Critical Role Critical Role Campaign 3 Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Seramus]

It does seem like a confirmation that Robbie is a temporary addition to the cast. He's in the intro, but not in any of the group frames. So seems like a quick addition to represent how he's currently in the cast.

They did talk about wanting to use guests in longer and more plot relevant roles. It just got sidelined because of Covid during C2. I would bet money that Robbie is their first solid attempt, and that he will have a fair number of episodes before he bows out. He's been such a success so far, we will probably continue to see such decent duration guests.

 

[MarkB]

Keeping the actual characters out of the main titles this time round gives them some extra flexibility, in case of future "Mollymauk" incidents.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Campaign 2 didn't get a character focused opening until a lot of things happened in the campaign for animators to adapt, so it's understandable.

 

[Seramus]

So, how would YOU handle an circus acrobat scene? Does the threat of injury constitute a sufficiently meaningful consequence to trigger a roll? And what DC would you use? How skilled do you think a decent acrobat performer is?

 

[MarkB]

So, how would YOU handle an circus acrobat scene? Does the threat of injury constitute a sufficiently meaningful consequence to trigger a roll? And what DC would you use? How skilled do you think a decent acrobat performer is?

It's an awkward one. Performances like that are deliberately done to look dangerous, and there always is some risk, but if the performers weren't good enough to reliably pull off their performance successfully, multiple times per day for weeks on end, they wouldn't have a show.

For something like that, a d20 roll is probably too granular. Even with only a 5% chance of a performer taking a serious injury per show, you're probably looking at too high a chance of the troupe being unable to perform a full several-week run of their act.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

So, how would YOU handle an circus acrobat scene? Does the threat of injury constitute a sufficiently meaningful consequence to trigger a roll? And what DC would you use? How skilled do you think a decent acrobat performer is?

I wouldn't have it involve rolls unless the players (or antagonists) had done something to throw them off their routine or otherwise complicate things. Under normal circumstances acrobats performing a routine they normally do should just succeed. Rolling for how well they entertain the crowd that night might make sense, but unless they are supposed to be amateurs they should have the routine down completely from a safety perspective, barring unforeseen complications like PC shenanagans.

Not that I would blame any DM for making a bad call to roll on a one off, unusual thing like that.

 

[Mort]

It's an awkward one. Performances like that are deliberately done to look dangerous, and there always is some risk, but if the performers weren't good enough to reliably pull off their performance successfully, multiple times per day for weeks on end, they wouldn't have a show.

For something like that, a d20 roll is probably too granular. Even with only a 5% chance of a performer taking a serious injury per show, you're probably looking at too high a chance of the troupe being unable to perform a full several-week run of their act.

I can't remember exactly, but Mercer rolled around 4-5 times during the performance. Even if failure was only on a 1 that's 20-25% chance of failure for EVERY performance. If it was higher (say a 4 or higher was needed) then every performance has a higher chance than not of significant failure.

Considering these guys are performing multiple performances a week (probably) that seems WAY high.

All that said, it led the adventure in an interesting direction so from a play perspective, worked out great.

 

[overgeeked]

So, how would YOU handle an circus acrobat scene? Does the threat of injury constitute a sufficiently meaningful consequence to trigger a roll? And what DC would you use? How skilled do you think a decent acrobat performer is?

If it's a PC and the consequences matter, yes. If it's an NPC and the DM can simply narrate the outcome, no. Matt really loves to roll for things that don't need to be rolls. He's a great DM, clearly, but it's one of a few things I think he could be better at.

 

[overgeeked]

I jumped on the CR train mid C2. So this is my first live campaign start. I'm not sure I like any of the characters yet. Like at all. I might be rooting for the monsters in all the early fights to get a near- or complete TPK so we can start fresh.

I've definitely come around on this hot take. While not over the moon for most of the characters there are some favorites in this crew. Laudna being the top of the list so far this campaign.

Though I get the distinct impression that this is the "jokey" campaign. C1 was the semi-serious good guys game. C2 was the shades of grey game. C3 is the (almost) everyone plays joke characters game. Many of them are obvious puns or plays on words or phrases. Ashton is a punk rock. FCG is a healbot. Orym is a tiny dancer (Elton John reference). Fearne is a kleptomaniac satyr. Chetney is a Santa-killing Xmas elf gnome. Laudna is Wednesday Addams crossed with the Ring girl. Imogen seems to be the only non-joke character.

I dunno. We're seven episodes in. Let's see where it goes. Though I really hope Matt settles down about playing with his new toy (the lighting). It seems way more distracting than beneficial.

Anyone else notice there's no mention of D&D Beyond or Dwarven Forge as sponsors?

 

[Hexmage-EN]

The performer getting injured made an excuse for the party to interact with the NPCs, so it served a narrative purpose. He could have just dictated it happened, but leaving it up to chance gives it a bit of randomness and unpredictability for himself that he may have enjoyed