. After watching him mess up Vax, I can see why he's the Matron's champion.
Confirming her death wasn't a spoiler, it was supposed to be a clarification. In that moment she died, in the campaign and in the animation. Of course in DnD death doesn't have to be the end of it.
@@Omn1Media for Critters especially that distinction is important, they want people to understand that Vex’s death isn’t just a “gotcha moment”, not saying that is what you were implying, but that in that moment her character was dead, and while she is back with the living now, there was a heavy cost to her return. Keep up the great reactions, I always look forward to seeing them.
@@richardbrown3055 Right right for sure. I think I might not have been too clear myself, I knew she was technically dead but I was in denial and figured they'd find a way to bring her back. I'm kind of preparing myself for Vax's deal to not end well for him. He did trade himself for her afterall and that shit usually doesn't come with a "get out of jail free" card
So, Kashaw did actually bring back Vex, however the final push came from Vax. In the CR homegame, they have a ceremony to add more weight to death. Three characters can make an offering to raise the chances to lower the needed roll. A failure increases the roll. Vax's offering was his own life, which I'm not sure if made it auto-succeed or not. Essentially, Kash created the door to bring Vex back, but Vax opened it. Neither action was achieved without the other.
One of the things I really love about CR is that even deaths that aren't permanent almost always have a lasting and weighty impact on the characters involved in some way. I think there's only one exception to this where the death was mostly played for laughs because the player did something extraordinaraly stupid.
You should tag this as spoilers, even though you were vague just the knowledge that "A thing" happens still counts as spoilers. Spoilers for C1 And even then poor Vax needed therapy during their walk down the mountain. From lord of the rings to Game of thrones indeed. Matt does bones crunching fx too well.
If you want to know more about the Calamity, they do have a 4-episode mini-campaign that covers it, EXU: Calamity. Also, I love that your mind immediately went to "Pokeball" because everyone else's did too when Laura/Vex got it in-game
While I am at it: The "Pokeball" is a Homebrew from Matt Mercer. They started the campaign on the Pathfinder System, where Trinket was usefull. But with D&D, she became utterly useless :) With the Pokeball Trinket can atleast be there without perma dying in round 1 ;P
He knew that if he killed Trinket Laura would murder him. I remember the story of Travis sending Trinket into a minefield. Laura almost divorced him, at least thats what Travis said 🤣🤣
Great reaction, my friend. Liam killed it in this episode. Very well done. The animation, the emotions, is what makes this series the best. In all honesty this is what makes Critical Role the best and as popular as they are.
@@Omn1Media I HIGHLY recommend watching EXU: Calamity. It's possibly the best thing they've ever done. If you think this show is epic? Wait until they make Calamity into a movie or something (they do have first look film rights now with Prime so I'm hoping that's the one they choose). It's kinda long (only 4 episodes but I think the last one was like 6? 7? hours) but soooo worth it and it gives alot of clarification about the things Vax is seeing in flashbacks but doesn't spoil anything because it's technically a prequel.
I've been waiting for last episode and this one ever since the series got announced! I'm loving this adaptation so much! You can't fight death. All you can do is accept it.
The item card for the Deathwalker’s Ward is online but I wouldn’t look it up because it should contain some spoilers. After all this is just what the armor could do on day one, Vax’s Vestige training arc still up and coming
Vex was dead Dead until she wasn’t. She was hit with death energy protecting the armor, which during the campaign Matt (DM) asked Laura (Vex) to role a dexerity saving throw and ended up rolling a 1, so she got hit with 56 pts of necrotic damage (death energy) to bring under zero hit points, she was DEAD!!!!!
In the game version, Pike wasn't there, so Kash was their only option. He actually did revivify Vex, but Matt makes them do extra skill checks to to see if it succeeds. Percy offered some residuum to help the ritual (intelligence check), Zahra called to her warlock patron for aid (arcana check), and Vax said, 'take me instead, you Raven bitch' (persuasion check). Also there was some tension about Kash's god. Vesh (where Kash gets his surname) is an evil demi-god and he warned them she might notice him using high level magic, decide to come investigate, and possibly kill them all. So when Matt described the Raven Queen appearing, they thought it might be Vesh at first.
The vestiges that matt made are all incredibly cool, however the show one got a glow-up! besides the item on itself (magical armor with a bonus, as well as the ability to become resistant to one type of damage every day) they added in what was an iconic item Vax had called Boots of Haste, that basically duplicated his speed in combat, gave him an extra attack (hence "Dagger, Dagger, Dagger" being his catchphrase) and also another extra bonus to defense. All in all, an amazing item with the potential of getting even MORE badass in the future!!!
Backstory on what happened during this time. Liam’s mother either died of cancer shortly before or shortly after this episode originally. He’s pure emotion was coming from both himself and Vax.
Btw, yes there are resurrection spells in dnd. However, in Matt's campaigns, he doesn't really like that you can always resurrect people for a spell slot and some diamonds all the time. So in his games, those reviving spells are also dice rolls, basically checks to determine if the character's soul is convinced to return to its body. And if characters die and get revived multiple times, the DC for the next reviving spell goes up for that person. However, a counterbalance to this is that when casting a higher level revival spell (basically anything except Revivify), he allows checks to be made as part of the casting of the spell by nearby people to convince the soul to come back more and lower the DC of the check. All-in-all to say that he made it harder to revive people in his campaign, so they're not always guaranteed to work no matter what. Also, technically in the campaign, the spell did actually work, however part of the additional "helping check by other people to lower the DC" was Vax making the deal with the Matron
Matt Mercer doesn't make resurrections as easy as the D&D rules-as-written do. (Even when they aren't in a temple to the goddess of death, fate, and winter.) Mercer has extra requirements to make every resurrection a challenge, both in dice rolls/mechanics and in creative rollplay.
It wasn't a fake out. It was very much factual. She was dead dead. We just failed to mention that she didn't stay that way, bc that would be a spoiler. We were just clarifying the information presented in episode 3 💜
So Matt does resurrection a little differently. He doesn't like the idea that death becomes trivial past a certain level so instead of those spells just working, he has the players preform a ritual with skill checks involved. The more they succeed the more likely the resurrection is to succeed but it is never guaranteed. The more a character dies the harder and harder it becomes to bring them back. For this reason, whenever a character actually full on dies in the campaigns, it is always a big deal. As for the Deathwalker's Ward, they actually combined it with a few of Vax's other magic items. I really like this change as it simplifies things and makes the vestige feel more like the god-powered magic item it is.
@@Omn1Media Yeah, in the first parts of the original campaign they had little animated introductions to the characters and Vex's had her saying that her brother would sneak into town to steal trinkets, so she found her own "stolen trinket" to call her own. Always thought that was a great explanation for a great name for a bear.
I don't think people were faking you out with "she's dead" and saying she was perma dead I think they were just confirming that yes she did actually die from the blast and not that her soul was captured or something like along those lines like you were theorizing last ep. Also the calamity is something that's already happened in the past.
It took a lot longer for Vax to accept the armor of the Raven Queen in game. Liam during the time was dealing with a family death and it was hard for him and his character.
I can't remember if I've already said this or not, but I'm so excited to watch your reactions! As someone who knows what happens, it's cool to see the show from the perspective of someone watching it for the first time! This episode, man! Just like you, I was pumped up by the end of it! Vax is my favorite VM character and to see him fight with the vestige was SO cool! I'm excited to see what you think of the next two eps as well! Once again, I think they knocked it out of the park.
I'm pretty sure everyone was just confirming that she was actually dead at the end of the last episode. No one said she whether was gonna stay that way... that would have been a spoier 😉
One correction: The Calamity "The War of the Gods that is to come" has actually already happened a long time ago. I'm not sure myself why but I think that Vax is getting visions of The Calamity, because Purvan died in it. As some have already said there is actually a 4 part short campaign named "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity" that is set at the start of it. Although it has completely different characters and is ran by Brenan Lee Muligan and not Matt himself it's still amazing.
Watching you react to these episodes really bring me back to my First watchthrough of the campaign. No matter what I AM affected by knowing what's gonna happen and my reactions to this show IS diluted by my brain always comparing the two. Watching along with you makes me fully appreciate this show for what it is. Thanks
"If it's not grounded solid evidence, then it's a spoiler" okay but the animators literally did every to show she was dead tho, flashbacks throughout the episode, slow motion hit, hitting the ground with eyes still open, light fading in the eyes.
Lets get one thing straight, Us critters do not like spoilers and we will spin whatever lies we have to, to keep you on your toes and not ruin the story. 🤣
No, no "fuck you guys in the comments"... none of that. They were right. She was indeed Dead Dead there. However... That's where I stop as to not spoil anything.
*smiles* To be fair, she was dead dead ! Not a fakeout, not just a "500 Gold worth of Diamond Dust" fix. As we have already seen, that Death has consequences. Also the trailers sadly spoiled that she is living after this.
I mean, they didn't lie... they just didn't tell the full truth. 😉But yeah, none of us know how a death in the campaign is going to go. There is almost never a garentee.
@@Omn1Media I won't detail exactly how it goes, but Matt does a really good job with handling dead player characters. It takes a roll to see if they can be resurrected or not. It makes it so it's ALWAYS intense and we NEVER know what might happen to a character. I also feel like they (the ones that fooled you) want to make sure you're prepared if a character does have perma death happen. I won't say if or when, but it's 100% possible. Can't wait to see what you think of the rest of the epiosdes that dropped this week!
Having just seen episode 12 this weekend, I am positive there will just be 3 seasons. I'm not ready! I hope we get the Season 2 soundtrack on Spotify soon, it was amazing!
In regards to the resurrection spell, Matt had his own homebrew system for it. When a player dies there is a set DC to beat (I think it started at 12 or 13) and up to three people could roll a skill check to aid the spell; if the people assisting pass their roll, the DC went down by 1, if they failed the DC went up by 1. Additionally everytime a character was successfully brought back from death, they would get a permanent +1 to their next resurrection DC. Personally I much prefer Matt's system to the standard one, it gives death some actual weight and makes it something you have to fear instead of feeling safe as long as the healer is still up and has the diamonds.
From the way I read the info on the Amazon deal they have a multi-year deal for Critical Role’s production company Metapidgin to make whatever they want. So they will get to finish all of VM and MN plus anything else they want to do.
Fun fact, Mercer had apparently meant for the Mantle to go to Percy. Honestly though I think this added more depth to the campaign overall. And I love how they've portrayed it in this. Definitely my favourite episode so far.
Since you mentiond wanting to see the item card for the Deathwalker Ward I wanted to mention that in game his speedy mode wasn't apart of the Ward. When the game moved from Pathfinder to DND 5e, Matt didn't have a full grasp of DND 5e's action economy, so when he adapted Vax's boots of Haste into 5e mechanics they ended up being really op, especially for just being a run of the mill magic item. They effectly allow him to cast haste on himself for a minute, with none of the drawbacks haste usually brings (having to maintain concentration and missing your turn when it ends do to exhaustion). It was actually a common joke in the fandom that the boots were practically a vestige in themselves. I believe the original ability of the ward allowed him to choose to be resistant to a type of damage he chose at the beginning of each day.
Item card for this item from Tal'Dorei Reborn book: This beautiful black leather armor is covered in intricate scrollwork, and has a mantle bearing the black feathers of the Matron of Ravens. Legends say that it has been worn by a number of that deity's champions over the centuries- most recently, Vax'Ildan of Vox Machina. When the Deathwalker's Ward is in a dormant state, you gain a +1 bonus to AC and you have advantage on death saving throws while wearing the armor. When the Deathwalker's Ward reaches an awakened state, you gain the following benefits: -The AC bonus of the armor increases to +2 -While wearing the armor, you have resistance to one of the following damage types of your choice: acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, or poison. You can change the damage type when you finish a short rest. When the Deathwalker's Ward reaches an exalted state, you gain the following benefits: -The AC bonus of the armor increases to +3 -As a bonus action, you grow large black raven wings that grant you a flying speed of 60 feet and last for 1 hour. Once this property is used, it can't be used again until you finish a long rest.
Massive spoiler tag here my Guy. I would have put that at the top. It’s too late now but if he hadn’t seen Episode 12 before this comment it would have ruined some things 😢
I think they already show the cost he was tied to his sister by fate. The matron of Ravens cut that tie and connected it to herself. Vax is now her Champion.
The discount beholder was so goddamn badass I'm kinda glad they couldn't use the dnd version. It was so cool. Its abilities + the sound effects and the visuals were amazing.
The item card for that armor right now based on what was seen gives haste. Move twice as fast and attack faster as well (were boots in the game but makes sense they added it to the vestige). The reason death is permanent and real is because you can truly die. When you are resurrected a dice is rolled if that roll fails you die. Every time you die it gets harder as well. If you are for example in the temple of the goddess of death it might just be impossible without her approval. Once that happens there is no way to bring that person back. Also when resurrecting someone there are conditions. If their body is destroyed only the strongest resurrection spells work. If the soul is captured or destroyed resurrection also wont work.
I mean there would have been a way to obtain the Vestige in the campaign without anyone getting killed, I'm sure, if Vex and Percy - or Laura and Taliesin, I'm not entirely sure whether it was the characters or players or both who didn't think things through there - hadn't got so greedy (it was in campaign really bad luck anyway; the effect damaged them both, but Percy had enough hitpoints left to survive, for Vex it took her down to 0 which meant that she just died), and had remembered to check the tomb for traps before going for the Vestige. Like if they'd noticed the trap in time in the campaign, there probably would have been a way to circumvent it. But in the animated series - hard to say if there would have been a way around the trap or not, since now in this animation certain events (such as Vex dying and Vax giving himself to the Raven Queen in exchange for her life) are set in stone in a way they aren't in the campaign. All things considered, I'm not even sure whether Vax would have been the one to wear the Deathwalker's Ward in the campaign if Vex hadn't died, since it could have been useful to more than one of the characters and wasn't either a weapon only one of the characters used or an item requiring attunement by a specific class or narratively clearly intended for a specific character. But since Vax did offer himself to the Raven Queen, after that it was natural and narratively right for the armor to be his Also, as far as resurrection spells go in D&D; yes, they exist, but in the campaign Matt has added homebrew rules to them so that even when the usual material requirements, time requirements, and "soul is free and willing to return to life" things are met, there is still a certain chance that it fails. (It's a dice roll, and iirc it starts at DC 10, goes up by 1 for every time a resurrection spell has previously been done to the character, and depending on the spell used, there may be a ritual in which the other characters can attempt to bring the DC down, but if they fail, the DC goes higher instead. So it's not too bad odds, especially if the character has never died previously, but there is still a clear chance for it to fail at times.) So, when we're talking about Critical Role, even though resurrection spells exist in D&D, there is always a theoretical chance that they may not work. Like, I'm not telling you whether that's gonna happen or anything, but it is something that going forward is good to keep in mind that it might just fail for no particular reason because of Matt's homebrew rules.
They do have resurrection spells in DND, but Matt has some home rules for it. They have to do a ritual to try to lower the DC and it still comes down to dice. So death is still absolutely nail biting.
I'm loving your reaction to this series and it makes me immensely happy to see other people get so hyped for a story that was built by a buncha loving dorks around a table just having fun. It's amazeballs. Don't forget to love each other!
Great reaction as always!! I think what ppl were probably trying to emphasize (whether successful or not) is that Critical Role doesn't use normal DnD resurrection magic so when someone goes dead it's more serious than in RAW DnD. Matt prefers death to mean more so resurrection magic like revivify [used here] requires a ritual. Other PCs contribute and roll for level of success and then there is a final roll to see if the spell works. It makes for some really beautiful and gut-wrenching RP moments like "take me instead you raven bitch". Ppl who were insisting Vex was dead in the comments might have been trying to clarify that simple heals wouldn't work like we've seen so far in LOVM.
@@Boundwithflame23 I think it's changed situationally because Kash definitely used revivify here but there was also a ritual. Percy and Zahara had contributions to round out the 3 person requirement. But, I agree that in other situations revivify was just a roll.
Deathwalker's Ward Properties Bonus to AC (+1 to +3) Advantage on death saving throws Resistance to one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, or poison damage Bonus Action to summon wings, flying speed 60 ft for 1 hour (1/Day)
If one is to become the champion of the Goddess of death and fate, one must learn to accept fate and embrace death
Couldnt have said it any better
I love their totally-not-a-Beholder-for-legal-reasons, it's a nice blend between referencing a Beholder while still remaining distinct and unique enough.
Yep, fighting a totally-not-beholder-for-legal-reasons inside the temple of Totally-Not-The-Raven-Queen-For-Legal-Reasons!
Plus pike cleric of totally-not-the-godess-serenray-for-legal-reasons
Haha right?! 🤣
Yes, the legally-distinct-one-eyed petrifying-tentacle-monster was an amazing addition to the episode.
Its almost like they crossed a Roper with a Beholder which is honestly a kinda terrifying combination.
In the Game, Vax had an extremly OP pair of Boots, that could give him the Haste Buff without using concentration.
That is how his catchphrase "Dagger Dagger Dagger" came to be.
Action: Mainhand Dagger,
Hasted Action: Mainhand Dagger,
Bonus Action: Offhand Dagger.
I really love that they merged that into the Vestege.
That’s insane! I’ve heard the dagger dagger dagger thing but didn’t have the context for it!
@@Omn1Media Yeah it was an item from their pre-stream days when they played Pathfinder. They tried to transfer it over to 5e as-is but it ended up being stupid broken. Click his heels together as a free action and get Haste. That's absurd. So they found a good way to incorporate him being the speedster he became in the game into the vestige he gets here. It works well.
@@ittyandpocky And the vestige is still not Awaken yet, It has a few more tricks, up its sleeve, just like other vestiges.
Oh yeah, the Boots of Haste plus the Deathwalkers Ward broke Vax’s speed to the point Matt looked at the camera and was like “let this be a lesson on balancing any home brew items…” 😂
I believe either in the armors Awaken or Exalted state Vax was able to have a temporary movement speed of 450+.🤔
@@Omn1Media
It usually went like this:
Matt: okay Vax, you're up. What are you going to do this turn?
Liam: dagger dagger dagger.
God that shot where it zooms out and he is literally being looked over by the raven queen is so fucking sick.
They nailed these coming 3 episodes
The visuals this season are off the charts!
My favorite shot of the show so far!
It's also a great moment where the mantle he's wearing hangs out like wings.
Hey remember how the opening animation has a raven dragging a glowing golden thread around the protagonists?
🙂
🤯
pepperidge farm remembers
Lol I only just got that on my most recent rewatch. For better or worse the threads of fate have bound these people together.
This was Liam’s episode and I was all for it. He brings such emotion to Vax that an episode dedicated to his character was necessary.
When he started screaming helplessly "Somebody do something!" I was like goddamn Liam that sent goosebumps through my entire body
Add in what it meant in Liam's real life, and the emotions are even deeper
Phwor when he starts the episode with "Somebody do something!" I was just like 🥺
If Vex's death has taught us anything, it's that you don't make fun of the DM's character names. Had they not made fun of Pervon, maybe things would have went differently.
🤣
Matt is not a vengeful DM.
@@DaDunge Rocks fall and you die.
One thing to always remember with Matt's world is that even resurrection spells can fail (he requires more than the standard 'pay your diamonds, get your character back' D&D rules and it all comes down to the dice).
Great reaction. :D
Unless you're in the Matron's domain, then resurrection spells don't do dick.
@@deathbykonami5487
Unless she wants you back, then you don't even need a resurrection spell.
Yeah the confirmation of her death was also a clarification about what you saw already so it’s definitely a tricky line to walk for sure.
Yeah for sure, because last episode I was meaning I don’t think it will stick but the comments made it seem like she was done for good!
@@Omn1Media well don’t get too comfortable ;) none of them are safe yet
@@Omn1Media hey, were just dicks that like to mess with people. Also, we did only confirm and ride the "she's dead (at this moment)" wave like a born surfer😁 for your enjoyment and to have you not...completely comfortable and keep you in the cliffhanger mood😉
@@momqabt Haha well it worked! 🤣
@@Omn1Media When we say "dead," it's more of a clarification that what happened to Vex was different to what happened to Cassandra and Keyleth is Season 1. Cass and Keyleth weren't dead. They were on Death's Door and could be Healed (and were). Vex was just straight up dead. And that wasn't a spoiler. It was a clarification of what they showed: Vex getting hit by pure Death Energy, hitting the floor, the light leaving her eyes, and her final breath leaving her body (which, incidentally, is EXACTLY how Matt described Vex's Death in the Campaign). It would have been a spoiler if we had told you that she didn't stay dead.
So, really, we weren't trying to mess with you. We were clarifying the situation for you so that you could have the appropriate reaction to the next episode. But to @Miklos' point, Matt Mercer has trained us to be Long Con Dicks in the realm of Emotional Pain. We're well-versed in how to tell non-Critters/new-Critters exactly what they need to know to extract the appropriate emotions from them. Welcome to Critical Role and the Critter-verse. 😁
In the game, it wasn't necessarily a life to be paid for the vestige - for the Matron of Ravens, to the Matron death is a natural process that's not to be tampered with, except for very important reasons. It will become clear that she was looking for a new champion for a very particular reason... Can't wait to see all of this story finally unfold! 😄❤️
The reason for Vex’s death was she failed her saving throw, and took enough damage that it put her past saving throws, had she succeeded like Percy did they would have just taken the vestige with them.
No, the damage dropped her to 0 and the trap was modelled on a particular spell that killed at 0hp. (I think a mix of disintegrate and circle of death)
I don't think you want to see the item card for the vestige yet, cause it contains spoilers :D
What I can say is that in the campaign he had Boots of Haste, so as a rogue who is already fast he was just zooooming over the battlefield. Seems like they combined that ability into the vestige, which is a great choice to keep Vax' iconic speed but make it more meaningful and not as complicated for viewers to have that many different items with properties.
It's funny you call the necklace a pokeball.... Because that's what Laura (( Vex'ahlia )) called it in the campaign too.
If you watch the intro title sequence you'll actually see the glowing threads that show up during the Matron of Ravens parts. Worth noting also, that this is the first time anyone (Critters included) has seen Purvon fight since Matt has never described him in combat before. After watching him mess up Vax, I can see why he's the Matron's champion.
He showed up in the Calamity mini-campaign though, did he just cameo there?
@@educatedlaziness3268 yeah, just a cameo. I don’t think Brennan felt comfortable using him for more than that.
Confirming her death wasn't a spoiler, it was supposed to be a clarification. In that moment she died, in the campaign and in the animation.
Of course in DnD death doesn't have to be the end of it.
Yeah, I knew she was dead but I didn’t think it would stick is where I was at last week but the comments convinced me that she was done permanently! 😂
@@Omn1Media for Critters especially that distinction is important, they want people to understand that Vex’s death isn’t just a “gotcha moment”, not saying that is what you were implying, but that in that moment her character was dead, and while she is back with the living now, there was a heavy cost to her return. Keep up the great reactions, I always look forward to seeing them.
To be fair, in the campaign all of them died at least once, a few more then once.
@@richardbrown3055 Right right for sure. I think I might not have been too clear myself, I knew she was technically dead but I was in denial and figured they'd find a way to bring her back. I'm kind of preparing myself for Vax's deal to not end well for him. He did trade himself for her afterall and that shit usually doesn't come with a "get out of jail free" card
@@Omn1Media There will definitely be consequences to Vax's decision. Vax is so in shock I don't think even he realizes how much has changed.
When Vax killed the creature, I screamed "THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!"
🤣
i mean we weren't lying she was dead
True! People made it sound ridiculous that I thought she would be brought back so i got convinced she was perma dead!
So, Kashaw did actually bring back Vex, however the final push came from Vax. In the CR homegame, they have a ceremony to add more weight to death. Three characters can make an offering to raise the chances to lower the needed roll. A failure increases the roll. Vax's offering was his own life, which I'm not sure if made it auto-succeed or not. Essentially, Kash created the door to bring Vex back, but Vax opened it. Neither action was achieved without the other.
Vax made his roll with advantage. That’s as much as I remember off the top of my head.
Matt gave advantage to the roll and Vax rolled an 11 I think.
His thread being pulled by the Matron was a great way to visualize their relationship now
One of the things I really love about CR is that even deaths that aren't permanent almost always have a lasting and weighty impact on the characters involved in some way. I think there's only one exception to this where the death was mostly played for laughs because the player did something extraordinaraly stupid.
You should tag this as spoilers, even though you were vague just the knowledge that "A thing" happens still counts as spoilers.
Spoilers for C1
And even then poor Vax needed therapy during their walk down the mountain. From lord of the rings to Game of thrones indeed. Matt does bones crunching fx too well.
If you want to know more about the Calamity, they do have a 4-episode mini-campaign that covers it, EXU: Calamity. Also, I love that your mind immediately went to "Pokeball" because everyone else's did too when Laura/Vex got it in-game
Wow; that first scene hit you harder than it did me, and I'm an emotional pushover
While I am at it:
The "Pokeball" is a Homebrew from Matt Mercer.
They started the campaign on the Pathfinder System, where Trinket was usefull.
But with D&D, she became utterly useless :)
With the Pokeball Trinket can atleast be there without perma dying in round 1 ;P
He knew that if he killed Trinket Laura would murder him. I remember the story of Travis sending Trinket into a minefield. Laura almost divorced him, at least thats what Travis said 🤣🤣
@@miafiolekova5817 don't mess with the mama bear 🤣🤣🤣
The Mighty Nein. I feel the best thing to eat in honor of that news is blue cupcakes with pink frosting and Red Sprinkles.
Great reaction, my friend.
Liam killed it in this episode. Very well done.
The animation, the emotions, is what makes this series the best. In all honesty this is what makes Critical Role the best and as popular as they are.
God Vax vs the beholder is one of the best animated fight scenes I've ever scene. Holy shit.
Have you watched the Exandria: Calamity yet? You seemed surprised at that flashback scene. Word of caution: It’s really intense!
I’ve not!
@@Omn1Media I HIGHLY recommend watching EXU: Calamity. It's possibly the best thing they've ever done. If you think this show is epic? Wait until they make Calamity into a movie or something (they do have first look film rights now with Prime so I'm hoping that's the one they choose). It's kinda long (only 4 episodes but I think the last one was like 6? 7? hours) but soooo worth it and it gives alot of clarification about the things Vax is seeing in flashbacks but doesn't spoil anything because it's technically a prequel.
I've been waiting for last episode and this one ever since the series got announced! I'm loving this adaptation so much! You can't fight death. All you can do is accept it.
The item card for the Deathwalker’s Ward is online but I wouldn’t look it up because it should contain some spoilers. After all this is just what the armor could do on day one, Vax’s Vestige training arc still up and coming
also fun fact, that necklace for Trinket is affectionately nicknamed the “pokeball” by the cast in game
bro i laughed so hard at Percy screaming "JUST PETRIFIED?!"
so excited of watching season 2, im going to watch season 1 then wait till all the episodes comes out for season 2
12:45
"Deathwalker's Ward. Level 20 Legendary Armor. O. P. A. F."
Vex was dead Dead until she wasn’t. She was hit with death energy protecting the armor, which during the campaign Matt (DM) asked Laura (Vex) to role a dexerity saving throw and ended up rolling a 1, so she got hit with 56 pts of necrotic damage (death energy) to bring under zero hit points, she was DEAD!!!!!
In the game version, Pike wasn't there, so Kash was their only option. He actually did revivify Vex, but Matt makes them do extra skill checks to to see if it succeeds. Percy offered some residuum to help the ritual (intelligence check), Zahra called to her warlock patron for aid (arcana check), and Vax said, 'take me instead, you Raven bitch' (persuasion check). Also there was some tension about Kash's god. Vesh (where Kash gets his surname) is an evil demi-god and he warned them she might notice him using high level magic, decide to come investigate, and possibly kill them all. So when Matt described the Raven Queen appearing, they thought it might be Vesh at first.
The vestiges that matt made are all incredibly cool, however the show one got a glow-up! besides the item on itself (magical armor with a bonus, as well as the ability to become resistant to one type of damage every day) they added in what was an iconic item Vax had called Boots of Haste, that basically duplicated his speed in combat, gave him an extra attack (hence "Dagger, Dagger, Dagger" being his catchphrase) and also another extra bonus to defense. All in all, an amazing item with the potential of getting even MORE badass in the future!!!
I would say Kashaw still deserves credit for the resurrection. Vax just stopped the Raven from interfering with the resurrection
Backstory on what happened during this time. Liam’s mother either died of cancer shortly before or shortly after this episode originally. He’s pure emotion was coming from both himself and Vax.
Btw, yes there are resurrection spells in dnd. However, in Matt's campaigns, he doesn't really like that you can always resurrect people for a spell slot and some diamonds all the time. So in his games, those reviving spells are also dice rolls, basically checks to determine if the character's soul is convinced to return to its body. And if characters die and get revived multiple times, the DC for the next reviving spell goes up for that person. However, a counterbalance to this is that when casting a higher level revival spell (basically anything except Revivify), he allows checks to be made as part of the casting of the spell by nearby people to convince the soul to come back more and lower the DC of the check.
All-in-all to say that he made it harder to revive people in his campaign, so they're not always guaranteed to work no matter what.
Also, technically in the campaign, the spell did actually work, however part of the additional "helping check by other people to lower the DC" was Vax making the deal with the Matron
"Was that the test?"
Oh, no.
its so much worse.
Actually, she was dead, that's why he called the spell a RESURRECTION rather than a healing spell.
Matt Mercer doesn't make resurrections as easy as the D&D rules-as-written do. (Even when they aren't in a temple to the goddess of death, fate, and winter.) Mercer has extra requirements to make every resurrection a challenge, both in dice rolls/mechanics and in creative rollplay.
It's nice to watch someone who gets choked up over literally everything just like i do. nice reactions:)
It wasn't a fake out. It was very much factual. She was dead dead.
We just failed to mention that she didn't stay that way, bc that would be a spoiler. We were just clarifying the information presented in episode 3 💜
We didn’t lie, you know. She WAS dead. We didn’t specify any length of death.
So Matt does resurrection a little differently. He doesn't like the idea that death becomes trivial past a certain level so instead of those spells just working, he has the players preform a ritual with skill checks involved. The more they succeed the more likely the resurrection is to succeed but it is never guaranteed. The more a character dies the harder and harder it becomes to bring them back. For this reason, whenever a character actually full on dies in the campaigns, it is always a big deal.
As for the Deathwalker's Ward, they actually combined it with a few of Vax's other magic items. I really like this change as it simplifies things and makes the vestige feel more like the god-powered magic item it is.
Trinket in a trinket.
Oh shoot, that’s true!
@@Omn1Media Yeah, in the first parts of the original campaign they had little animated introductions to the characters and Vex's had her saying that her brother would sneak into town to steal trinkets, so she found her own "stolen trinket" to call her own. Always thought that was a great explanation for a great name for a bear.
I don't think people were faking you out with "she's dead" and saying she was perma dead I think they were just confirming that yes she did actually die from the blast and not that her soul was captured or something like along those lines like you were theorizing last ep. Also the calamity is something that's already happened in the past.
"Once they have achieved what they want to with the vestige, he's probably going to have to go with her."
In the end ...
Everyone goes with her.
It took a lot longer for Vax to accept the armor of the Raven Queen in game. Liam during the time was dealing with a family death and it was hard for him and his character.
I can't remember if I've already said this or not, but I'm so excited to watch your reactions! As someone who knows what happens, it's cool to see the show from the perspective of someone watching it for the first time! This episode, man! Just like you, I was pumped up by the end of it! Vax is my favorite VM character and to see him fight with the vestige was SO cool! I'm excited to see what you think of the next two eps as well! Once again, I think they knocked it out of the park.
I'm pretty sure everyone was just confirming that she was actually dead at the end of the last episode. No one said she whether was gonna stay that way... that would have been a spoier 😉
One correction: The Calamity "The War of the Gods that is to come" has actually already happened a long time ago.
I'm not sure myself why but I think that Vax is getting visions of The Calamity, because Purvan died in it.
As some have already said there is actually a 4 part short campaign named "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity" that is set at the start of it. Although it has completely different characters and is ran by Brenan Lee Muligan and not Matt himself it's still amazing.
Between the vestige and boots of haste Liam actually broke speed in this series series
Watching you react to these episodes really bring me back to my First watchthrough of the campaign. No matter what I AM affected by knowing what's gonna happen and my reactions to this show IS diluted by my brain always comparing the two. Watching along with you makes me fully appreciate this show for what it is. Thanks
They told you the truth...from a certain point of view.
7:00 The Matron for ravens is a god she doesn't make bargains like fey or deals lime devils. She's a god she makes covenants.
"If it's not grounded solid evidence, then it's a spoiler" okay but the animators literally did every to show she was dead tho, flashbacks throughout the episode, slow motion hit, hitting the ground with eyes still open, light fading in the eyes.
Lets get one thing straight, Us critters do not like spoilers and we will spin whatever lies we have to, to keep you on your toes and not ruin the story. 🤣
Omni, you are rhe best at what you do. Thank you.
No, no "fuck you guys in the comments"... none of that. They were right. She was indeed Dead Dead there. However... That's where I stop as to not spoil anything.
I knew that and I wasn't contesting that but they were telling me she couldn't come back
I hope they make EXU Calamity into that film.
We said she was dead, but not perma dead lmao
*smiles*
To be fair, she was dead dead ! Not a fakeout, not just a "500 Gold worth of Diamond Dust" fix. As we have already seen, that Death has consequences.
Also the trailers sadly spoiled that she is living after this.
True haha 😂 but they convinced me it was permanent
"and i walk away" Liam Obrian (Vax) alot in campaign 1, hence the name of the Episode :)
Nice reaction keep up the graft
"i told you she wasn't dead"
but, she WAS dead.
But the thing is people were saying it was a perma death lol I knew she was dead but I didn't think or hoped that it wouldn't stick
I mean, they didn't lie... they just didn't tell the full truth. 😉But yeah, none of us know how a death in the campaign is going to go. There is almost never a garentee.
True! I just had some making me feel silly for believing it could be fixed! haha
@@Omn1Media I won't detail exactly how it goes, but Matt does a really good job with handling dead player characters. It takes a roll to see if they can be resurrected or not. It makes it so it's ALWAYS intense and we NEVER know what might happen to a character.
I also feel like they (the ones that fooled you) want to make sure you're prepared if a character does have perma death happen. I won't say if or when, but it's 100% possible.
Can't wait to see what you think of the rest of the epiosdes that dropped this week!
4:15 Me too, man. Me too.
These are such good episodes, they really nailed it
Having just seen episode 12 this weekend, I am positive there will just be 3 seasons. I'm not ready! I hope we get the Season 2 soundtrack on Spotify soon, it was amazing!
In regards to the resurrection spell, Matt had his own homebrew system for it. When a player dies there is a set DC to beat (I think it started at 12 or 13) and up to three people could roll a skill check to aid the spell; if the people assisting pass their roll, the DC went down by 1, if they failed the DC went up by 1. Additionally everytime a character was successfully brought back from death, they would get a permanent +1 to their next resurrection DC.
Personally I much prefer Matt's system to the standard one, it gives death some actual weight and makes it something you have to fear instead of feeling safe as long as the healer is still up and has the diamonds.
From the way I read the info on the Amazon deal they have a multi-year deal for Critical Role’s production company Metapidgin to make whatever they want. So they will get to finish all of VM and MN plus anything else they want to do.
Fun fact, Mercer had apparently meant for the Mantle to go to Percy. Honestly though I think this added more depth to the campaign overall. And I love how they've portrayed it in this. Definitely my favourite episode so far.
Since you mentiond wanting to see the item card for the Deathwalker Ward I wanted to mention that in game his speedy mode wasn't apart of the Ward. When the game moved from Pathfinder to DND 5e, Matt didn't have a full grasp of DND 5e's action economy, so when he adapted Vax's boots of Haste into 5e mechanics they ended up being really op, especially for just being a run of the mill magic item. They effectly allow him to cast haste on himself for a minute, with none of the drawbacks haste usually brings (having to maintain concentration and missing your turn when it ends do to exhaustion). It was actually a common joke in the fandom that the boots were practically a vestige in themselves. I believe the original ability of the ward allowed him to choose to be resistant to a type of damage he chose at the beginning of each day.
Item card for this item from Tal'Dorei Reborn book:
This beautiful black leather armor is covered in intricate scrollwork, and has a mantle bearing the black feathers of the Matron of Ravens. Legends say that it has been worn by a number of that deity's champions over the centuries- most recently, Vax'Ildan of Vox Machina.
When the Deathwalker's Ward is in a dormant state, you gain a +1 bonus to AC and you have advantage on death saving throws while wearing the armor.
When the Deathwalker's Ward reaches an awakened state, you gain the following benefits:
-The AC bonus of the armor increases to +2
-While wearing the armor, you have resistance to one of the following damage types of your choice: acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, or poison. You can change the damage type when you finish a short rest.
When the Deathwalker's Ward reaches an exalted state, you gain the following benefits:
-The AC bonus of the armor increases to +3
-As a bonus action, you grow large black raven wings that grant you a flying speed of 60 feet and last for 1 hour. Once this property is used, it can't be used again until you finish a long rest.
Massive spoiler tag here my Guy. I would have put that at the top.
It’s too late now but if he hadn’t seen Episode 12 before this comment it would have ruined some things 😢
@@willeh1947 He literally asked for it.
@@SightUnseen555 and notice how most of the comments refrained from telling him on account of it being a spoiler
@@willeh1947 good for them.
I think they already show the cost he was tied to his sister by fate. The matron of Ravens cut that tie and connected it to herself. Vax is now her Champion.
The discount beholder was so goddamn badass I'm kinda glad they couldn't use the dnd version. It was so cool. Its abilities + the sound effects and the visuals were amazing.
The item card for that armor right now based on what was seen gives haste. Move twice as fast and attack faster as well (were boots in the game but makes sense they added it to the vestige). The reason death is permanent and real is because you can truly die. When you are resurrected a dice is rolled if that roll fails you die. Every time you die it gets harder as well. If you are for example in the temple of the goddess of death it might just be impossible without her approval. Once that happens there is no way to bring that person back. Also when resurrecting someone there are conditions. If their body is destroyed only the strongest resurrection spells work. If the soul is captured or destroyed resurrection also wont work.
I mean there would have been a way to obtain the Vestige in the campaign without anyone getting killed, I'm sure, if Vex and Percy - or Laura and Taliesin, I'm not entirely sure whether it was the characters or players or both who didn't think things through there - hadn't got so greedy (it was in campaign really bad luck anyway; the effect damaged them both, but Percy had enough hitpoints left to survive, for Vex it took her down to 0 which meant that she just died), and had remembered to check the tomb for traps before going for the Vestige. Like if they'd noticed the trap in time in the campaign, there probably would have been a way to circumvent it. But in the animated series - hard to say if there would have been a way around the trap or not, since now in this animation certain events (such as Vex dying and Vax giving himself to the Raven Queen in exchange for her life) are set in stone in a way they aren't in the campaign.
All things considered, I'm not even sure whether Vax would have been the one to wear the Deathwalker's Ward in the campaign if Vex hadn't died, since it could have been useful to more than one of the characters and wasn't either a weapon only one of the characters used or an item requiring attunement by a specific class or narratively clearly intended for a specific character. But since Vax did offer himself to the Raven Queen, after that it was natural and narratively right for the armor to be his
Also, as far as resurrection spells go in D&D; yes, they exist, but in the campaign Matt has added homebrew rules to them so that even when the usual material requirements, time requirements, and "soul is free and willing to return to life" things are met, there is still a certain chance that it fails. (It's a dice roll, and iirc it starts at DC 10, goes up by 1 for every time a resurrection spell has previously been done to the character, and depending on the spell used, there may be a ritual in which the other characters can attempt to bring the DC down, but if they fail, the DC goes higher instead. So it's not too bad odds, especially if the character has never died previously, but there is still a clear chance for it to fail at times.) So, when we're talking about Critical Role, even though resurrection spells exist in D&D, there is always a theoretical chance that they may not work. Like, I'm not telling you whether that's gonna happen or anything, but it is something that going forward is good to keep in mind that it might just fail for no particular reason because of Matt's homebrew rules.
They do have resurrection spells in DND, but Matt has some home rules for it. They have to do a ritual to try to lower the DC and it still comes down to dice. So death is still absolutely nail biting.
I'm loving your reaction to this series and it makes me immensely happy to see other people get so hyped for a story that was built by a buncha loving dorks around a table just having fun. It's amazeballs.
Don't forget to love each other!
It wasn't a fake out. She died.
By fake out, there were people saying there's no way for her to come back
There was another way to obtain the vestige: Vex could have not flubbed her dex save.
In-game, I think this all started just because no one checked for traps.
Vax: keeps using broken fingers to fight.
Deku: First time?
Not a test so much as a trade, he traded his freedom and soul for her life. I wish they had relayed it as well here as they did in the campaign.
He now has his haste ability back lol
🔥❤️🔥
Was Purvan voiced by Matt as well?
yep
Great reaction as always!!
I think what ppl were probably trying to emphasize (whether successful or not) is that Critical Role doesn't use normal DnD resurrection magic so when someone goes dead it's more serious than in RAW DnD. Matt prefers death to mean more so resurrection magic like revivify [used here] requires a ritual. Other PCs contribute and roll for level of success and then there is a final roll to see if the spell works. It makes for some really beautiful and gut-wrenching RP moments like "take me instead you raven bitch".
Ppl who were insisting Vex was dead in the comments might have been trying to clarify that simple heals wouldn't work like we've seen so far in LOVM.
I think revivify is just a single roll. Anything higher level like raise dead or such is a ritual
@@Boundwithflame23 I think it's changed situationally because Kash definitely used revivify here but there was also a ritual. Percy and Zahara had contributions to round out the 3 person requirement. But, I agree that in other situations revivify was just a roll.
@@beccam3629 Huh I thought it was raise dead in the stream because that’s what Kash had prepared
@@Boundwithflame23 I believe he had both and they went wm back and forth but the cast told him to use revivify.
Deathwalker's Ward
Properties
Bonus to AC (+1 to +3)
Advantage on death saving throws
Resistance to one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, or poison damage
Bonus Action to summon wings, flying speed 60 ft for 1 hour (1/Day)
Wish for us to get more info about Vax and the Matron of Ravens 🪶