The Legend of Vox Machina (Spoilers)

[Benjamin Olson]

Question for campaign one Critters: Are Grog's people goliaths? The show insists on calling them half-giants -- which is a little odd, since I cannot imagine "Goliath," a biblical name, could possibly be credibly locked down by WotC -- but they map in most ways (other than culturally) to D&D goliaths.

They are, though it did just occur to me that I have no idea how that relates to the mysterious pathfinder home-game era of Campaign 1.

While WotC has no claims to a large person with the given name Goliath, "Goliath" being the name for a grey skinned race of mountain-dwelling giant-kin is a somewhat different matter. Probably still not something they'd sue over, but "Half-Giant" works better for general audiences anyway, and CR has a relationship with WotC they would rather not antagonize.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe put in some cost for it. Like, they can use it on their turn even if it doesn't recharge, but doing so expends 1 or 2 legendary actions.

Or it siphons off some hit points or gives them a point of exhaustion when they do it on a non-recharge turn.

 

[BRayne]

They are, though it did just occur to me that I have no idea how that relates to the mysterious pathfinder home-game era of Campaign 1.

While WotC has no claims to a large person with the given name Goliath, "Goliath" being the name for a grey skinned race of mountain-dwelling giant-kin is a somewhat different matter. Probably still not something they'd sue over, but "Half-Giant" works better for general audiences anyway, and CR has a relationship with WotC they would rather not antagonize.

The original one shot that eventually led to the home game was run in 4e.

 

[Rabulias]

Really thinking about removing the recharge mechanic when running ancient dragons. Or perhaps reverse it. Roll for a 1 in 6 chance of the dragon not being able to use its breath weapon. Again, just for ancient dragons.

I have heard some DMs add 1 to the recharge roll for each round that the recharge roll fails, decreasing the odds that you will get a long stretch of recharge failures.

 

[Ryujin]

Or it siphons off some hit points or gives them a point of exhaustion when they do it on a non-recharge turn.

When running my 4e campaign I gave major baddies, like dragons, the ability to trade hit points in to end conditions. It both made combat go a little faster AND made them something to be feared.

 

[Parmandur]

Also, has there ever been a more impressive dragon in general audience media than the ones in this season of Vox Machina? The Chroma Conclave would not even blink at wiping out every dragon in Westeros and even Smaug would be in trouble facing Umbrasyl. Really, really impressive here, making these feel like genuine threats and movers and shakers, which is something I think even many DMs struggle with.

The way Matt Mercer DMs Dragons is....memorable.

Question for campaign one Critters: Are Grog's people goliaths? The show insists on calling them half-giants -- which is a little odd, since I cannot imagine "Goliath," a biblical name, could possibly be credibly locked down by WotC -- but they map in most ways (other than culturally) to D&D goliaths.

As noted, they are Goliaths, and acknas such in Wikdemoujt, which reprints the Goliath rules with Exandria fluff.

They are, though it did just occur to me that I have no idea how that relates to the mysterious pathfinder home-game era of Campaign 1.

While WotC has no claims to a large person with the given name Goliath, "Goliath" being the name for a grey skinned race of mountain-dwelling giant-kin is a somewhat different matter. Probably still not something they'd sue over, but "Half-Giant" works better for general audiences anyway, and CR has a relationship with WotC they would rather not antagonize.

The game started as a 4E Ne tir Vale PoL campaign (still has the Nentir Vale pantheon, with Pike's goddess being the lone interloper), then moved to Pathfinder: since one of the PCs was already a Goliath, no doubt Mercer juat used the 3.x rules in Pathfinder. And when they moved to 5E, they already had Goliaths available (and Deep Gnomes, as that's what Pike is in game stat terms).

 

[Aeson]

Billy Boyd! That was one entertaining character. I wouldn't be heartbroken if he was a regular.

 

[Hussar]

I lost it with scanlan plan.

But who was the character at the end of ep 12 that looked like a half dragon?

 

[MNblockhead]

The way Matt Mercer DMs Dragons is....memorable.

I remember that dragon fighting scene from the live play. It was cool to see it animated. I believe most of the characters were level 14 when they fought Umbrasyl. I didn't listen to the entire live play, especially the later episodes, I'm interested to see how they depict tier 4 play.

One way that the show is not depicting "typical" D&D is that it focuses on high levels. In the live stream they started at level 9 and went up to level 20. This makes it it appropriate for the over the top anime style combats you see in the show.

For those that are interested, CR Stats analyses the combat from the live play: Monster Analysis: Umbrasyl, The Hope Devourer (Part 1) — CritRoleStats and Monster Analysis: Umbrasyl, The Hope Devourer (Part 2) — CritRoleStats

One take away that mirrors my experiences running 5e is that in late Tier 3 and Tier 4 play, even ancient dragons need to be spell casters to be a real threat to PCs.

 

[MNblockhead]

I lost it with scanlan plan.

But who was the character at the end of ep 12 that looked like a half dragon?

If you really don't mind the spoiler:

Spoiler

Raishan

→ This article is about the character. For the episode, see: Raishan (episode). Raishan, the Diseased Deceiver, was an ancient green dragon and a member of the Chroma Conclave. As an NPC, Raishan was portrayed by Matthew Mercer. She appears in The Legend of Vox Machina, voiced by Cree Summer...

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