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.

 

[TiQuinn]

Episode 7 thoughts:

So far, from week to week, there feels like there’s a lot happening in each episode. There may not have been a combat in this one, though they’re definitely leading up to one. This was all about the journey and then the stealth-ing around the castle to get close to Casimir. I was anticipating the Casimir confrontation to get drawn out, so the pacing is a pleasant surprise.

Sam is clearly the chosen one this season. His rolls in the face of “certain death” are insane!

Also, their disguise and “plan” to get into the castle is the exact kind of stupid shenanigans I live for!

 

[Charlaquin]

Just finished watching the Cooldown for episode 9, which ended with a lot of open questions about what’s happening in the town the soldiers are in (I forget its name), so I had to come here to post my speculation.

So, the town has a Candescent Creed run hospital, and a the duke’s castle. House Tachonis has been bringing in several wagons to the town, all of which have been going to the hospital first, then continuing on to the castle. Through some sleuthing the group figured out that the Tachonis are probably bringing something into the town and unloading their wagons in the hospital, probably something fairly heavy since one of the wagons was reported to have gotten stuck in the mud along the way to the hospital. But the group didn’t end up getting to the bottom of what was going on there because they got wind Teor was probably being held at the castle and decided to prioritize rescuing him over solving the mystery. But in the Cooldown Robbie mentioned that was a character decision, and as a player he was more curious about what’s happening at the hospital. But regardless, they snuck into the castle and made their way to the basement where they thought Teor was being held, found a secret door that lead to a pretty long tunnel, and when they got caught, Tyranny made the mistake of trying to disguise herself as Occtis. The bad guy brought a basilisk out of a cage and the episode ended on Tyranny failing her first save against its petrifying gaze. There was also a mention of her seeing “more soldiers than you can count in the darkness” in the same room where the bad guy and his pet basilisk caught her.

So, here’s what I think is going on. The secret passage the group found actually connects the castle to the hospital. The heavy stuff that the Tachonis are bringing in on their wagons is soldiers, who they’re smuggling into the town by intentionally petrifying them for transport, unloading them at the hospital where the priests are able to cast Greater Restoration to un-petrify them, and then using the secret tunnels to get from there to the basement of the castle.

It’s also possible that the petrified soldiers might not have been intentionally petrified, but that it happened via some sort of accident, or maybe they’re ancient soldiers discovered in some ruin, terracotta warrior style. But either way, I’m calling it now that the wagons are full of petrified humanoids who they’re bringing in large numbers to be restored at the hospital and then brought to the castle. I think it will also be revealed pretty quickly at the start of the next episode that the “too many soldiers to count” are still petrified (how many Greater Restorations can one priest even manage per day after all), so this fight isn’t going to be as impossible as Brendan implied with that quote, and even if Tyranny gets fully petrified, there will be an NPC there at least capable of restoring her, if they can be convinced, tricked, or leveraged into doing so.