#caleb's relationship with polymorph is FASCINATING

[piratespencil]

Caleb turning into a sheep because of the Aeor magic and Beau just going eh, maybe he should just stay a sheep, it's not a bad ending for him is both hilarious and a little bit fucking tragic. Especially because Liam is like yeah he keeps trying to do this, have you seen how much he loves polymorph.

[captainsspnanon]

C2E60 - A Turtle By Any Other Name - rewatch

It’s odd.  I hated the HP trackers in CR, but I love the HP trackers in D20.  *shrugs*

Did I just watch the episode with the origin of “Hoot Growl” in D20? (or at least the episode where it comes up the most?)  Yes.  Am I jumping back into CR for now?  Also yes.

(I used to watch things that weren’t dnd, you know.  Like, tv shows and shit. *sighs wistfully*  ...then again, I’m very much a creature of habit.  Fell in love with Leverage?  Let’s watch Hustle, and White Collar, and Person of Interest...and not finish any of them.   EVENTUALLY.)

……...is this the episode which starts Fjord’s fear of turtles?  OH YES

Or, I suppose, Fjord’s fear of any creature Polymorphed into a small should be harmless thing that still decides to attack him.  *cough purple worm bunny cough*

Damn, looks like top table’s going to be a bit fuzzy again.  Hopefully it’ll get back to clear soon.  (from later on, it looks better now?  Can’t tell if the switched that cam with the standing Matt cam?  I give up XD)

Fun fact!  By watching C2 before C1, I had NO CLUE that Travis and Ashley are as close as they are, especially since Yasha and Fjord don’t interact too much until later on in the campaign.  So moments like now, when Yasha uses Healing Hands on Fjord, and even moments of Travis getting excited when she rages, I never got the unspoken background like I do now.  Very similar to not having the experience of having the twins first before Caleb and Jester, or Vaxleth before Beau and Caleb. Watching it know with the knowledge of all the relationships beforehand, I won’t say it impacts my watching greatly – because these are all professional actors and the PC relationships are so distinct, but it instead triggers small flashes of tie ins.  Was the Healing Hands a ‘Buddy!’ moment from C1?  Are Fjord and Beau so close because there was a layer of Keyleth and Grog that they didn’t get the chance to explore (I’m still fascinated by the fact that Marisha was considering a level of barbarian for Keyleth)?  It’s a unique undercurrent, because it’s not subtext in the campaign, it’s not anything layered in there from the cast.  It’s a fans-eye-view perspective of the dynamics.

*just heart-eyes Caleb’s description for Flaming Sphere*  I’m currently playing a Circle of Stars druid, and I’m flavoring a lot of my spells to be star-related, and I’m taking SO MUCH influence from how Liam played Caleb.  Throwing in a ton of flavor, but just over the span of a few seconds so that the rest of the table doesn’t feel like they’re sitting through a spiel.  (my Thorn Whip is a thin rope of inky darkness studded with pinpricks of starlight that pierce the target with flares of white.  Still piercing damage, still a cantrip, but flavored for funs.  No material components though, got my star map focus as a long dangling multi-disc earring)

First Making My Way!!!  Though in this case (and for a bit yet), they sing more of the song before they start shortening it up.  Two running jokes in quick succession for episodes!

Caleb killing the goblin and Matt tearing up the NPC sheet while the cast cracks up is the BEST.

lol Laura doughnut craving and then basically everyone jumping in quietly with an order

POLY MORPH POLY MORPH POLY MORPH

Huh, I forgot that the fear effect may be why Fjord is so frighted of it.  I’ll have to see if he makes his save or not.  REGARDLESS, I love that it becomes a running joke even without the fear effect.

Ah the Giant Tortoise vs having to use stats so Giant Snapping Turtle which suddenly is much more violent

Nothing as beautiful a representation of the top table by having Marisha hold the box of doughnuts and Travis and Liam LUNGE to hide the logo at the exact same time.  OH THE CHAOS.

LIGHTING GLOVES!!!! I don’t have much to say because just extended combat which is...yanno, just combat, but there’s still a lot of fun moments happening.

Huh.  Being more familiar with the rules of dnd now, it is interesting to see Matt make some weird calls that really make no sense.  Fjord can’t take the dodge action because he’s up against the wall?  I get that it’s a very funny moment and they’re all cracking jokes, but I can’t really see a mechanical reason that he wouldn’t be allowed to take the dodge, especially because he’s actively not doing anything else.  Doesn’t ruin my enjoyment!  But I’m definitely seeing things that I super didn’t notice the first time around because I didn’t know enough.

IT’S A REGULAR FUCKING TURTLE I love every aspect of this with my whole heart

holy crap I forgot that Matt really doesn’t let them rest!  This’ll be the third initiative of the day.  I know there’s a lot of debate in the dnd community about the 6-8 encounters per day and possible misunderstandings thereof, so I know that this is actually fairly reasonable, but also OOF.  They don’t even get a short rest in between any of these.  Then again, I’m also very low level right now in my game, so I wonder how something like this would play out for me when I’m at the equivalent level.  I’m not used to have lots of spell slots yet, I’m not even sure how many I would HAVE. Sadly, won’t be able to share anytime soon, I don’t expect to be around this level for half a year at least.  (infrequent games, sadly)

I love that Beau’s turn this combat is just to explain her notes to Caleb.  We’re getting into bookish!Beau territory, which I fucking love.  Still a good 21 episodes from where she gets her headband of intellect though.

LOL Now that I know who set the rift making machine, I am completely thrown by the fact that they suspected Dairon.  It makes complete sense!  I’m sure I agreed when I first saw it!  But now it’s just so unthinkable to me.

Alright, time to watch the last hour of this before I watch the two part finale of Fantasy High.  (still not fully vibing with this one personally, but I want to watch all of them in order, and they have a second run for it, plus I think The Seven is also set in the same world?  So watching them all.  Very much looking forwards to the second campaign for Unsleeping City, and I have a feeling I’ll probably end up loving Crown of Candy considering all the shit I hear about it?)

I feel so bad for Soorna, she feels so responsible for not being able to save her people.  :(  Visions have never been easy to interpret!  You did the best you can!

Beau and Caleb are knowledge buddies it makes me so happy you have no idea

YASHA DREAM YASHA DREAM YASHA DREAM

OH MY GOD we have our introduction to Obann in the dream AND IT NEVER CLICKED FOR ME UNTIL NOW by the time we meet Obann I’ve completely forgotten the dream BUT HE’S RIGHT THERE AND FULLY DESCRIBED

I do admit, there’s a part of me that really wishes that more of Yasha’s backstory got discussed.  She’s been designed to be super metal and badass, with the RP that then turns her to softness and gentleness.  Hell, she has the name Orphanmaker!  But we don’t really get to see in campaign too much that actually ends up backing that up.  The Obann arc and her tearing through the Cobalt Soul is pretty much the extent of it, with then the tiny tiny bit of her meeting her tribe in the very last episode (which I don’t even remember if I figured out that they were implying she killed the previous Skyspear with maybe more members of her tribe, or if I read a comment that said that).  I don’t know.  There are several good moments of RP for it, her guilt, some conversations with Caleb (well, one.  I NEEDED MORE OF THIS), her deliberate loss of the fight, I don’t want to lessen those moments, but I do wish we’d gotten more.  First watch through, I only really started to get Yasha once she was back full time (though got a bit more of her during this stay).  With this second pass through, I’ve got her from the start, but I still wish I knew more.  I do know that her comic just got released, but I have mixed feelings about the comics anyway.  I only read Caleb’s, but I saw enough of Jester’s to see just how many things in it contradicted things that were stated multiple times in campaign, so I don’t quite consider them full canon?  ...i think I’ve just gone in circles and not actually said anything this entire paragraph.

Mmmph…. I don’t get why Cad and Jester are awake.  Honestly wish this moment could have just been a Yasha and Nott moment.  I get that Cad has very high passive perception, but still.  I don’t know.  It leads to the great moment of Yasha in the storm trying confront her god, which is fantastic, but I still feel like it was a bit of inserting yourself into someone else’s moment.  Then again, they’re all so close at the table, AND they know that Ashley can get overwhelmed when the spotlight is on her (especially when she’s been away for so long!!).  ….once again, going in circles, not saying anything. Good thing the episode is almost over.

I feel a tiny bit bad for Matt.  Over the course of his campaigns, he has his gods do things in mysterious or interpretive ways, and the players are all like ‘spell it out for me plz I didn’t get it’ and then Matt has to have the gods come out and speak much more clearly than planned.  I think the most he really got to enjoy with his vagueness was with the Wildmother for Caduceus.  Poor Matt trying to Raven Queen for Vax and Liam just being ‘wut? explain plz, i am confuzed’.  I’m sure this is a pain most DMs end up feeling.  I still dread when my DM is going to put down a puzzle for us to solve and we’re probably gonna stare at it for hours not being sure what to do

“where do you find your strength” it makes sense that the Stormlord would still ask that of his followers, but it feels almost like someone asking you a riddle that you’ve already read the solution to online.  Not quite as earned.  I don’t know if Yasha WOULD feel like she gets her strength from her friends at this point.  (again, due to Ashley not being there so still restricted RP moments)

Ashley’s face when Yasha starts getting her feathers back.  I think she’s on the next Talks, and she mentions how she never thought it could happen.  They dissipate again by the end of the episode, but I suspect only a nat20 could have broken the shackles at this point.  Which I agree with, both in the moment and with hindsight.  Yasha needed more time to process, to accept, to struggle, and to heal.  Having the chains break now?  It just doesn’t feel right.

@suicidallyreckless

[mapleandgingeroatmeal]

CR2E76-Refjorged

HOLY SHIT THIS EPISODE HAD EVERYTHING. WHERE DO I EVEN START?? This is gonna be a long one for sure.

The spontaneous Mead Pong game was so fun. I love how they all just went for that, and Caleb getting a perfect shot only when nobody was watching? Priceless.

They haven’t really done a heist w/ Caduceus. have they? Unless you count boarding that one ship, but I don’t think you can since that wasn’t a stealth thing. It’s weird, but that detail felt like almost a mark of how far the Nein have come already

I’m sure people have written a lot about this (I’d love meta recs if anyone has ‘em), but that makes me think about what may have changed about the m9′s path if Molly had stayed alive. Clay has been such a huge force in pushing the nein to do good in the world, and although he has plenty of his own issues, I think the fact that he believes in everyone’s ability to be good people has really had a huge impact. This may be a Hot Take, maybe I’ll regret this cause idk what Molly fans are like, but I really don’t think the group would have made nearly as much moral and emotional progress w out Caduceus. They would probably be at least a lot closer to crossing over that line into Bad People.

THE BREAD. This is another famous joke that I new existed, but had no context or knowledge for. I was so excited when I heard it come up! Caleb and polymorph is such a delightful combo. The dumb brain really lets him escape his misery I think, and he had such a gleeful face and relaxed posture for that whole scene.

“Last time we did this, you put a sword to my throat”. Whatta callback! Despite how much everything has changed, Fjord and Caleb still have this interesting intensity to their relationship. The moment when they start a mysterious blood ritual and Caleb’s accent confrontation come to mind. I hope we get more in the future about how these two interact in a more casual setting, tbh, because at this point I have a hard time pinning down their dynamic. The trust is definitely there now, and all the Nein obviously love each other, but in many ways it feels almost delicate? Like in the scene from this ep, I think both of them probably reflect on that day thinking they were in the right, even if they’ve moved on. Interesting stuff!

The reactions when Nott murdered that guard were so priceless. Little moments like that are kinda sobering reminders of how broken she is. Since probably the moment that Veth killed that Goblin leader with a vile of acid, she’s led a life that seems to have been very much kill-or-be-killed. Empire people aren’t taught to see Goblins as much more than kill-on-sight monsters, and in a self-defense situation Nott is so small that she would really have only one chance before getting overpowered. It’s upsetting and definitely bad, but I think it makes a lot of sense that her first instinct when panicked is to go for the throat.

Caduceus is truly such a dummy and I love him for it. The man knows two things: Death and People. Nothing else. Strategy? Never heard of her. High-stakes stealth mission with an important decision to make? “it’s always nice to see my friends :)”. 

Whats in the book they stole! We didn’t find out for the entire episode if I’m not mistaken! Caleb just gave to Fjord with some cryptic comments! Wtf kind of book isn’t useful/ interesting to Caleb? This is going to drive me insane.

The pack-rat elf lady wearing Reani’s crown finally was v sweet. She was a character that Matt seemed to hint at a lot of depth for. I wonder if we’ll ever get back to Uthadorn? I’d like to see her again

The dusts are also a bunch of npcs that I kinda wish we’d gotten more time with! The way that Matt had the whole family and their personalities mapped out makes me feel like there was a lot that didn’t get explored there. Clay has a tendency to minimize his own priorities and as much as it’s a neat character choice, I wish it didn’t mean that we see less of the neat stuff around his arc!

Fjord’s dream sequence had me tearing up. Matt’s writing is just so emotionally intelligent and deep. The specification that the Wild Mother can ease the pain but the wound will always be there? That hit me so goddamn hard. I love this character. 

If I think too much about what this sword-collecting arc means for Fjord I’m gonna start crying again. Here’s a guy that grew up unloved, with nobody that ever cared enough to give him anything. He was so recently convinced that the Nein only cared about him while he was useful. And what happens once he looses all utility to the group? They give him magic weapons, and circle around to protect him, and face down a fucking ancient white dragon, all just to get him a gift from the Wild Mother. What does that feel like to a man who’s never ever had a family before? Can he even really recognize the kind of devotion the m9 just displayed? I hope once he has a quiet moment he can do some reflection and appreciate how much he is just unconditionally supported now. I want him to understand that he is loved.

Beau and Reani! I did remember right! They are adorable and everyone’s reaction at the table was priceless. That moment had a neat meta-level feel to it w/ the addition of Mica as a guest character. I could tell she was feeling out if this was a role-play boundary or not, just like Reani was feeling out if Beau was interested. Beau going in for the kiss out of nowhere was also Marisha signaling “yes please bang my hot gay monk”. A perfect ending for a wonderful character!

Jester and Caduceus almost judgy convo was actually fascinating to me, because it kinda highlighted one of my favorite things about Beau in that she breaks the norms arounf sexualy agency that you usually see with female charecters. She’s an action movie protag, casually banging hot ladies and hiring sex workers, and she’s celebrated for it like you would celebrate that behavior in james bond! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a female character that does that before.

I could talk about Caleb and Nott’s conversation here for fucking hours, and I think I’m gonna actually do a whole separate post about it so this doesn’t get too long. Why is every interaction they have just the most poignant beautiful incredible moment ever committed to film?  What did the world do to deserve this? Nothing. We do not deserve them. 

Fjord getting his powers back and celebrating and the callback to Nott turning into a tiny Fjord and Eldritch Blaaaaaaayyyst returning and being wrapped up in seaweed and awkwardly objectified by Jester and Caduceus big goofy grin and all of it was such a joyful, hopeful note to end on! More than ever the Nein are feeling like a family, with all the wonderful messy things that entails, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’m going to go watch Nott and Caleb and cry again.

[sockablock]

On Thursday, Sam broke all our hearts by having Nott ask Caleb, one day, to kill her and bring her back as a halfling. That way, she could finally be who she really is, and once again reunite with her family. But what I find absolutely fascinating about this, is that, in terms of game mechanics, she shouldn’t be asking Caleb for help—instead, she should ask Jester.

Here’s why, under the cut, because this shit gets long.

In terms of the actual story, it would make sense for Nott would turn to Caleb. She’s seen him do incredible magic from the start, and they have a very close relationship and understanding of one another. Moreover, she knows that he has to power to turn one substance into another, and recently, she’s watched him transform himself and others into various other beasts. And yes, way down the line, Caleb might end up using True Polymorph to turn her into a halfling for good. But what Nott described—being killed and being brought back in a new body—that isn’t a wizard spell. Even more, it’s not even something that Wish can normally accomplish.

It’s actually a 9th Level Cleric Spell—True Resurrection. 

It takes an hour to cast, 25,000 gold in diamonds, and it does the following:

You touch a creature that has been dead for no longer than 200 years and that died for any reason except old age. If the creature's soul is free and willing, the creature is restored to life with all its Hit Points. This spell closes all wounds, neutralizes any poison, cures all Diseases, and lifts any curses affecting the creature when it died. The spell replaces damaged or missing organs or limbs. The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature's name. The creature then appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 10 feet of you.

As you can see, this spell would eliminate the random-new-body effect of Reincarnate, and wouldn’t keep Nott as a goblin like how Revivify, Raise Dead, or even Resurrection would. It also couldn’t be dispelled, or dropped if Nott hits 0 hit points, as is possible with True Polymorph (depending on how you interpret the wording). Of course, there’s the possibility that Caleb would attempt to use Wish, but even for such a powerful spell, there’s no guarantee that it will succeed. Wish can only perfectly replicate a spell of 8th Level or lower. If you try something outside of that scope, well: 

State your wish to the DM as precisely as possible. The DM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance; the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong. This spell might simply fail, the effect you desire might only be partly achieved, or you might suffer some unforeseen consequence as a result of how you worded the wish. 

Additionally, the stress of casting this spell to produce any effect other than duplicating another spell weakens you. [...] Your Strength drops to 3, if it isn't 3 or lower already, for 2d4 days. For each of those days that you spend resting and doing nothing more than light activity, your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days. Finally, there is a 33% chance that you are unable to cast wish ever again if you suffer this stress.

Of course, I wouldn’t put it past Caleb to try the spell anyway. We’ve seen how much he loves and cherishes Nott (even if he won’t say it, goddammit) and if he finally reaches a place where he decides that bending reality isn’t for him, taking the chance that he’ll never be able to Wish again to help his friend is certainly something that might happen. Also, there’s the fact that, as I said earlier, True Polymorph interpreted the right way also could work. Or he could even wind up doing some homebrew, Cat’s Ire-style, to craft a spell that could transform Nott for good, into her original body, with no caveats or potential to be dispelled. That, after all, is the beauty and the point of wizardry! But, barring those options, maybe due to a lack of resources or time, True Resurrection could be Nott’s best bet. Then the gang would need 25k in diamonds (which Wish can do), and even more riskier than that, they’d need to kill her. They’d need to kill her in a way that leaves no trace, and then bet on the fact that when they invoke her, not as Nott the Brave, but as Veth Brenatto, that the body the spell creates will be that of the young halfling woman who drowned in a river so long ago. 

Of course, that’s an incredible risk. Moreover, it would require that the rest of the m9, maybe even Yeza, consent to such a process to complete the Resurrection’s ritual-part. And the caster, be it Jester or even Caduceus, would also have to agree. They would then be responsible for channeling the magic, for presiding over and completing the spell, for finally seeing it through. And, ultimately, if the Mighty Nein pursued this path instead, then it wouldn’t be Caleb  who’d bring Veth home.

Instead, he might end up serving a different purpose. True Resurrection requires that the goblin body no longer exist. That to bring back Veth, they’d need to destroy Nott, and leave no trace behind.

And you know what would be perfect for that?

Fire.

He could turn her to ash.

[all-pacas]

you are so right and you really put a pin on what drives me crazy but also fascinates me about nott’s portrayal in fandom — the narrative that her goals and desires don’t matter as much as caleb’s, that she should just be happy to be rewarded with his care because her role is to stand behind him. especially because it’s clear that that’s actually what nott believes, too. caleb has been telling her forever to confide in her, to ask him for anything, and she never has and never did. he wanted to help her and know her story, because they are best friends and he sees her as family; she never said, because she sees him as the main character here.

(and there’s some really fascinating subtext to it all, because it’s such a familiar narrative about women and how they ought to support men, especially ugly women and handsome men — support and do labor for them, but expect nothing but gratitude in return, which is additionally colored by the fact that nott is played by a man and so i honestly don’t know how much is intentional and how much is not; it seems as though sam knows what he’s doing, but i wonder how much is intentional.)

and likewise when sam and liam talk, you see the same dichotomy. liam speaks more effusively about nott with time, about how caleb loves her and cares about her. sam if anything starts hedging more: he doesn’t know how the relationship is or where it’s going. caleb thinks their relationship is fine! they’re best friends and family and now he knows what nott wants and how to make her happy. learn true polymorph. reunite her with her family. he immediately threw himself at both tasks. nott is the one, i think, who is at a loss. what can she do for caleb if he no longer needs her to take care of him? what use does she have?

and the answer is: she’s his best friend. her use is just being with him, being his friend. but nott hates herself and defines herself by her failures. taking care of people is the only thing she knows how to do. the way she finds worth for herself. i think she’s the one struggling here, not caleb, for all that fandom made felderwin out to be her betrayal of his needs. caleb is fine. nott is the one who doesn’t know what comes next.

You know I’ve been thinking about Nott and Caleb a lot lately and this weird, perceived distance that’s formed between them, to a degree. It puzzles me because it isn’t an issue of there being a conflict, or them having stopped caring about each other as much, that’s clear enough. It’s just kind of… Out of nowhere, and really confusing, especially in a show like Critical Role where there’s no way of knowing what’s going on in a character’s head at any given point. But I was sort of pondering everything that’s happened between them up to now, and I remembered something Nott said a while back when Caleb first dropped his backstory, which might actually give a bit of an explanation:

“What you did was awful, truly terrible, despicable and unforgivable, until you can forgive it. At some point, you’ll have to do that. I swear to you that I will be at your side until you do.”

She very clearly says I’m sticking with you, I don’t blame you, I’m here for you, but what she also implies is that once Caleb does reach a point where he can forgive himself, she’ll be leaving the picture. And sure, that isn’t necessarily what she meant, but if it was, it would explain a lot. 

It makes sense if Nott sees herself as, primarily, Caleb’s caretaker. It makes sense that she would minimise herself and her role in his life, like she does, and think okay, I’ll stay with him and take care of him for now, and when he doesn’t need me anymore, I’ll let him go. 

That feels like a fundamental part of Nott’s mindset. She’s been ferrying him along and trying to keep him happy, but she’s perfectly fine to leave him be as long as she knows someone else will fill that role, like when Beau gets to him first after one of his episodes and Nott hangs back, knowing he’s in good hands. Because that’s what she does and that’s all he needs her for, and as he grows and becomes healthier, happier and stronger, as we’ve seen him do in recent episodes, and as he forms bonds with others, this role Nott’s built for herself needs to be fulfilled less and less. He needs her less. 

Which, on a fundamental level, just isn’t the case (get to that later), but it could explain why they’ve seemed distant - Nott is hanging back now, not feeling the need to check in on him as often. Meanwhile Caleb’s missed every opportunity he’s had to talk to her since she told him about the letter and now her husband is around and he doesn’t want to tread on that or intrude.

It’s a point to be made, too, that while Nott seems to think Caleb doesn’t need her as much anymore, Caleb’s mindset is almost the opposite, because he doesn’t perceive her as his caretaker, he sees her as what she really is, which is his closest friend, first and foremost. And he’s been steadily admitting this to himself since the beginning of the campaign, realising oh, I care about her, I don’t know what I would do if I lost her, I need her, I love her. It’s two entirely different narratives, and I think that it could lead to some hurt feelings down the line if they don’t talk, really talk, about what they both are and mean to each other. 

Obviously there’s the reality that Nott has someone else to focus on right now, that being Yeza, which is definitely affecting her priorities (something Caleb clearly doesn’t take issue with, in fact he’s matching his priorities to hers.) But on a larger scale, I think the chances of a miscommunication followed by a long-awaited heart-to-heart are relatively high, seeing as Liam and Sam have such a shared penchant for chaos and drama. I’m just hoping Nott’s perspective on the matter doesn’t win out, and she can realise that she has worth beyond what she can give to people, dammit.

Of course, I could also be super wrong about everything that’s going on in their heads and totally just talking out of my ass right now. This is the best I could do with the information we have, but Liam is on Talks tomorrow so, who knows. 

Either way, I love my kids, but boy oh boy do they need to sort their shit.