D&D General Critical Role Campaign 4 Discussion Thread

[TiQuinn]

Seems like a good idea to just have a general discussion thread for folks who are following along with the new campaign.

I would only ask that if anyone is posting here about an episode prior to when it releases on YouTube to use spoiler tags.

So episode 6!

That was a good amount of combat, narrative scenes, and wilderness exploration - pretty much what I’d call a gold standard for what I’d like to see in my own games! The combat was intense - that attack roll Brennan did in front of everyone to see if he was going to one shot Wicander was incredible.

We’re starting to see a little bit more of what it may mean to be a demon in this setting in regards to Tyranny. On the one hand, Brennan really made it tempting for her to steal the knife. On the other hand, I felt really damn bad when she did it, which again is credit to Brennan’s roleplaying of Ulbid to make me feel that. And that’s what demons do, don’t they? They cause good people pain because it’s their nature. Just good stuff.

I also watched the cooldown episode: of note, first acknowledgment of Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins’ hands in the campaign - the atlatl that Kattigan used was specially designed for his character with them, including the range restriction. I’m not totally sure that’s how an atlatl works…I think the range on those IRL are pretty decent, but it what it is.

 

[Seramus]

Haven't seen it yet. What did they do with the Atlatl? It's pretty explicitly a tool that increases the range of several other projectile types.

 

[TiQuinn]

Haven't seen it yet. What did they do with the Atlatl? It's pretty explicitly a tool that increases the range of several other projectile types.

His club apparently also functions as an atlatl but with only a range of 20-40. So part of me is just trying to picture this to begin with because I think of an atlatl as being an extra fulcrum on a javelin/spear that gives it extra range or velocity.

 

[Seramus]

His club apparently also functions as an atlatl but with only a range of 20-40. So part of me is just trying to picture this to begin with because I think of an atlatl as being an extra fulcrum on a javelin/spear that gives it extra range or velocity.

Weird. Slings and Javelin are already 30/120.

 

[Charlaquin]

Seems like a good idea to just have a general discussion thread for folks who are following along with the new campaign.

I would only ask that if anyone is posting here about an episode prior to when it releases on YouTube to use spoiler tags.

So episode 6!

That was a good amount of combat, narrative scenes, and wilderness exploration - pretty much what I’d call a gold standard for what I’d like to see in my own games! The combat was intense - that attack roll Brennan did in front of everyone to see if he was going to one shot Wicander was incredible.

We’re starting to see a little bit more of what it may mean to be a demon in this setting in regards to Tyranny. On the one hand, Brennan really made it tempting for her to steal the knife. On the other hand, I felt really damn bad when she did it, which again is credit to Brennan’s roleplaying of Ulbid to make me feel that. And that’s what demons do, don’t they? They cause good people pain because it’s their nature. Just good stuff.

Yeah, this episode was just fundamentally good D&D in my opinion. I have a feeling the Soldiers table episodes are going to be my favorite, because this is the stuff I enjoy most in the game.

I also watched the cooldown episode: of note, first acknowledgment of Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins’ hands in the campaign - the atlatl that Kattigan used was specially designed for his character with them, including the range restriction. I’m not totally sure that’s how an atlatl works…I think the range on those IRL are pretty decent, but it what it is.

Real atlatls do have very good range, realistically it would be more than a javelin but less than a bow. But, real atlatls also don’t double as melee weapons, so I’m just taking it as a cool fantasy weapon that happens to share a name with a real weapon.

As a side-note, I think in his explanation of it, Robbie misremembered the range of a bow, citing only like 30 feet as the close range. Not sure if that suggests he also sold himself short on his atlatl’s range, or if he was thinking of its range as much closer to that of a bow than it actually is.

Similarly, I noticed that Laura used two-weapon fighting with a rapier and a scimitar, which isn’t normally possible without a Feat, and they’re level 3. Not sure if this suggests that her needle has a special feature, or if her custom species does, or if it was just a mistake. Whitney cast two spells with spell slots on the same turn, and that was definitely a mistake, which Laura caught and tried to mention but nobody else noticed so she just let it go. It definitely seems like they’re all having trouble keeping up with the combat rules. Of course, none of these mistakes really matter. Just little things I can’t help but notice because I (and I say this with with no small amount of shame) am an obnoxious rules lawyer.

 

[Charlaquin]

Weird. Slings and Javelin are already 30/120.

He might have been misremembering the range, because he knew it was a shorter range than a shortbow, but he seemed to think shortbows had 30/120 range. Though, he may have been assuming shortbows couldn’t have that much more range than his weapon.

I wouldn’t think of his weapon as an actual atlatl. It’s just a fantasy weapon that’s a hybrid club, axe, and projectile launcher that they made custom stats for, with pretty short range to balance out its versatility.

 

[TiQuinn]

Similarly, I noticed that Laura used two-weapon fighting with a rapier and a scimitar, which isn’t normally possible without a Feat, and they’re level 3. Not sure if this suggests that her needle has a special feature, or if her custom species does, or if it was just a mistake. Whitney cast two spells with spell slots on the same turn, and that was definitely a mistake, which Laura caught and tried to mention but nobody else noticed so she just let it go. It definitely seems like they’re all having trouble keeping up with the combat rules. Of course, none of these mistakes really matter. Just little things I can’t help but notice because I (and I say this with with no small amount of shame) am an obnoxious rules lawyer.

Yeah, I’ve noticed Brennan is very much a roll-with-it DM, but he also makes things challenging with both the combats and by giving extra incentives for more information or success if the player is willing to try using skills they don’t have proficiency in or a higher DC check. The whole thing feels very fluid so the mistakes are so much less noticeable or even important, so far.