#same with why esseks int is so high

[utilitycaster]

🔥 each member of vox machina

Vax: really the sadboy narrative for Liam has always been stupid but it's egregiously bad that it started with Vax, who is like, sad for maybe a fifth of the episodes and largely because Liam O'Brien's actual mother was dying, like, with all due respect what the actual fuck, fandom.

Vex: I am the founding and probably only member of the "Vex is my favorite character and also I am 100% cool with Colville's depiction of her." The generosity she shows even very early on in C1 is still a generosity borne of some degree of security - they have a keep by then - and I also just don't think you have to like a character to write them fairly. Granted it's been a minute since I read early VMO but nothing stood out to me as out of line with my understanding of Vex.

Pike: repeating myself once again but I like Pike a lot and wish we could have seen more, but because we didn't, people who say she's their favorite in C1 do tend to turn me off in that I feel they're looking for a relatively flat and widely praised character to project onto rather than a character who goes through more messy development.

Grog: I think he's often underestimated and I was guilty of doing so myself, to be honest, until I saw Travis play more and until I personally got better at D&D. Also I still maintain that playing INT 6 sensitively and well is infinitely harder than playing INT 16, all things considered, and this is yet another reason why people should play high INT more often.

Scanlan: Also underestimated; I do understand being turned off by the whole extremely horny playboy thing but as I've said before Bard's Lament is a major litmus test for me: if you think Scanlan is completely at fault here, you are wrong, and if you think he's not partially at fault, you are also wrong.

Tary: I genuinely love him and think he's a great character and one of Sam's best, but while his character arc is strong the Taryon Darrington Arc of the VM Campaign, through no fault of his own (and partly bc I personally think D&D Hell, especially pre-Descent Into Avernus publication, is kind of boring), is one of the weakest parts of the campaign because it's kind of a grab bag of loose ends. With that said I would happily watch more Darrington Brigade-one shots.

Percy: Percy is also generally a litmus test in that it's like. Is he a good person? Eventually I believe he becomes one, and even before that I think he's very sympathetic and deeply traumatized and like, 24, so I get it, but also, who the fuck cares. This ties into the Essek and the Ashton opinions and all kinds of other stuff but why are people so invested in fucking absolving their blorbo of all sins? I want someone who's lived enough of a life to have done some heinous shit because that's fun and interesting and it's pretend and also because then they can have a rewarding character arc by either working towards redemption or coming to terms with who they are or spiraling into tragedy.

Keyleth: I like Keyleth a lot but I am, as this post indicates, far more sympathetic to Vex, and so while I do think Keyleth is a fairly good person she is also extremely sheltered and naive and terrified of doing the wrong thing and I would have, like Vex, wanted to scream at her half the time were I just a random NPC wandering about the campaign. On the other hand C3-era Keyleth? fantastic no notes she has grown up in such an interesting way.

Tiberius: I think we, and by we I mean people capable of separating the art from the artist, can recognize that his concept actually fucking slapped and unfortunately he was played by someone who absolutely sucked in a myriad of ways. I would love to see the alternate universe in which the same general concept (prodigy sorcerer from Draconia who is full of themself) had to face not just the destruction of their civilization but the realization that they were taking advantage of the Ravenites and while they did not deserve to be killed by Vorugal, had done nothing to justify aid from those they had subjugated either. Like, the alternate world in which one of the current cast members or like, a close friend of the main cast (Ashly, Erika, Mary Elizabeth) played this is one I'd love to see.

[hazardsoflove]

if the final arc doesn’t answer the question of if esseks alignment changed i will be so upset

[electroniccollectiondonut]

Turns out when I said "later post" in the tags of my last post in meant immediately. SO here are my unabridged, unorganized thoughts on the Thelyss bros. Under the cut because I have so much to say about these two and it's a crime that their relationship is portrayed so little in fanfic.

First of all I think they're very close in age. like Irish twins close (Irish twins is when two siblings are born within 12 months or less of each other), or at least the elvish equivalent. Basically Verin was an accident baby while Essek was still in a cradle.

Verin is a paladin of the Luxon for several reasons. Reason 1: Echo Knight is a cool af class but I already know the details for paladin. Reason 2: I think it's funny to imagine Essek offering to teach him this cool new spell he invented and Verin is just like nah I already got this. Reason 3: I'm in love with the idea of the juxtaposition between Essek, who thinks the Luxon as a religion is absolute bullshit, and Verin, who has faith enough to draw his magic from it.

Actually a lot of what gets me about these two is the differences between them. They're different in almost every way but they still care about each other over just about anyone else.

Specifically Verin's paladin oath is the Oath of the Watcher. I think he also has some levels in Horizon Walker ranger because those two subcalsses are perfect for the commander of Bazzoxan.

Their childhood was not the best. Based on how much of myself I can see in him in canon and how much of my younger sibling I see in what little we have of Verin, I'm gonna make an educated guess and say Deirta was emotionally and mentally abusive and somewhat neglectful at best and somewhat physically abusive at worst. They are both very aware that she's not a good parent. They love her anyway, and it tears them up inside.

WOW typing that out makes me feel vulnerable as hell don't you love it when you can project onto a character so much that you give them all of your exact mommy issues.

Verin, while canonically the himbo of the family, is only the himbo in a relative sense. He's very athletic, has a high emotional intelligence, is not as smart as the people surrounding him, and has very few ambitions, be they political or otherwise.

However. Not as smart as Essek "23 INT" Thelyss is very very different from being dumb. Verin is a brilliant strategist and he's far from stupid in other respects. If I was making up stats I'd put his INT at 14, which is still above average (average being 10-11).

Now, about that emotional intelligence: we know Essek does great in a political setting but flounders in friendly social interaction. Verin does not have the same problem. He does alright in political situations, but he's amazing with people. He knows all of his soldiers by name and assignment and he knows the important things in his ranking officers' lives and his second-in-command's kids call him uncle.

Essek is good with people too, but in the lying and manipulating them sense moreso than the caring and talking to them sense. (if we're talking stats, Verin's base CHA is at probably an 18 to Essek's 15 but Essek has proficiency in deception and persuasion)

I LIKE TO KNOW CHARACTERS STATS OKAY

Their dad is.... a whole can of worms that they mostly just don't talk about. They're mostly past that at this point. Or at least they pretend to be.

If (aka when) their father gets reborn and finishes anamnesis, they're both going to be extremely fucked up over it.

When Essek got himself reassigned to Eiselcross, Verin did too. He'll be damned if his brother is going to go to a freaky arctic research base by himself. That's why the soldier the M9 talk to in 131 says Essek instead of the Shadowhand.

Speaking of Shadowhand, Verin thinks Essek's job is sketchy as fuck but he's been not saying anything about it for like 20 years and he's not about to start now. Conversely, Essek thinks Verin's job sounds fucking terrifying, but he's not going to say anything either.

Essek came up with the floating partially because Verin got taller than him, except that he didn't expect Verin to keep growing so Verin is still taller. He's a solid five foot ten whereas Essek is five foot six floating and five foot two standing.

They're codependent both because of the traumatic environment they were raised in and because I think codependent sibling headcanons are the shit.

Okay thats.... enough for now I think? I have many more headcanons but I need to go to bed now and if I put this in my drafts I'll forget all about it so

[violet-t-9]

Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 139

1. Nobody dies in the potential battle against Lucien/the Somnovem? I will be fine with temporary unconciousness but please nobody actually dies? Will they even fight? What was going on with the cliffhanger? I have so many questions!

Hey nobody died! Nobody even went unconscious. Can't believe we have a part 2 to this epic boss fight. This showdown is awesome! At least we know what will happen next episode.

2. The group uses their new eye powers for something (group telepathy will be hilarious, especially accidental) or just in general goof off with their new eyes.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

3. Beau or Caleb discover more new eye functions that we have not seen before (antimagic cone anyone? Does the eye location have any meaning? Lucien’s was also on the chest right?)

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now. If the locations mean anything, so far it's not revealed.

4. We get to see more of the party members’ new powers/abilities since they levelled up and got a long rest! Let’s gooo.

MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH thanks Cad. It's a new power we haven't seen before! Caleb knows gravity fissure now, apparently! Fjord and Veth also considered using new abilities before the break. Jester used contagion on Lucien! It was a nice try.

5. They get some sort of contact with/update from the material plane (i.e. their family, Yussa, or anybody else I guess just not Trent please), it’s been a while I wonder what’s going on over there. Has Jester’s parent trap succeeded fully yet? Has the assembly been investigated yet? Has Yussa figured out what the Nein did with his emergency exit gift? How are Yeza and Luc doing in the crime bar? Is the Dynasty looking into Essek? So many possibilities.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

6. The M9 succeed in stopping the city from going to the material plane and find a way to potentially destroy it by the end of the episode.

It appears that them plane shifting the crest away actually does ensure that the city cannot return to the material plane, that's great news! Also, I assume destroying Lucien would be a good first step to destroying the city.

7. Beau and Yasha continue to fight like the power couple they are and to indulge in PDA in the flesh horror city (because why not). Bonus: we find out Yasha’s plans for Beau’s red cape/the cape is used by Beau in the episode.

The discussion between Beau, Yasha and Veth LMAO. Oh NO Yasha is fighting Beau again - that natural 1 though! The miss! Another natural 1! The power of love!!!! Yasha also used the battle cry to protect Beau!

8. Fjord and Jester continue to be domestic and supportive of each other in these trying times because they are great. Bonus: more Sprinkle/Artagan mentions or interactions.

Jester and Fjord starting strong with the dirty/natural 20's! Also "I'd rather you wear it" "Fjord, it's so expensive!" They are so cute. Ayy Sprinkle/Artagan both got fed the Heroes' Feast! The excitement over the ring finally working lol. "Imma cast it at 4th level" lol Jester really tried her best to remove his slow and it worked!

9. Obligatory wish for Essek’s fancy dunamancy or magical items (Bonus: STILL hoping to see more high-damage AOE offensive spells that Essek has never cast because of the party placement, dark star anybody?).

The trapped haste spell MmmMm. GRAVITY FISSURE YAY hot spell flavour is hot. THANK YOU for that dispel magic on Yasha Essek you are the best. Nice magic missile but he is out in the open oh nO he is charmed oh no is he going to dark star the party?? Wheww thank you Caleb for the dispel, at fifth level too! He was so going to dark star Lucien if Cad was not pulled.

10. Obligatory wish for Caleb’s polymorph spell on himself or a party member. Actually, let’s expand to any party member’s polymorph! Give me those sweet polymorph interactions.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

11. The party tries to reach Lucien by mentioning Molly and Lucien actually having a physical reaction to their words.

Wow that was a physical reaction alright, definitely to Jester and Caleb's mention of Molly's name. Jester's song also had an effect. Everybody is trying yay! Well, it was worth a try. BEAU'S bonus action Gustuv talk made him lose a legendary action WOW. Fjord's, Caleb's attempt also succeeded. In round 2, Beau removed 1 legendary action, followed by Jester

12. Obligatory wish for Essek’s room in the tower (it will stay until it happens).

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

13. Obligatory wish for Cad being a MVP in and out of combat because he always is.

CAD what a good pep talk I love you. Path to the grave and also the reaction war caster blight, very nice.

14. I NEED MORE RP PLEASE like last week’s high intensity combat was fun but I miss one-on-one conversations give them to me thank you. Longer conversations are even better.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now, however there was a lot of Molly RP involved.

15. Everybody being super freaked out/creeped out by the terrible flesh city thanks to Matt’s wonderfully detailed and awesome descriptions.

The damaged state of the city, how it leans towards Lucien's cocoon thing and Lucien's transformation... OH NO the stalks not the tentacle stalks.

16.  At least one of the party members get mind-influenced/charmed by some effect during the combat (well at least Caleb’s got mind blank and Veth got intellect fortress, but I would be surprised if there was no mind shenanigans).

Well, I knew it would happen. Gaudius, the eye of longing/love that did not affect Beau DID charm Yasha with a failed wis save and Yasha attacked Beau, again. However thanks to Essek it didn't last long!

17. Somebody check in a bit on Essek’s mental state because he is clearly not entirely desensitized as seen from last episode. At least he got a full rest so physically he is fine (just squishy, like wizards are).

Hey Essek got to open up a little bit before their final fight, so that was great.

18. Caleb uses more fire or his customized spells or just any cool spells in general I guess because what’s sexier than wizards NOTHING I’m still hyped from last week.

Gravity fissure already?? Sweet max damage, despite the save! Caleb you can literally just copy any spell you see cast can't you, high int wizard I love you. Also the use of that potion and the scroll were pretty smart too.

19. We learn more about Lucien’s motives and what he is actually trying to do, or more about the Somnovem’s different? motives because I was very confused last episode. Lucien wants to “parent” the Somnovem by bombing them with 10 intuit charges, like okay are you sure you are not trying to kill them? Then again, if that doesn’t severely damage the Somnovem I don’t know what will.

Well we now know that Lucien has all the Somnovem power inside himself now and is still very much wanting to bring back the city - at least he can't right now because of the threshold crest they got rid of last session. This clarifies a lot. I guess the "parenting" was to weaken the Somnovem for him to absorb them all into himself?

20. Obligatory wish for everyone to remain relatively happy and alive by the end of the episode except Lucien, and the episode ends on a terrifying cliffhanger as always.

I mean, should have known that Lucien cannot be killed in 1 session. Otherwise though, what an episode! What a session! Absolutely amazing.

Bonus:

ESSEK IS MAKING A JOKE LMAO I can't with this man, he is also giving everybody spells/gifts, cute - I guess wizards all have the save love language.

CALEB IS ABOVE 100 HP thank you Jester for that 17 roll from Heroes' Feast! I knew you'd do it. The feast was so crucial in their combat too, what a queen. Caleb always be covering his friends in his anti-aberration cone, and burning Lucien's legendary reactions. Great moves.

Veth are you... horny for Lucien??? LMAO

OH NO Gaudius on Essek this is the alternative Essek bossfight timeline OH NO but at the same time YES the angst- oh nvm Caleb thanks lol.

Extra - combat notes for my record:

Saves minus # eyes

Elatis - Excitement, pulling the target 120 ft towards Lucien + eye.

Ira - Rage, fireball effect AOE damage.

Fastidan - Disgust (wilting dull green) necrotic damage

Luctus - Grief (Dex save), slow spell effect.

Timorei - fear effect, but negated by Heroes' feast immunity.

Culpasi - guilt (Con save) disadvantage on saving throws +...

Miramus - (wis save)

Vigilan - the eye that moves/emanates the anti-magic cone

Gaudius - (wis save) charm effect

WHAT A FIGHT! I can't wait for part 2 and hopefully that's Lucien's final form. I did not think that the Molly influence will have such a profound effect, but I sure am glad it did! Everyone was so amazing in this combat, I love it all.

[jengajengajenga]

speculation

late-night thoughts on what the critical role cast might play in the third campaign, whenever it comes. these are more my hopes than actual expectations, fwiw. Liam - drow cleric of twilight (female) Marisha - gnome battle smith artificer Laura - dwarf ancestral guardian barbarian Travis - human blood hunter order of the lycan Sam - yuan-ti pureblood clockwork soul sorcerer (non-binary) Ashley - half-elf soulknife rogue Taliesin - air genasi college of creation bard (genderfluid) that lets Liam have a complex character (with a nod to Essek, ahem) who can care deeply for the people she protects - and with Sam pioneering Nott/Veth for the long campaign, i do think Liam will consider playing a female character in the next long campaign. lots of nuance possible in this character and excellent support magic, which Liam seems to enjoy playing. (my second choice for Liam is a druid, since he has so much fun with polymorph and animal friends in both campaigns - drow circle of stars, maybe?) for Marisha, she does really well at versatile characters, and it's her turn to have a quirky, less-standoffish character. gnomes are great tinkerers, and battle smith artificers get a million cool tricks and also robotic companions. what's not to love? (admittedly thinking of how well she played her dwarf bard in the Taryon one-shot...) Laura loves playing stupid characters (look at the Doom Eternal and Shadow of Mordor one-shots), and i think she'd have a blast playing a short barbarian. loud, impulsive, and chaotic, but not quite the same flavor as Jester (or the same combat rhythm as Vex). plus, we need a dwarf, dammit. plus plus, Laura would be a hilarious tank. someone get her some boots of flying, though. i really don't have to say anything about Travis playing an order of the lycan character, do i? werewolf dreams come true. also the cast gets another crack at someone playing Matt's blood hunter class as a PC. (my second choice for Travis has him playing a tanky cleric. maybe a warforged?) Travis enjoys combat so much that i honestly can't imagine him picking something that doesn't get to swing a sword/mace/handful of claws, but he's also hella smart and good at maximizing whatever other advantages his class has. Sam is so good at mechanically-complex versatile characters that i think he'd be fabulous as a sorcerer. the clockwork soul origin gives it a very unique flavor, distinct from past magic-users from either campaign, and i just really want to see Sam manage a stone-faced yuan-ti who thinks of everyone else as talking meat. (i also think he might try a non-binary character. i'm hoping someone does in campaign 3.) Ashley's character, i am the least certain of. i love her 'i will murder you while smiling politely' attitude and that's why i want to see her continue to be in a high-damage role. i think the sneaksy of the rogue class would be a fun change (and challenge) for her, and half-elves have great stats for this sort of thing. look, Taliesin needs to play a bard. he had a moment of colorful fun with molly and he needs a lot more of that after spending a long time as high-wis low-int Caduceus (whom i love, don't get me wrong). the college of creation is super interesting to me and would get nifty when synergized with Marisha's artificer (i am biased, i love constructs/'pets'), and i think Taliesin could pull off a genasi's beautiful oddness very well. (also, most bards can change gender as easily as clothing, so Tal playing an openly genderfluid bard would be great.) alternately... Liam - drow circle of stars druid (non-binary) Marisha - tiefling storm sorcerer Laura - tortle oath of the ancients paladin Travis - warforged war cleric Sam - kenku fey wanderer ranger Ashley - half-orc college of swords bard Taliesin - gith phantom rogue

[maverik6464]

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My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Its probably fine don't worry if my spell slot tracking is correct jester still has a 7th slot, she casts word of recall again, Trent counterspells, Caleb counters the counterspell. it comes down to Caleb's counterspell roll. assuming Trent is lvl 20 (he's an Archmage come on of course he is) then he's most likely teleported once and circled once. thats a 5th and a 7th slot down. if he's lvl 20 that means he’s got 2 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th and 1 9th slot left. Caleb is down to 1 5th slot, nothing higher (someone correct me if I'm wrong but that should be right I don’t think he used it for anything else). So if Trent is Counterspelling at 6th to match Jester’s spell then he’ll have to roll bc Jester is upcasting to 7th. If he counters higher then its all up to Caleb and rolling well enough on any level Counterspell to beat Trent. That’s a 16 (if Trent makes his roll), 17, 18 or 19 depending on the level. Caleb has a +5 Int so that means an 11, 12, 13, or 14 on his dice. Not the best odds but certainly doable.

EDIT: Actually come to think of it he should have 1 6th not 2 if he’s already counter spelled once but that doesn’t really change much

25 notes • Posted 2021-02-26 06:29:44 GMT

#4

I mean unless Cree has legendary actions (which she might she is kinda like the 2IC) the M9 will have such a hard time losing an 8v1 fight no matter how busted up they are just through action economy. Like sure she might be tough and a high level (and possibly extra buffed bc NPC’s don't follow PC rules) Blood Cleric but 8 actions + 8 bonus actions + 8 reactions of her getting the shit kicked out of her vs 1 action/bonus action/reaction is just way too much to deal with. that's why super high level monsters that are designed to be a single target encounter have lair actions and legendary actions and attack like 4 times with an action bc otherwise they cant do shit against a whole party beating them up and like sure Cree is a cool special NPC but unless Matt goes way off the rails shes still restricted to 1 maybe 2 spells a turn, which is just not enough to keep up

27 notes • Posted 2021-05-07 05:09:52 GMT

#3

I don't. Post. About ships here. I just don't. I tend to not care all that much about it all. It's not what I consume media for (And it also just attracts some of the most vitriolic people when I see other people post about it and I'm not interested in that shit lmao). But I know a well written story when I see one (or I like to think I do). And like. Whether or not the CR ending was what you wanted for Caleb and Essek, it was a beautiful tale none the less. Matt and Liam crafted a tale within a tale that was so touching and so bittersweet about two men who were so different but they were the same. And through a group of idiots (friends) they found each other. And they shared a deep deep connection and they spent a life together. And that story was gorgeous. And is that not enough?

34 notes • Posted 2021-06-04 16:29:28 GMT

#2

Cannot believe Arcane is making me like Viktor how cringe

35 notes • Posted 2021-11-08 22:35:41 GMT

#1

Yussa takes the #1 position as funniest crit role character. “sorry guys that sounds dumb as fuck I'm gonna stay home and be safe in my magic tower :) :) :)” wizard hubris at its finest

1174 notes • Posted 2021-03-19 03:52:42 GMT

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