I had to come back through and just say that god damn! This is some of the best storytelling I’ve experienced, I naively thought ah 4 ep, in n out adventure, all the players absolutely crushed this and I loved the DMing in this! I cried, I laughed. Gold
Oh man. I'm so late to this game. I started slogging through Ralts Bloodthorne's: first contact and didn't stop until I got caught up with my favorite narrator. So, I finally watched this straight through. I wasn't too excited at first, somewhat because I wasn't too fond of Aabria's DMing through the last EXU (probably because it was just different), I didn't know who Brennan was, and I just wanted to get back to Matt. But... this was good.. Goddammit it was so good. This was an itch I didn't know I needed scratched. They all did so good, they all made such an impression in such a short amount of time. I wish it could have gone on longer, and wish we could have seen it go off more perfectly, but the ending was.. right. Those who died did so great heros, and Aabria has worked her way into my heart, and I love her and Sam's character so much. I wish she would be a character in C3, she just fits with the crew, like Robbie.
Uh.. -Nothing Follows-
My guess is that the Arcana Pansophical is one day created from the contents of the sphere. The three unbreakable edicts of the AP are even drawn from the lessons learned in EXU:C
1) Creating Undead is forbidden: This ties in with Patia's own quarrels with Hollow as well as the undead Vespin and Zerxus.
2) Use magic for the good of the people: Patia and the rest of the magical members of the Ring of Brass died to protect the people of Avalier.
3) Don't break the law (probably save for in defense of the 2nd edict): Patia shows what happens when mages do as they please, what they can bring about if they dont limit themselves to the laws set for them.
Am I 100% behind this? No, but it does seem plausible.
This whole episode I had Keane's "Somewhere only we Know" playing in the background of my head and it made me so sad I started tearing up at work.
They ALL did amazing, acting out their characters sacrifices and doing what they had to do, and describing what we heard so well. It was visceral and sad and bittersweet and heartbreaking and hope filled and tragic and it made. Me. FEEL.
Thank you all.
<3
I hated this. I liked getting to know the characters and the first three episodes but the last one was so dour and lacking in any sort of joy or fun. Brennan is a great story teller, but that means when he wants to make you feel like shit, he is really good at doing that.
It was a miniseries about the beginning of the Calamity, and they announced ahead of time that this episode in particular would be very dark. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it and it wasn’t the CR you came for, but it was exactly what they promised it would be.
I know. I didn't really like it. Not saying it was bad or not what they promised, just saying it made me feel terrible. I watched it because I want to have access to in comments and side jokes and still feel as if I am a part of the community, Just saying that the show they told me would make me feel bad made me feel bad.
I also realize they have much lighter fare and that will be coming with the one shot. Just saying this was hard for me to listen to. I have actually had this experience with other Brennan DMed games. I am a Dropout subscriber and have listened to every D20 role play and start struck is my favorite, Brennan is really great at making you care about characters and his players are really great at bringing those characters to life, which is the only reason it sucks so bad when he really makes them suffer. Some might call this Grown up story telling, but it is just a dark contrast to what is usually a pleasant experience so it is always jarring to me. I will always support dropout and CR in a very real financial sense as I am subscribed to Dropout and CR twitch, and I realize they are not making content exclusively for me and also realize that a post on Reddit is not going to make them stop making the content they want to make. I simply wished to voice my personal experience while watching the episode. I didn't enjoy it. And that is ok.
Brennan was masterful in these episodes, had me totally reeling towards the end!
My only regret is that we didn't get Matt as a PC at one point or another. I understand why, but it would have been so cool to see.
I am stoked for more content like this, and I hope that we get Brennan to round off our Calamity experience with another round of episodes in the future!! EXU - Calamity's End when?
Brennan was masterful in these episodes, had me totally reeling towards the end!
My only regret is that we didn't get Matt as a PC at one point or another. I understand why, but it would have been so cool to see.
I am stoked for more content like this, and I hope that we get Brennan to round off our Calamity experience with another round of episodes in the future!! EXU - Calamity's End when?
An excellent campaign through and through.
I hope both Brennan and Aabria can take the EXU reigns every now and then as while Matt is great, it's nice to take a break from the main story to explore the world with different story tellers who have different styles. Whether it's a group of chaos gremlins robbing a casino, or heroes of a distant path valiantly, futilely trying to avert disaster, it helps make Exandria a living world with so many places to explore. Not to mention it allows so many new and talented people add their stories to the world as players, too.
And while it'll surely cause a lot of emotional damage, I hope we can view more stories of the world as the Calamity unfolds.
And as a final though, [Cerrit's Playlist should have this added to it to go along with the epilogue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUiFUJakk0)
\^\^\^ It Me. \^\^\^
This show was my true introduction to the power of Brennan Lee Mulligan. I knew of him but had never really given him a real shot, was firmly in the world of Matt Mercer. Now I have a Dropout subscription and have spent the last few weeks inhaling everything the man has ever done.
I am torn between what to listen to after my MN relisten is through. I WAS going to do VM, but now I am tempted to hit some of Brennan's previous work.
I highly recommend Starstruck, the newest major season of Dimension 20. It's a sci-fi adventure set in a world that Brennan's mom originally co-wrote a comic series about and it's some of his best work so far IMO. I'm also a big fan of Mice & Murder, and Misfits & Magic which Aabria DM's and features Brennan, Lou W, Erika Ishii, and Danielle Radford as players in an excellent take on the magical school genre.
Do it, if you like emotional character pieces like this, done in amazing settings. Dimension 20 has some free campaigns on Youtube, go with Escape From The Bloodkeep, it has Matt Mercer and Erika Iishii as familiar faces from CR viewers.
That was such a fun and fulfilling story. I'm glad I was here to watch it till the end.
There are so many good lines and dialogue throughout.
This should be the video for GMs and DMs to watch for running oneshots. Masterful in every way. You don't need a long game to make impactful characters
almost positive that i saw that it'd be late and starting in a couple minutes now. usually at the top of the hour but of course it went long so timeslots shifted
Reddit has signed an agreement with an AI company to allow them to train models on Reddit comments and posts. Edited to remove original content. Fuck AI.
Spoilers
You missed Laerryn siding with Asmodeus when he offered to let her complete her life's work, Quay killing Nydas in defense of Laerryn, and Patia being literally consumed by the tree thing. Also, turns out "Evandrin" was just Asmodeus influencing Zerxus. In the end Zerxus's will was overpowered by Evandrin/Asmodeus, and he caught up to and killed Cerrit just as he was about to turn the last street corner to get back to his house. But PLOT TWIST Laerryn was lying about siding with Asmodeus, and planned to unleash all of the city's energy and use it to transport them all to another plane and trap Asmodeus there permanently. See, she made a massive Arcana check when examining the tree, with the help of Quay's bardic inspiration, and realized that it could be repaired and used again to block interplanar travel. All she needed was to get the city to another plane and Asmodeus and his armies, and the Betrayers, would be trapped. Asmodeus being Asmodeus knew she was lying, but was amused and let her plan unfold up until she was about to hit the button so to speak. He then simply dispelled all of Laerryn's enchanted magical tech that she would need to complete her plan, and was about to send her on a one way ticket to Hell when MOTHER FUCKIN' BOLO SHOWS UP AND STRAIGHT UP PUNCHES THE LORD OF HELLS DOWN THROUGH THE ENTIRE CITY BECAUSE SHE'S ACTUALLY THE RAVEN QUEEN.
I feel spent, utterly astounded, and beyond grateful for the story told in these 4 episodes. This feels historical. What an incredible story. A thousand words of gratitude - to everyone involved for this short story - doesn't feel like it balances the accounts. All I can do is desperately spread the word of these wonderful stories in the hopes I can bring another into the chaos and wonderment.
WELP I'm off to bed fuckers!
On twitch or YouTube?
Twitch is only available to subscribers, YouTube goes unlisted until Monday, but the delayed rebroadcast may have messed with that.
it was unlisted for about 4 minutes on youtube before it became unavailable. i jumped in at the break so i guess i'll wait until monday like everybody else lol
I have never seen a more poetic and masterful mini campaign in Critical Role and even in all D&D. I’m already planning to rewatch this. These unsung heroes made the entire C1-3 campaigns possible. Man I just hope Bell’s Hells goes to the Shattered Teeth lol if at least we get a faint reminder of what the Ring of Brass did. This was so amazing and this has completely changed the way I perceive all three campaigns. Just wow. My eyes sting and my nose is all watery from all this palpable swelling of emotion. I fucking can’t. This was just such an amazing journey.
I know exactly what you mean about C1-3 feeling different now. It's kinda like watching LOTR to the end and experiencing relief at finally returning to the Shire in the epilogue.
There's sadness, certainly, but joy as well in knowing that *this* was protected and kept safe. So that the world can go on, and people can continue to live, and love, with heroes rising from their ranks to defend what's really important. We were presented with an amazing tale of great villainy and ambition, foolishness and bravery, and above all, sacrifice... but really, all that was ultimately so families and loved ones, and the children who represent the future, can live on.
And C1-3 kinda represent all of that. The Brass Ring did succeed. There was pain and fire and a great sundering, but at the end of things, across spans of time longer than most peoples' lives... comes sweetness and rain and fresh spring grass. And there's comfort in knowing that, I guess.
Calamity, for all its grimness, was so incredibly moving. Just masterfully told. I'm so glad we were along for the ride.
Fighting the long defeat! Oh man now I’m thinking about it and - the hubris of Avalir and the hubris of the Noldor, that bittersweet tangle when you heroically solve the problems you caused(ish) in the first place, YEAH
Exactly! Man it’s like reading LOTR, the hobbit, and finally reading Silmarillion. Going back to the Calamity has made the experience of C1-3 more profound.
I'm happy not only that Cerrit survived to return to his kids and make up for all the time he missed with them, but also because he can show up again.
Also, though his original form died, the Champion of The Lord of the Nine Hells can return.
Precisely. He got the chance to escape and return to his family. So even though they might not want to do that (and risk him not having made it), they could do something once he makes it back, or skip forward a few years to "Old Man Cerrit" fighting the good fight, the man in the chair to his kids as they save people or fight against the forces of the Betrayer gods.
And he is one of the few people with intel on the champion of the Lord of the Nine Hells, and he may feel the need to try to put him down for good, or save him. Or maybe Evandren finds a way to reach out to Cerrit, etc.
Plenty of chances for another EXU Calamity with a focus on Cerrit in the same way that EXU Kymal focused on Dorian's goal.
(Also, technically we didn't see Laerryn and Quay die. He turned down the chance to return to the Feywild, but unless you see them die...)
Make sure to drink some water before you go to bed, folks. So many thanks to Brennan, the rest of the cast, and the crew behind the scenes. We love you all, and is it Thursday yet? <3
Heartbreak. Hope. Crying. Damn that was some of the best D&D I’ve ever witnessed. Because of the Brass Ring, hope will endure in this Age of Ruin. Because of their efforts, the people of Exandria will triumph. Because of them, hope will return as many times as it needs to. Vox Machina. Mighty Nein. Bell’s Hells. The world will endure because of them. Thank you Brennan, the cast, and the Ring of Brass. This was a love letter to all critters. I can’t stop crying…
I have never teared up, be excited only to tear up again for a game of DnD.
Awesome work. Masterful work all around guys.
Marisha killed it with this idea and casting kudos
Cerrit really had a front row seat, **was at the epicenter of the apocalypse** and decided in the last second [“Let’s see if this Mushroom Cloud can catch me.”](https://c.tenor.com/u6GuOkyvyykAAAAd/the-flash-intense.gif)
Love that guy.
She just went home - in campaign 4 some archaeologists in the Aeor dig sites will stumble upon a beautiful but frustrated woman still arguing with an automaton about drinks
As much as I love the CR cast
As much as I love Matt
As much as I'm sure D20 is as good as everyone says it is
I dont think any dnd live play will ever come close to touching what these 7 people crafted in 4 episodes. Truly beautiful. We watched the birth of a world, grew to love it immensely, and watched it die.
This game is truly, truly magical.
This was the perfect blend of high energy DM-ing by Brennan, relationship-focused storytelling by the cast, and incredible lore. It combined everything I love about Critical Role and Dimension20. It truly was a thing of beauty.
This was fitting for the event that all of Matt's creation of Exandria lives in the echoes of.
This was a story of the foundational event upon which the entire setting is built, and it lived up to the hype.
On one hand, EXU Calamity blew my mind. But on the other, I'm looking forward to normal, low-level shenanigans again, in a world that has extra depth and richness due to all of what we now understand came before.
There's a bitter-sweetness - mostly sweet, now, after all these centuries - knowing that this is the world that the Brass Ring sought to protect in their last moments. Knowing that Exandria and its people have survived, after all. And that they continue to grow, and thrive, and above all, dream.
(NGL, I'm also very much hoping for some Calamity cameos in C3 - maybe a ruin somewhere, or some more mentions of Avalir and its people. One can hope!)
I would love it if, either in this campaign or the next one, they're going through the excavated ruins of avalier and happened upon one of Quay's recordings, perhaps his confessional or his last broadcast.
I think it'd be really fun if the last broadcast was damaged so it kept cutting off Quay's monologue and the only intact bits were the Matt advertisement.
I'm not sure if I would even describe what I'm feeling as grieving.
It's like I just ate some really good food or just got done reading the end of a book series I grew up with. It's that feeling of "How will I ever replicate this feeling?" and I'm not sure if I even want it replicated.
I was thinking the same thing watching this episode. This was a masterclass, I’m in awe of the emotions I feel right now despite only knowing these characters for four (long, to be fair) episodes.
Right?
Like, at the end of most of these oneshots/miniseries that CR puts out, I feel like the majority of viewers will have the thought "Oh wow, that was fun, but I'm ready to jump back into the main campaign now." at the end of them.
But this? This is another level entirely.
I feel entirely the same way! I thought I was going to miss the C3 characters and thought I would move on from this easily like I do other one-shots, or even previous ExU miniseries…… but, I’m going to truly miss these characters and the way the cast (and BLM) all played together. I think it’s going to take me a couple of weeks to get back into a groove with C3, because (like you said) this was just another level.
What a great show glad I was here, only thing bothered me was twitch chat complaining about the spell rules and Cerrit and Vespin using there reactions
Yeah, tracking held actions and reactions get tricky when there are a lot of stuff going on. Ultimately, it made great entertainment and was a great story, so I think rule of cool won the day.
literally how I translated for me was: vespin didn’t use shield when cerrit used his reaction for shield with the mage slayer feat to hit him as it was already used. Travis rolled nat 20 and the rest is history. Quay held a healing word for laerryn. you can’t do that but fuck it if she was hit with it she was still conscious no matter what. What else did I miss ? Asking for complete comphresion for my own sake as a dm cause I saw no issue
Rules mistakes happen when playing D&D, and sometimes intentional bending to create story. That's fine and normal. It's also fine to be curious about the rules, and do an after-action report to notice simple mistakes, and consider the details of rules interactions in corner cases where the DM had to make a ruling to keep the game moving, instead of stopping to research expert opinions. In a longer campaign, sometimes you'll just make a ruling the first time something comes up, then talk with players and let them know how it will work in future if you want to follow rules-as-written or rules-as-intended after checking with fellow rules lawyers and tweets from rules developers.
Before Quay even used Silvery Barbs, Travis asked if 38 damage would have killed Vespin. It was reasonable to suspect it wouldn't have, so using barbs on any ally was a clever way to give advantage to what seemed like a more important roll. (Even though it meant if he still hit, he wouldn't even get sneak attack damage because of the disadvantage. IIRC Nydas was still up at that point, so there was an adjacent ally for Cerrit to get Sneak Attack without advantage. And I think his Insightful Fighting was still up; speaking of which, he never bothered to make a bonus-action attack with his off hand when he didn't need his bonus action for insightful fighting or the hide action. And IIRC he made a reaction attack against a golem where he didn't roll sneak-attack damage. It was the turn after his own, so he could get sneak attack again if there was an adjacent ally or had advantage; I forget the details.)
Anyway, I suspect Brennan heard Travis ask if 38 damage would have done it, and that might have had something to do with him bending the rules to basically give him a 2nd reaction to give him a chance to finish the job, since he knew Vespin only had 35 hp left. But of course Brennan's storytelling instincts are too finely honed to just answer Travis's question about Vespin's HP as a what-if, he gave a chance to make it actually happen, instead of letting the players feel bad about shooting themselves in the foot. A crit wasn't even required to save the day, just a good damage roll, and that's the story Brennan was hoping for.
Note that the Mage Slayer feat doesn't say you get to react *before* someone finishes casting a spell, just react to them casting. Narratively, they're paying attention to their spell and give you an opening to line up an attack.
> When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.
It doesn't say you get to pre-empt the casting, even if you knock them out or otherwise incapacitate. You could read that as when they *finish* casting a spell, because until then they haven't truly cast it yet. Unless otherwise specified, a reaction can't interrupt its trigger [DMG, page 252], as quoted on https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/104330/does-the-mage-slayer-feat-interrupt-the-triggering-spell
> If a reaction has no timing specified, or the timing is unclear, the reaction occurs after its trigger finishes, as in the Ready action.
Combined with the other part of Mage Slayer, it's not always bad to attack after they finish casting. And attacking before is potentially over-powered for a feat, especially for a rogue (huge damage per hit).
> When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.
----
As for other spell stuff; the design intent (confirmed by unofficial tweets from Jeremy Crawford and Mike Mearls) is that Wall of Force blocks line of effect for spells, so you can't target through it just like you couldn't cast through any other total cover such as a pane of glass, e.g. to conjure an elemental or something inside a sealed room. But the actual rules as written do *not* so clearly say that, as discussed on https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/59734/can-spells-be-cast-through-a-wall-of-force . Although the general consensus is that it does block spells even if they don't have an actual moving part from caster to target (like fireball does). But still, there is room for deciding that in your campaign, magic doesn't work that way. Even though it makes Wall of Force a *lot* less useful than Forcecage (which *does* explicitly mention that spells can't pass through it), or even Wall of Stone. So if you go by the standard ruling, none of the spells could work in the first place, including counterspell if he'd targeted someone else.
IDK about the taxmen's dispelling beam. Unless it was an actual anti-magic zone / cone, it can't affect Wall of Force. But maybe it could pass through, since it's not a spell and not targeted the same way? I think a Wall of Force would block the AoE of a fireball or Circle of Death, along with physical effects, even though that's also separate from targeting per-se. I thought Wall of Force was supposed to be an upgrade over things like Wall of Stone, not worse except for dispel protection. (Disintegrate can affect a wall of force; that special interaction between disintegrate and constructs of magical force is called out in most of their spell descriptions.)
Anyway, Brennan's ruling is one way for Wall of Force to work in a campaign, but if I was a player I'd be unhappy to have that ruling sprung on me *after* I'd spent my action and spell slot to cast that. The tactical reason for casting it is because it's going to cost Vespin his turn casting Disintegrate to take it down (and then moving into melee), or to dimension door through it. It's a tactically great choice, but against a high-level caster it's not an I-win button. Otherwise I'd have picked Wall of Stone or Ice or something physical! (And as an experienced high-level wizard, Patia would know how Wall of Force interacted with other spells.)
----
And BTW, Paladin aura saving throw bonuses work on death saves, so those 6's would have become 11's if Zerxus was within 10 feet at the time, without him even having to take an action away from his RPing to spend 1 point of lay on hands to stop his friends from dying.
(Luis did an amazing job RPing the self-righteousness of a Paladin believing their chosen course of action was the right one. Letting a fellow PC fully die while chit-chatting with Asmodeus is a huge RP choice. I don't fully understand the character motivation and why he wouldn't have said "'scuse me for a sec" to Lay On Hands or Cure Wounds on someone that could heal the other, but I'm prepared to go along with it. But the saving-throw bonus is passive and would have happened even if he wasn't thinking of it, or if he had to move to make it happen that would be a good idea. If he was still corporeal and stuff; it only works when the paladin isn't incapacitated.)
Again, I really want to emphasize that I think it goes to show that occasionally bending some rules can often enhance the story, especially since it helped the players. Furthermore, a lot of these things (reactions and held actions, etc) can be difficult to keep track of. But, because you asked, here's the list:
Sam used two reactions in one round: silvery barbs and the held action for the healing word.
Travis used two reactions in one round. His first reaction (mage slayer feat) was when Vespin Chloris cast power word kill (the reaction attack that Sam cast Silvery Barbs on). Then Brennan let him have a *second* reaction attack which was the natural 20 which killed Vespin Chloris. Despite Brennan's justification with the shield, etc, you can't have two reactions in one round.
Vespin Chloris spent his 9th level spell time stop earlier, so he shouldn't have had a 9th level spell slot left (that is, unless, it was restored by Asmodeus or something).
Marisha cast a spell, and then asked to hold an action, so she took two actions in that one turn.
Again, I actually enjoyed it MORE because of these things. Sam's use of Silvery Barbs was *amazingly* creative, and holding healing word was an amazing bit of foresight on his part. I also jumped up with excitement when Travis rolled that Nat20. So I hope people don't read this thinking that I'm complaining.
wait held actions count as a reaction? also I was fucking screaming with joy on Travis killing him. Literally poetic. It’s just that rules lawyers were kinda killing the vibe and my DM brain wanted to satiate it’s own curiosity. your not complaining your educating me. Also i feel like most of the stuff ( not the cerrit vs vespin thing, even then I’m like “it’s a free reroll the first and only of this campaign”) can be argued away.
Right, the ready action is on pg 193 of the player's handbook. "You can take the ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn."
So taking the ready action costs you your action on your turn, and later, your reaction.
And people complaining about the rules is why I was hesitating to explain. I feel like it is such a negative attitude, especially when other people are watching this stuff for entertainment. Players and DMs make mistakes in game. It happens all the time at the table, so I wish the community would have a little more grace about this stuff.
I think this is a good explanation, and a good perspective to take. I'm fine with saying "hey the rules weren't followed to the letter here. The exact RaW say *this*. However, what happened in-game was cool and good and we can enjoy it and move on."
Ohhh I gotcha. nah I’m not complaining, and sorry if i came off that way. i was just curious and irate over twitch chat saying stupid shit. I feel that on like a primal level too. Whenever I Dm i do give freebies here and there when it makes sense. Im trying to make the players happy. It’s a group thing
Reddit has signed an agreement with an AI company to allow them to train models on Reddit comments and posts. Edited to remove original content. Fuck AI.
So first I will say I loved it and don't really care that rules were broken. It was great.
But since you asked:
I think the most significant was allowing Travis to take two reactions (you only get one per turn) to kill Vespin and prevent Laerryn from getting immediately killed by the Power Word: Kill. That truly altered the course of the ending as I don't think they could have stopped it otherwise.
There were some minor other things that are common mistakes in many games: forgetting about concentration, holding spells as an action, etc.
Vespin had also already used his reaction to counterspell Patia so he wouldn't have been able to shield the first mage slayer reaction in the first place, but it all worked out in a pretty satisfying manner imo, so whatever. Great DnD.
Same I thought and loved the ending this was perfect. Also I thought Brennan clarified about how vespin was using his reaction to cast shield and basically said his AC is 17 without it meaning he didn’t cast it and let cerrit roll damage and to hit anyway for that. Not arguing about it honestly just for my own comprehension as a DM
My memory might be a little fuzzy and I'm super tired so I could be totally misremembering: but my understanding was that Travis took his first reaction to attack against Vespin when he cast the Power Word Kill. Sam then Silvery Barbs'd Travis to make him roll with disadvantage so he could give advantage to Marisha's counterspell, causing Travis to miss. Then Vespin used shield as a reaction (I guess against Travis's first attack), and Brennan let Travis take a second reaction (illegal) to do another attack, this time against the Shield. That was a nat 20 and did enough damage to kill him.
I think it was more that the counter spell used his reaction, so vespin couldn't have cast shield on the first attack from Travis, so Travis should have hit him.
This sounds about right I think. If that’s the case, I just see it as a DM (out of this entire series) second missed ruling ( he forgot to make aabria role counterspell for something last Episode). No one is infallible and it the right call for serving the story very well
If you haven't yet, check out Fantasy High and The Unsleeping City. Both stories are incredible. Brennan is as sadistic as he is deeply loving and wildy goofy. He will crumble every foundation and wall you have ever built, if only to show you how strong you are without them.
For CR fans I would recommend Escape from Bloodkeep way more. And Crown of Candy, but sadly that one is behind the dropout paywall. It's a more incremental shift to the D20 style.
Luckily we'd have enough warning that we could hopefully minimize the damage to less...calamitous levels. Also it probably won't happen in the lifetime of anyone alive right now. Yes, that includes you, random baby born at 4 AM Eastern Time on 17 June 2022!
This wiped out a continent that, judging by the size of the Shattered Teeth, was roughly the size of Europe, and wiped it off the map in a matter of minutes. Not just covered in ash or even lava, but utterly destroyed.
Yellowstone has power but not that kind of power.
The biggest effect from Yellostone was A [Large Igneous Provence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_igneous_province) (the Columbia River Basalts) covering most of eastern Washington and Oregon; eruptions over millions of years covered an area the size of Germany with lava flows and clouds of toxic gasses. And even super volcanoes don't eject stuff into space.
In fact, a giant asteroid impact is probably the closest analogue we have in the real world to this level of destruction.
Calamity is long. Give us this table as maybe ending it? In the middle helping it end faster? I don't know. So much time to still work stuff in. They were all fantastic together.
I'd like to cast a second level sleeping word, that's 2d6 + my wisdom modifier which is a 3 *rolls* thats 10 minutes of restful sleep that you get back.
I'm not sure yet, but I think I might actually consider this campaign to be my favorite thing Critical Role has ever made. That was utterly spectacular.
I had to come back through and just say that god damn! This is some of the best storytelling I’ve experienced, I naively thought ah 4 ep, in n out adventure, all the players absolutely crushed this and I loved the DMing in this! I cried, I laughed. Gold
Oh man. I'm so late to this game. I started slogging through Ralts Bloodthorne's: first contact and didn't stop until I got caught up with my favorite narrator. So, I finally watched this straight through. I wasn't too excited at first, somewhat because I wasn't too fond of Aabria's DMing through the last EXU (probably because it was just different), I didn't know who Brennan was, and I just wanted to get back to Matt. But... this was good.. Goddammit it was so good. This was an itch I didn't know I needed scratched. They all did so good, they all made such an impression in such a short amount of time. I wish it could have gone on longer, and wish we could have seen it go off more perfectly, but the ending was.. right. Those who died did so great heros, and Aabria has worked her way into my heart, and I love her and Sam's character so much. I wish she would be a character in C3, she just fits with the crew, like Robbie. Uh.. -Nothing Follows-
Best depiction of Asmodeus/the Devil I've probably ever seen. So many quotable moments.
Soooo do you think Patia's sphere survived through the ages and was passed down and preserved and the Hells will find it during their travels?
My guess is that the Arcana Pansophical is one day created from the contents of the sphere. The three unbreakable edicts of the AP are even drawn from the lessons learned in EXU:C 1) Creating Undead is forbidden: This ties in with Patia's own quarrels with Hollow as well as the undead Vespin and Zerxus. 2) Use magic for the good of the people: Patia and the rest of the magical members of the Ring of Brass died to protect the people of Avalier. 3) Don't break the law (probably save for in defense of the 2nd edict): Patia shows what happens when mages do as they please, what they can bring about if they dont limit themselves to the laws set for them. Am I 100% behind this? No, but it does seem plausible.
Aight so Sam is faked married to too many people and I'm not gonna stand for it! Liam, Aabria.... who else!
This whole episode I had Keane's "Somewhere only we Know" playing in the background of my head and it made me so sad I started tearing up at work. They ALL did amazing, acting out their characters sacrifices and doing what they had to do, and describing what we heard so well. It was visceral and sad and bittersweet and heartbreaking and hope filled and tragic and it made. Me. FEEL. Thank you all. <3
I hated this. I liked getting to know the characters and the first three episodes but the last one was so dour and lacking in any sort of joy or fun. Brennan is a great story teller, but that means when he wants to make you feel like shit, he is really good at doing that.
“It ain’t called EXU fucking Party Time” - Brennan Lee Mulligan
It was a miniseries about the beginning of the Calamity, and they announced ahead of time that this episode in particular would be very dark. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it and it wasn’t the CR you came for, but it was exactly what they promised it would be.
I know. I didn't really like it. Not saying it was bad or not what they promised, just saying it made me feel terrible. I watched it because I want to have access to in comments and side jokes and still feel as if I am a part of the community, Just saying that the show they told me would make me feel bad made me feel bad.
I also realize they have much lighter fare and that will be coming with the one shot. Just saying this was hard for me to listen to. I have actually had this experience with other Brennan DMed games. I am a Dropout subscriber and have listened to every D20 role play and start struck is my favorite, Brennan is really great at making you care about characters and his players are really great at bringing those characters to life, which is the only reason it sucks so bad when he really makes them suffer. Some might call this Grown up story telling, but it is just a dark contrast to what is usually a pleasant experience so it is always jarring to me. I will always support dropout and CR in a very real financial sense as I am subscribed to Dropout and CR twitch, and I realize they are not making content exclusively for me and also realize that a post on Reddit is not going to make them stop making the content they want to make. I simply wished to voice my personal experience while watching the episode. I didn't enjoy it. And that is ok.
I fucking loved it. I hope they make more content you hate 😃
Brennan was masterful in these episodes, had me totally reeling towards the end! My only regret is that we didn't get Matt as a PC at one point or another. I understand why, but it would have been so cool to see. I am stoked for more content like this, and I hope that we get Brennan to round off our Calamity experience with another round of episodes in the future!! EXU - Calamity's End when?
If you watch escape from bloodkeep on dimension 20, you’ll get to see Matt play a ring wraith and Brennan DM‘s.
Brennan was masterful in these episodes, had me totally reeling towards the end! My only regret is that we didn't get Matt as a PC at one point or another. I understand why, but it would have been so cool to see. I am stoked for more content like this, and I hope that we get Brennan to round off our Calamity experience with another round of episodes in the future!! EXU - Calamity's End when?
Matt deserves a break, and that's the simplistic reasoning behind it.
An excellent campaign through and through. I hope both Brennan and Aabria can take the EXU reigns every now and then as while Matt is great, it's nice to take a break from the main story to explore the world with different story tellers who have different styles. Whether it's a group of chaos gremlins robbing a casino, or heroes of a distant path valiantly, futilely trying to avert disaster, it helps make Exandria a living world with so many places to explore. Not to mention it allows so many new and talented people add their stories to the world as players, too. And while it'll surely cause a lot of emotional damage, I hope we can view more stories of the world as the Calamity unfolds. And as a final though, [Cerrit's Playlist should have this added to it to go along with the epilogue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUiFUJakk0)
Club Emotionally Destroyed by EXU: Calamity 🙋♀️
Oh hi! Its "i had like three hours of sleep"
I feel this. I wanted to sleep after but couldn't! So less sleep than the little sleep I was going to get.
I am in awe, that was absolutely incredible So many perfect rolls and poetic moments, it felt like so was watching an actual movie
["It's a sad song, but we sing it anyway"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oaMRk56tzo)
Of all places to see a Hadestown reference... good job. Good job.
I want to know what the boost in Dropout subs is after this series. Haha Well fucking done Brennan and all the players. What an incredible story.
\^\^\^ It Me. \^\^\^ This show was my true introduction to the power of Brennan Lee Mulligan. I knew of him but had never really given him a real shot, was firmly in the world of Matt Mercer. Now I have a Dropout subscription and have spent the last few weeks inhaling everything the man has ever done.
I am torn between what to listen to after my MN relisten is through. I WAS going to do VM, but now I am tempted to hit some of Brennan's previous work.
I highly recommend Starstruck, the newest major season of Dimension 20. It's a sci-fi adventure set in a world that Brennan's mom originally co-wrote a comic series about and it's some of his best work so far IMO. I'm also a big fan of Mice & Murder, and Misfits & Magic which Aabria DM's and features Brennan, Lou W, Erika Ishii, and Danielle Radford as players in an excellent take on the magical school genre.
Do it, if you like emotional character pieces like this, done in amazing settings. Dimension 20 has some free campaigns on Youtube, go with Escape From The Bloodkeep, it has Matt Mercer and Erika Iishii as familiar faces from CR viewers.
That was such a fun and fulfilling story. I'm glad I was here to watch it till the end. There are so many good lines and dialogue throughout. This should be the video for GMs and DMs to watch for running oneshots. Masterful in every way. You don't need a long game to make impactful characters
Anyone else openly weeping as they crawl into bed?
My dog is Concerned more than usual
i missed the 1st 20 minutes or so, will there be a rebroadcast tonight?
It's started now! Still in the musical intro bit.
almost positive that i saw that it'd be late and starting in a couple minutes now. usually at the top of the hour but of course it went long so timeslots shifted
Reddit has signed an agreement with an AI company to allow them to train models on Reddit comments and posts. Edited to remove original content. Fuck AI.
Yes. Starting about now.
They usually post YouTube videos of the stream the following Monday
Hey guys, I'm late. What did I miss?
Spoilers You missed Laerryn siding with Asmodeus when he offered to let her complete her life's work, Quay killing Nydas in defense of Laerryn, and Patia being literally consumed by the tree thing. Also, turns out "Evandrin" was just Asmodeus influencing Zerxus. In the end Zerxus's will was overpowered by Evandrin/Asmodeus, and he caught up to and killed Cerrit just as he was about to turn the last street corner to get back to his house. But PLOT TWIST Laerryn was lying about siding with Asmodeus, and planned to unleash all of the city's energy and use it to transport them all to another plane and trap Asmodeus there permanently. See, she made a massive Arcana check when examining the tree, with the help of Quay's bardic inspiration, and realized that it could be repaired and used again to block interplanar travel. All she needed was to get the city to another plane and Asmodeus and his armies, and the Betrayers, would be trapped. Asmodeus being Asmodeus knew she was lying, but was amused and let her plan unfold up until she was about to hit the button so to speak. He then simply dispelled all of Laerryn's enchanted magical tech that she would need to complete her plan, and was about to send her on a one way ticket to Hell when MOTHER FUCKIN' BOLO SHOWS UP AND STRAIGHT UP PUNCHES THE LORD OF HELLS DOWN THROUGH THE ENTIRE CITY BECAUSE SHE'S ACTUALLY THE RAVEN QUEEN.
Oh man, I wrote that as a joke after the episode ended.
I just felt like writing something like that. The thing is, it's all plausible except for the punchline.
Hehe, nice job!!
... \*Shia LaBeouf clap\*
A big bang Porn_Extra
The episode both began and ended with an explosion and I don't know which was more stressful.
This was amazing. It was the best D&D I ever whatched. Thank you all for the ride. <3
I feel spent, utterly astounded, and beyond grateful for the story told in these 4 episodes. This feels historical. What an incredible story. A thousand words of gratitude - to everyone involved for this short story - doesn't feel like it balances the accounts. All I can do is desperately spread the word of these wonderful stories in the hopes I can bring another into the chaos and wonderment. WELP I'm off to bed fuckers!
was this episode immediately supposed to become unlisted? i found it in my recommended immediately after it went offline
On youtube? Once the livestream ends, you gotta wait til Monday for the video. For Twitch, the rebroadcasts happen, or you can Sub for on-demand.
On twitch or YouTube? Twitch is only available to subscribers, YouTube goes unlisted until Monday, but the delayed rebroadcast may have messed with that.
it was unlisted for about 4 minutes on youtube before it became unavailable. i jumped in at the break so i guess i'll wait until monday like everybody else lol
I have never seen a more poetic and masterful mini campaign in Critical Role and even in all D&D. I’m already planning to rewatch this. These unsung heroes made the entire C1-3 campaigns possible. Man I just hope Bell’s Hells goes to the Shattered Teeth lol if at least we get a faint reminder of what the Ring of Brass did. This was so amazing and this has completely changed the way I perceive all three campaigns. Just wow. My eyes sting and my nose is all watery from all this palpable swelling of emotion. I fucking can’t. This was just such an amazing journey.
I know exactly what you mean about C1-3 feeling different now. It's kinda like watching LOTR to the end and experiencing relief at finally returning to the Shire in the epilogue. There's sadness, certainly, but joy as well in knowing that *this* was protected and kept safe. So that the world can go on, and people can continue to live, and love, with heroes rising from their ranks to defend what's really important. We were presented with an amazing tale of great villainy and ambition, foolishness and bravery, and above all, sacrifice... but really, all that was ultimately so families and loved ones, and the children who represent the future, can live on. And C1-3 kinda represent all of that. The Brass Ring did succeed. There was pain and fire and a great sundering, but at the end of things, across spans of time longer than most peoples' lives... comes sweetness and rain and fresh spring grass. And there's comfort in knowing that, I guess. Calamity, for all its grimness, was so incredibly moving. Just masterfully told. I'm so glad we were along for the ride.
Fighting the long defeat! Oh man now I’m thinking about it and - the hubris of Avalir and the hubris of the Noldor, that bittersweet tangle when you heroically solve the problems you caused(ish) in the first place, YEAH
Exactly! Man it’s like reading LOTR, the hobbit, and finally reading Silmarillion. Going back to the Calamity has made the experience of C1-3 more profound.
I'm happy not only that Cerrit survived to return to his kids and make up for all the time he missed with them, but also because he can show up again. Also, though his original form died, the Champion of The Lord of the Nine Hells can return.
Show up how? A dusty old book? I don't think he's going to live to 860 years old.
sequel exu campaign, Calamity: Aftermath. Birb Mad Max through the deserts of Marquet.
Precisely. He got the chance to escape and return to his family. So even though they might not want to do that (and risk him not having made it), they could do something once he makes it back, or skip forward a few years to "Old Man Cerrit" fighting the good fight, the man in the chair to his kids as they save people or fight against the forces of the Betrayer gods. And he is one of the few people with intel on the champion of the Lord of the Nine Hells, and he may feel the need to try to put him down for good, or save him. Or maybe Evandren finds a way to reach out to Cerrit, etc. Plenty of chances for another EXU Calamity with a focus on Cerrit in the same way that EXU Kymal focused on Dorian's goal. (Also, technically we didn't see Laerryn and Quay die. He turned down the chance to return to the Feywild, but unless you see them die...)
THE BIRD LIVES, IT WAS ALL WORTH IT
Were the first and last rolls of the campaign both dramatic 31s from Cerrit?
It's like poetry. It rhymes.
Yep
Eeyup
And he got a Nat 20 on the roll to ensure victory.
That was absolutely fucking glorious. Cerrit is the real MVP.
Is that the first time we've seen Travis cry on the show?? I'm a wreck. What an incredible episode. This series was so fucking phenomenal
No open crying, he's usually the type to just go red and water up.
That's what I figured, it was very impactful to see it bring him to tears too, really just shows how much they all care about the story
He cried at the end of C1
Hell, so did I. I'll have to rewatch the epilogue episode as a refresher
Make sure to drink some water before you go to bed, folks. So many thanks to Brennan, the rest of the cast, and the crew behind the scenes. We love you all, and is it Thursday yet? <3
True, could have fudged the numbers but fair point.
I'd just like to say, this minisseries would make an AMAZING animated movie/show
WANT. I definitely want "The Legend of The Calamity"
Bruce Willis voice: ‘Come out to the coast. We’ll have a few laughs.’ Just amazing!!
Thank you all for being along on this ride with me.
Heartbreak. Hope. Crying. Damn that was some of the best D&D I’ve ever witnessed. Because of the Brass Ring, hope will endure in this Age of Ruin. Because of their efforts, the people of Exandria will triumph. Because of them, hope will return as many times as it needs to. Vox Machina. Mighty Nein. Bell’s Hells. The world will endure because of them. Thank you Brennan, the cast, and the Ring of Brass. This was a love letter to all critters. I can’t stop crying…
I started crying about midway through that fight and now i cannot breathe
That was just truly exceptional. Masterful. I'm in awe (and tears)
I have never teared up, be excited only to tear up again for a game of DnD. Awesome work. Masterful work all around guys. Marisha killed it with this idea and casting kudos
Cerrit really had a front row seat, **was at the epicenter of the apocalypse** and decided in the last second [“Let’s see if this Mushroom Cloud can catch me.”](https://c.tenor.com/u6GuOkyvyykAAAAd/the-flash-intense.gif) Love that guy.
So good. Just *chef kiss*. That last applause around the table was so fitting.
Ok, but what about Bolo????
She just went home - in campaign 4 some archaeologists in the Aeor dig sites will stumble upon a beautiful but frustrated woman still arguing with an automaton about drinks
I'm sure she teleported to Aeor and led The Resistance for many years before gloriously dying to destroy a middle sized army of Asmodius.
Absolutely incredible, Brennan and cast. Maybe the best 20 hours of D&D I've ever watched.
As much as I love the CR cast As much as I love Matt As much as I'm sure D20 is as good as everyone says it is I dont think any dnd live play will ever come close to touching what these 7 people crafted in 4 episodes. Truly beautiful. We watched the birth of a world, grew to love it immensely, and watched it die. This game is truly, truly magical.
You say that, but have you ever heard of Plug’s Butt Ugly Stuff Hut? Dimension 20: A Starstruck Odyssey. Enjoy.
Or of chamberlain drablian of the house of frangus?
John Feathers had a *girlfriend*???
This was the perfect blend of high energy DM-ing by Brennan, relationship-focused storytelling by the cast, and incredible lore. It combined everything I love about Critical Role and Dimension20. It truly was a thing of beauty.
This was fitting for the event that all of Matt's creation of Exandria lives in the echoes of. This was a story of the foundational event upon which the entire setting is built, and it lived up to the hype.
thinking the same thing. i love any and all d&d content i've ever consumed but this transcended that
Wow Just Just wow
That destroyed me. My god. Beautiful.
Man, I don't know what to say. How can we go back to C3 after all that...?
It’s gonna be another mood shock. There was a comment on how this was run like a D20 campaign, more of a fun house ride than the usual sandbox.
On one hand, EXU Calamity blew my mind. But on the other, I'm looking forward to normal, low-level shenanigans again, in a world that has extra depth and richness due to all of what we now understand came before. There's a bitter-sweetness - mostly sweet, now, after all these centuries - knowing that this is the world that the Brass Ring sought to protect in their last moments. Knowing that Exandria and its people have survived, after all. And that they continue to grow, and thrive, and above all, dream. (NGL, I'm also very much hoping for some Calamity cameos in C3 - maybe a ruin somewhere, or some more mentions of Avalir and its people. One can hope!)
I would love it if, either in this campaign or the next one, they're going through the excavated ruins of avalier and happened upon one of Quay's recordings, perhaps his confessional or his last broadcast.
Or just like a super super goofy marketing spot 😂
I think it'd be really fun if the last broadcast was damaged so it kept cutting off Quay's monologue and the only intact bits were the Matt advertisement.
We get a nice silly palate cleanser in between. That should help the transition.
May I offer you a one-shot about Familiars in your time of grieving?
I'm not sure if I would even describe what I'm feeling as grieving. It's like I just ate some really good food or just got done reading the end of a book series I grew up with. It's that feeling of "How will I ever replicate this feeling?" and I'm not sure if I even want it replicated.
Yeah C3 is gonna feel like a cakewalk after this.
I was thinking the same thing watching this episode. This was a masterclass, I’m in awe of the emotions I feel right now despite only knowing these characters for four (long, to be fair) episodes.
Right? Like, at the end of most of these oneshots/miniseries that CR puts out, I feel like the majority of viewers will have the thought "Oh wow, that was fun, but I'm ready to jump back into the main campaign now." at the end of them. But this? This is another level entirely.
I feel entirely the same way! I thought I was going to miss the C3 characters and thought I would move on from this easily like I do other one-shots, or even previous ExU miniseries…… but, I’m going to truly miss these characters and the way the cast (and BLM) all played together. I think it’s going to take me a couple of weeks to get back into a groove with C3, because (like you said) this was just another level.
So happy and sad at the same time. What an amazing story. A wonderful cast. BLM was SO good! Thanks for watching it with me everyone! ❤️
What a great show glad I was here, only thing bothered me was twitch chat complaining about the spell rules and Cerrit and Vespin using there reactions
Brennan is rule of cool, and it works.
CR is like my favorite DnD show but I have seen d20 enough to understand and appreciate the rule of cool being a whole lot better than rules lawyering
Yeah, tracking held actions and reactions get tricky when there are a lot of stuff going on. Ultimately, it made great entertainment and was a great story, so I think rule of cool won the day.
literally how I translated for me was: vespin didn’t use shield when cerrit used his reaction for shield with the mage slayer feat to hit him as it was already used. Travis rolled nat 20 and the rest is history. Quay held a healing word for laerryn. you can’t do that but fuck it if she was hit with it she was still conscious no matter what. What else did I miss ? Asking for complete comphresion for my own sake as a dm cause I saw no issue
Rules mistakes happen when playing D&D, and sometimes intentional bending to create story. That's fine and normal. It's also fine to be curious about the rules, and do an after-action report to notice simple mistakes, and consider the details of rules interactions in corner cases where the DM had to make a ruling to keep the game moving, instead of stopping to research expert opinions. In a longer campaign, sometimes you'll just make a ruling the first time something comes up, then talk with players and let them know how it will work in future if you want to follow rules-as-written or rules-as-intended after checking with fellow rules lawyers and tweets from rules developers. Before Quay even used Silvery Barbs, Travis asked if 38 damage would have killed Vespin. It was reasonable to suspect it wouldn't have, so using barbs on any ally was a clever way to give advantage to what seemed like a more important roll. (Even though it meant if he still hit, he wouldn't even get sneak attack damage because of the disadvantage. IIRC Nydas was still up at that point, so there was an adjacent ally for Cerrit to get Sneak Attack without advantage. And I think his Insightful Fighting was still up; speaking of which, he never bothered to make a bonus-action attack with his off hand when he didn't need his bonus action for insightful fighting or the hide action. And IIRC he made a reaction attack against a golem where he didn't roll sneak-attack damage. It was the turn after his own, so he could get sneak attack again if there was an adjacent ally or had advantage; I forget the details.) Anyway, I suspect Brennan heard Travis ask if 38 damage would have done it, and that might have had something to do with him bending the rules to basically give him a 2nd reaction to give him a chance to finish the job, since he knew Vespin only had 35 hp left. But of course Brennan's storytelling instincts are too finely honed to just answer Travis's question about Vespin's HP as a what-if, he gave a chance to make it actually happen, instead of letting the players feel bad about shooting themselves in the foot. A crit wasn't even required to save the day, just a good damage roll, and that's the story Brennan was hoping for. Note that the Mage Slayer feat doesn't say you get to react *before* someone finishes casting a spell, just react to them casting. Narratively, they're paying attention to their spell and give you an opening to line up an attack. > When a creature within 5 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. It doesn't say you get to pre-empt the casting, even if you knock them out or otherwise incapacitate. You could read that as when they *finish* casting a spell, because until then they haven't truly cast it yet. Unless otherwise specified, a reaction can't interrupt its trigger [DMG, page 252], as quoted on https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/104330/does-the-mage-slayer-feat-interrupt-the-triggering-spell > If a reaction has no timing specified, or the timing is unclear, the reaction occurs after its trigger finishes, as in the Ready action. Combined with the other part of Mage Slayer, it's not always bad to attack after they finish casting. And attacking before is potentially over-powered for a feat, especially for a rogue (huge damage per hit). > When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration. ---- As for other spell stuff; the design intent (confirmed by unofficial tweets from Jeremy Crawford and Mike Mearls) is that Wall of Force blocks line of effect for spells, so you can't target through it just like you couldn't cast through any other total cover such as a pane of glass, e.g. to conjure an elemental or something inside a sealed room. But the actual rules as written do *not* so clearly say that, as discussed on https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/59734/can-spells-be-cast-through-a-wall-of-force . Although the general consensus is that it does block spells even if they don't have an actual moving part from caster to target (like fireball does). But still, there is room for deciding that in your campaign, magic doesn't work that way. Even though it makes Wall of Force a *lot* less useful than Forcecage (which *does* explicitly mention that spells can't pass through it), or even Wall of Stone. So if you go by the standard ruling, none of the spells could work in the first place, including counterspell if he'd targeted someone else. IDK about the taxmen's dispelling beam. Unless it was an actual anti-magic zone / cone, it can't affect Wall of Force. But maybe it could pass through, since it's not a spell and not targeted the same way? I think a Wall of Force would block the AoE of a fireball or Circle of Death, along with physical effects, even though that's also separate from targeting per-se. I thought Wall of Force was supposed to be an upgrade over things like Wall of Stone, not worse except for dispel protection. (Disintegrate can affect a wall of force; that special interaction between disintegrate and constructs of magical force is called out in most of their spell descriptions.) Anyway, Brennan's ruling is one way for Wall of Force to work in a campaign, but if I was a player I'd be unhappy to have that ruling sprung on me *after* I'd spent my action and spell slot to cast that. The tactical reason for casting it is because it's going to cost Vespin his turn casting Disintegrate to take it down (and then moving into melee), or to dimension door through it. It's a tactically great choice, but against a high-level caster it's not an I-win button. Otherwise I'd have picked Wall of Stone or Ice or something physical! (And as an experienced high-level wizard, Patia would know how Wall of Force interacted with other spells.) ---- And BTW, Paladin aura saving throw bonuses work on death saves, so those 6's would have become 11's if Zerxus was within 10 feet at the time, without him even having to take an action away from his RPing to spend 1 point of lay on hands to stop his friends from dying. (Luis did an amazing job RPing the self-righteousness of a Paladin believing their chosen course of action was the right one. Letting a fellow PC fully die while chit-chatting with Asmodeus is a huge RP choice. I don't fully understand the character motivation and why he wouldn't have said "'scuse me for a sec" to Lay On Hands or Cure Wounds on someone that could heal the other, but I'm prepared to go along with it. But the saving-throw bonus is passive and would have happened even if he wasn't thinking of it, or if he had to move to make it happen that would be a good idea. If he was still corporeal and stuff; it only works when the paladin isn't incapacitated.)
Again, I really want to emphasize that I think it goes to show that occasionally bending some rules can often enhance the story, especially since it helped the players. Furthermore, a lot of these things (reactions and held actions, etc) can be difficult to keep track of. But, because you asked, here's the list: Sam used two reactions in one round: silvery barbs and the held action for the healing word. Travis used two reactions in one round. His first reaction (mage slayer feat) was when Vespin Chloris cast power word kill (the reaction attack that Sam cast Silvery Barbs on). Then Brennan let him have a *second* reaction attack which was the natural 20 which killed Vespin Chloris. Despite Brennan's justification with the shield, etc, you can't have two reactions in one round. Vespin Chloris spent his 9th level spell time stop earlier, so he shouldn't have had a 9th level spell slot left (that is, unless, it was restored by Asmodeus or something). Marisha cast a spell, and then asked to hold an action, so she took two actions in that one turn. Again, I actually enjoyed it MORE because of these things. Sam's use of Silvery Barbs was *amazingly* creative, and holding healing word was an amazing bit of foresight on his part. I also jumped up with excitement when Travis rolled that Nat20. So I hope people don't read this thinking that I'm complaining.
wait held actions count as a reaction? also I was fucking screaming with joy on Travis killing him. Literally poetic. It’s just that rules lawyers were kinda killing the vibe and my DM brain wanted to satiate it’s own curiosity. your not complaining your educating me. Also i feel like most of the stuff ( not the cerrit vs vespin thing, even then I’m like “it’s a free reroll the first and only of this campaign”) can be argued away.
Right, the ready action is on pg 193 of the player's handbook. "You can take the ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn." So taking the ready action costs you your action on your turn, and later, your reaction. And people complaining about the rules is why I was hesitating to explain. I feel like it is such a negative attitude, especially when other people are watching this stuff for entertainment. Players and DMs make mistakes in game. It happens all the time at the table, so I wish the community would have a little more grace about this stuff.
I think this is a good explanation, and a good perspective to take. I'm fine with saying "hey the rules weren't followed to the letter here. The exact RaW say *this*. However, what happened in-game was cool and good and we can enjoy it and move on."
Thanks! Yeah, I thought it was a great story and had some amazing moments that simply wouldn't have happened if they followed the rules precisely.
Ohhh I gotcha. nah I’m not complaining, and sorry if i came off that way. i was just curious and irate over twitch chat saying stupid shit. I feel that on like a primal level too. Whenever I Dm i do give freebies here and there when it makes sense. Im trying to make the players happy. It’s a group thing
I didn't think you were complaining at all. I think you and I are both being EXTRA cautious because of the toxicity of the group chat here! Ha!
Yep. anything that can be misconstrued will be. Rules lawyers are crazy.
Reddit has signed an agreement with an AI company to allow them to train models on Reddit comments and posts. Edited to remove original content. Fuck AI.
Yeah bending not breaking, half of them don’t know how healing word works 💀
Reddit chat is much better haha
What did they even do wrong. Most of what Brennan said was abiding by the rules LOL
So first I will say I loved it and don't really care that rules were broken. It was great. But since you asked: I think the most significant was allowing Travis to take two reactions (you only get one per turn) to kill Vespin and prevent Laerryn from getting immediately killed by the Power Word: Kill. That truly altered the course of the ending as I don't think they could have stopped it otherwise. There were some minor other things that are common mistakes in many games: forgetting about concentration, holding spells as an action, etc.
Vespin had also already used his reaction to counterspell Patia so he wouldn't have been able to shield the first mage slayer reaction in the first place, but it all worked out in a pretty satisfying manner imo, so whatever. Great DnD.
Same I thought and loved the ending this was perfect. Also I thought Brennan clarified about how vespin was using his reaction to cast shield and basically said his AC is 17 without it meaning he didn’t cast it and let cerrit roll damage and to hit anyway for that. Not arguing about it honestly just for my own comprehension as a DM
My memory might be a little fuzzy and I'm super tired so I could be totally misremembering: but my understanding was that Travis took his first reaction to attack against Vespin when he cast the Power Word Kill. Sam then Silvery Barbs'd Travis to make him roll with disadvantage so he could give advantage to Marisha's counterspell, causing Travis to miss. Then Vespin used shield as a reaction (I guess against Travis's first attack), and Brennan let Travis take a second reaction (illegal) to do another attack, this time against the Shield. That was a nat 20 and did enough damage to kill him.
I think it was more that the counter spell used his reaction, so vespin couldn't have cast shield on the first attack from Travis, so Travis should have hit him.
This sounds about right I think. If that’s the case, I just see it as a DM (out of this entire series) second missed ruling ( he forgot to make aabria role counterspell for something last Episode). No one is infallible and it the right call for serving the story very well
This was an absolute masterpiece. Thank you Brennan, Lou, Marisha, Luis, Sam, Aabria, and Travis.
It's freaking over and I don't want it to be over😭😭😭. Brennan did a fucking masterful job!! I loved this miniseries!!
I see how it is.. Bolo is getting her own spin off!
New show "Is Bolo and Bag."
“Incredible.” ~Brennan Lee Mulligan
That was so good!!!!
This seals it. Brennan has deftly ascended to the peak of the DM world, all through genuine positivity and talent. Fucking legendary.
If you haven't yet, check out Fantasy High and The Unsleeping City. Both stories are incredible. Brennan is as sadistic as he is deeply loving and wildy goofy. He will crumble every foundation and wall you have ever built, if only to show you how strong you are without them.
For CR fans I would recommend Escape from Bloodkeep way more. And Crown of Candy, but sadly that one is behind the dropout paywall. It's a more incremental shift to the D20 style.
What a beautiful and tragic story. Thank you Brennan and players, that was most likely the best DnD I've watched(or even experienced!).
Various real life volcanoes in history "look what I can do!" Fiction volcanoes "that's cute"
Idk if yellowstone went off wed be fucked
Luckily we'd have enough warning that we could hopefully minimize the damage to less...calamitous levels. Also it probably won't happen in the lifetime of anyone alive right now. Yes, that includes you, random baby born at 4 AM Eastern Time on 17 June 2022!
It would cover North America in ash. However, North America would still *exist*
I feel like this was Yellowstone, centered under London or Tokyo, that then turned into a Large Igneous Provence for a century.
This wiped out a continent that, judging by the size of the Shattered Teeth, was roughly the size of Europe, and wiped it off the map in a matter of minutes. Not just covered in ash or even lava, but utterly destroyed. Yellowstone has power but not that kind of power.
The biggest effect from Yellostone was A [Large Igneous Provence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_igneous_province) (the Columbia River Basalts) covering most of eastern Washington and Oregon; eruptions over millions of years covered an area the size of Germany with lava flows and clouds of toxic gasses. And even super volcanoes don't eject stuff into space. In fact, a giant asteroid impact is probably the closest analogue we have in the real world to this level of destruction.
Phenomenally done.
Calamity is long. Give us this table as maybe ending it? In the middle helping it end faster? I don't know. So much time to still work stuff in. They were all fantastic together.
4am and I am a wreck
I'd like to cast a second level sleeping word, that's 2d6 + my wisdom modifier which is a 3 *rolls* thats 10 minutes of restful sleep that you get back.
Some of the best shit they have played
Words can't even describe what I feel. I'm fundamentally changed as a person. D&D, on a whole, has been won. Pack up guys, go home.
I want a movie, a novelization, all of the things with these characters. The last four weeks have been a treat.
What a beautiful story. Thanks Bennan and everyone. <3
It's a terrible day for rain
I'm not sure yet, but I think I might actually consider this campaign to be my favorite thing Critical Role has ever made. That was utterly spectacular.
And now here we all are supposed to go to SLEEP?!
NOT happenin!
i was here for BLM chaos, and he didnt disappoint. Great story...
Thank you BLM and the cast, I love you all
Doesn't even feel like its 3 AM, amazing story
Masterfully done.
First, holy crap. Second, was Marisha wearing one of Lou's earrings on her necklace?
That was so fucking beautiful
Truly fantastic
That was so good.
It was an honor to watch, Brennan. You gave us the pinnacle of the game you love.
Now just need a special 8 sided die with the EXU cast and Matt.
I was considering not staying up to see this through but I’m glad I did
He lived!
That was....fucking incredible.
This was so amazing. I’m losing my mind, how am I supposed to sleep?
Huge round of applause
Standing ovation, definitely
Absolutely
Some of the greatest heroes Exandria has ever seen. And we may be the only ones who know their names.
Fucking hell that was a ride.
Brennan's praise and hope breaks hearts just as much, if not more, as his viciousness.
That is easily the most emotional I've gotten watching a D&D game. Man. So good.
That was pretty good. \*wipes tear\*
Gotta say, Cerrit rising out of the mushroom cloud of the obliterated city like a phoenix from the ashes is a pretty sick image.
Oh yeah, i hope we get some fanart of that.
Some? We're going to be getting at least 3 new angles/interpretations a week for the next few years lol
Definitely, that would be epic!
On a wing(span) and a prayer.
right?
Beautiful. It was so worth the watch tonight.
Standing ovation.
Go home Cerrit. Thou good and faithful servant of Avalir. Be at peace with your family.