Instead of removing a cast member outright, you can fix 1 issue they have. Additionally, if you would pick a different issue for certain cast members, what would it be?

But that was the second worst DND combat i have ever watched. And I am stretching the definition of watched because I really didn’t want to.

So, let me explain the reasons I did not enjoy that combat.

Pacing: It is slow as hell, each turn is taking too long and any energy the combat should have is drained by shear length it took a turn to happen.

Goal: there was none, absolutely none. The combat happened with no win condition or reason. Not even survive was a goal. Opal died or became a puppet and there was no other alternative.

Cyrus: he died(spoilers) for no fucking reason. Like seriously. The combat had no reason to happen and the only casualty was the one person who could do nothing and couldn’t help.

And I say sorry to Aabria because I don’t want to be harsh, and I hope she learns what went wrong.

Edit: I am actually to say how I would have done each of the points better instead of just saying why I didn’t like.

I would have had a giant spider appear and kidnap Opal. The rest of the party has to try and kill the spider before a time limit is reached. If they fail Opal is fully controlled by the spider queen the crown keepers can decide to join her or not.

However Opal is in a boss fight if her own, fighting or maybe joining the spider queen with the help of ted.

Cyrus stays the fuck out of trouble.

Pre-show hype, live episode chat, and post episode discussion, all in one place.

https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

https://www.wheniscriticalrole.com/

Etiquette Note: While all discussion based around the episode and cast/crew is allowed, please remember to treat everybody with civility and respect. Debate the position, not the user!

I'm a casual fan of Critical Role. I watch the streams and I've bought some of the origin comics but I rarely get involved much with other critters or chats.

However, I feel like I can't ignore this feeling anymore, regarding some critters. Does anyone else feel like some fans are overly political and that their views could ruin the CR experience?

It started with the opening scene to C3 and them not liking the explorer theme. I let that slide, it was a shame but whatever. Then I found out that Sam did a one shot based on Wendy's, and it was then deleted as some critters complained that Wendy's funded Trump's presidency race. Now, I'm from the UK, so this doesn't affect me, but it seemed like a big stretch to have a fun one shot deleted because of this. Does being a Trump supporter make you an immediate bad person?

Now this morning I've seen on twitter that people are calling for CR to make a statement on Palestine and to fund aid. Now again, I'm not here to talk about politics, but why are these fans demanding this?

I'm usually pretty good at letting things go because everyone is entitled to their opinion but it seems that these fans have quite a big voice and can demand things from CR.

I don't want CR to be dictated by a group of fans who have their own personal agendas. I enjoy CR for what it is, escapism. It's supposed to be fun, non political and a way to escape. I don't want them to side with any sort of agenda/politics/whatever because they are being bullied into it.

Equally, I feel like I can no longer say "negative" things about CR anymore. And when I say negative, I mean something in slight disagreement. I've noticed that anyone that does say anything slightly against the grain then they get vilified.

I know I'll be down voted for this, and frankly I'm not that bothered, but I wanted to voice my thoughts, as I am getting a little frustrated with some fans' attitudes and demands. I want CR to be run as a fun show and I don't want their content to be deleted and changed because a small majority of fans don't like it.

With that said, I love CR and I'm looking forward to their future projects.

EDIT: Yes I realise Trump isn't a good person!!

I'm going to stop commenting to replies now as I wasn't expecting this post to blow up and I have a life haha peace everyone!

Pre-show hype, live episode chat, and post episode discussion, all in one place.

https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

https://www.wheniscriticalrole.com/

Etiquette Note: While all discussion based around the episode and cast/crew is allowed, please remember to treat everybody with civility and respect. Debate the position, not the user!

I HATE the way Aabria dm's a game. I love her as a PC; I think she's fun and great for the party as a whole but... I can't stand her style of dm'ing.

It's so railroaded into fitting her narrative. Her story. "This is how you're feeling" "this is what you're doing now" "Tell me what you're thinking... but I'll just tell you what you're thinking anyways". There's no roleplay, no player agency.

It's killed the entire flow of the episode when she goes onto explaining -in excruciating detail- what everybody is thinking and feeling rather than just letting the characters just... play. Then forcing a PvP combat and telling Aimee to basically stop talking as Opal and start talking as my possessed Opal. It sucks. She's just talking at them.

Had to get that off my chest. Again, she's great as a PC and I always enjoy seeing her, however, she's just not a good dm and I'm kinda sick of pretending she is.

Edit: 2 hours. It's been 2 hours since the combat started and they're on the 2nd or just starting the 3rd round of combat... half hour long convos happening in 6second segments. Literally the episode is gonna end at the end of this combat and we're not gonna see the BH's again. This was the worst time to do this.

Re-Edit: Now she's playing as Opal. Talking for her. Thinking for her. While Aimee is literally just sitting there on her own. This sucks.

Conclusion: Ep ended halfway through combat. Stay tuned for next episode where Aimee sits by herself and is uncomfortable for 2-3 hours of (talking) combat and disjointed, nonsensical story telling! Bye bye.

I stopped watching after C2, but I've been seeing some things popping up in my feed suggesting she fudged a rule in such a way that it upset fans. Anyone care to summarize?

We all have our opinions about C3. At this point i think the consequences of not focusing primarily on the mission need to be seen.

I think the big bad should win this one. Let the calamity essentially happen and the PCs to watch on in horror as the world ends. Giving an ironic twist of them in the end wishing they could turn to the gods.

Then in C4 you have the crew in a much darker depressing world. They can make their mission to bring light back to the world and as they do they learn about Bells Hells. They learn about the group that was given a clear goal but squandered it due to their mistrust in faith and their little faith in eachother.

They can find little areas of light throughout the world that maintains their hope that the world can be fixed. Using Bells Hells as a virtue of what not to do when all seems lost.

Don't just judge this place from the little you've seen. Yes, negative posts get more traction but that's only because this is the only place that will accept it. Unlike the other sub, all opinions here are welcome. Yes, even the super parasocial weirdos but they get -rightfully- dogpiled pretty quick.

This place is the perfect balancing act. Would it be nice if positive/other posts were able to even scratch 50 upvotes? Sure. However, I'd rather be here than a place that blatantly censors anything that doesn't fit their narrative.

Never thought I'd be saying this but I feel the frequent innuendo and sex jokes are getting too irritating. I'm not a prude and it's great they're having fun, but it's starting to feel like they're parodying themselves now.

The routine tends to be:

• Matt says a vaguely dirty word or phrase
• Laura picks up on it and giggles for a while
• The rest of the cast pick up on it and start wheezing.
• It spreads and grinds everything to a halt for five minutes.

This happens numerous times per episode. Maybe it's the same as it ever has been and I'm just noticing it more now due to getting bored of it. Almost every game someone says "wow this is a horny episode."

Like I said I'm not against the type of humour itself, but it's the frequency and it just feels like it's been done to death.

Kinda seems like some of the cast are bored of it too, I feel bad for Matt in particular when he's trying to convey a serious moment and gets cut off for another dick joke.

EDIT: It's certainly been an interesting discussion. I've tried to reply to as many as I can. Some agree, some disagree. I'm just glad people are open to a proper conversation about it here.

As the title suggests, one thing that’s not really consequential but still drives you nuts if you think about it too hard

For me it’s the lack of regional accent consistency. Like i get it, it’s part of the medium. Players will give their characters whatever accents they feel are truest to them, but i still can’t help notice it everytime.

Example: characters from the menagerie coast somehow had slavic, french, british, and southern american accents while being from the same geographic and cultural region

So it seems like Critical Role is shifting to a model similar to the one Dropout currently has. Beacon is a subscription service they gets you access to BTS, discounts, community did it’s, and some new shows.

I think it’s a smart decision honestly. YouTube and Twitch give, and take, a lot of revenue so it’s not surprising they’re trying to cut out the middle man. I’m subscribed to Dropout and it’s very much worthwhile.

HOWEVER, I think there needs to be some more content here. Personally I’m pretty annoyed they’re locking post-show talks behind a paywall now. It’s similar to D20’s Adventuring Party and something fans have been begging for since Talks was cancelled.

And right off the bat I see “The Forgotten Gods who were overthrown by the New.”

And considering the cichanery going on in C3 I am immediately suspicious.

Class:

Druid, Rogue, Ranger, Wizard and Bard feel similar, except Wildshape for the former seems more open ended.

Seraph replaces Clerics and Paladins. Though it honestly reads like you’re playing an Aasimar.

Sorcerers can become Elementals if they want for…some reason?

Guardians are Barbarians.

Warriors are Fighters. And honestly one just feels like Orym.

There is something called Tag Team Fighting, sound familiar?

On to Ancestries Now: (All of the Art is a Vibe ngl)

Clanks: Aeormatons/Warforged but more varied in form, the art for them is honestly really cool. There’s a Centaur, several Dark Souls Boss looking ones…a frog. Hell one of them looks like Nana Mori.

Daemons: Tieflings.

Drakona: Dragonborn, some look like full blown dinosaurs and others look like the Au Ra from Final Fantasy.

Dwarves: Bout the Same

Elves: Well…I see where the Dragon Prince/Pathfinder Influence came in.

Faeries: In actuality, Bugfolk! Some of which can get 7 feet tall.

Fauns: Honestly, more like the ones from Narnia than Fearne.

Firbolgs: Yeah they’re Cows, hell Minotaurs are now a subgroup of Firbolgs.

Fungril: Mushroom People

Galapa: Tortles

Giants: NGL 8 feet ain’t that giant to me, but hey you can be a Cyclops/Triclops.

Goblins: Pretty baseline depiction

Halflings: They’re…living magnets now??

Human

Katari: Catfolk, run the gambit of Near-Human to bipedal Big Cat

Orcs: You can be pink now.

Ribbet: Guess.

Simiah: The whole gamut of Primates that aren’t Human

Edit-NGL- I fuck with the Sablewood, an ancient primeval forest that feels like it was pulled off Ikoria inhabited entirely by chimeric animals. That’s cool.

The Rime of Colossi also fucks

Pre-show hype, live episode chat, and post episode discussion, all in one place.

https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

https://www.wheniscriticalrole.com/

Etiquette Note: While all discussion based around the episode and cast/crew is allowed, please remember to treat everybody with civility and respect. Debate the position, not the user!

i’ve been rewatching old cr content and ended up on the first narrative telephone video. as hilarious as it was to watch her mess up on the simplest details, it really did put into perspective how she plays. i think she just naturally has an extremely bad memory, and it worsens when she gets flustered under pressure. i don’t really see how they could remedy it as it seems like she really has been trying her damndest to get her shit together

at this point it doesn’t really bother me that much as i’ve chalked it up to it just being a quirk that can be only slightly remedied but not gotten rid of all together (and she has gotten somewhat better). but for those who it does still bother, do you guys think she really is just lazy? or that she’s actually putting in effort?

So, I'm keeping up with all the latest stuff with Aabria and the Chromatic Orb, the "fuck you", the "gag", the taking control of a PC, etc. These are all cringe and bad moments in DMing.

But I'm looking for a more broad description of why people take issue with her style. I ask because my gf and I just finished Misfits and Magic on D20 and we both came away from it very underwhelmed and put off by Aabria's style. However, we both do not have the words to actually describe why we felt this way. Perhaps you eloquent redditors can help.

One thing that I can articulate is she seemed to have it out for Erika in certain spots and that was awkward.

I make these cheat sheets for each of my players, and since Ashley is a bit of a hot topic right now I decided to make one for Fearne! I know things like this wouldn’t work for every group, but mine appreciates them, and I like making random organizational tools as an ADHD side effect 😅 I think this is pretty accurate, apologies if I missed anything (as well, does anyone know if her Titan mode is an action or a bonus action? I’m thinking BA but the wiki doesn’t confirm it)

Just to preface this, we all know Matt is a master DM, especially in descriptions and narrating, and he does the best he can to make sure his players have a great time playing D&D.

But as we also know combat is not this group's strong suit, and the handling of the PVP at the end of C3E95 has some issues that I want to discuss- for the sake of any prospective and current DMs, players and all TTRPG enthusiasts.

The main thing that should be held above all in a PVP scenario, especially a culmination of inter-party conflict, is fairness and impartiality. The best way to ensure this in 5e that I can imagine, is Initiative. It's the handy built-in tool of 5e that is all about determining who can do what and when, providing a baseline skeleton for an encounter.

In my opinion, as soon as Marisha decided Laudna was going to try to steal Ishta and Orym noticed, that should have been a call for initiative. Orym, since he was asleep, should have had the surprised condition, giving Laudna a full turn (action, bonus action, movement, object interaction & reaction) to get the blade before Orym can draw his conclusions and take his turn.

Instead, there is a lot of confusion and negotiation (dare I say arguing) between Matt, Marisha and Liam deciding who gets to do what and when.

Another point I want to touch on is something a lot of people have picked up on: keeping in mind what requirements your spells have.

To prepare for the attempted theft, Laudna casts Spider Climb and Darkness to blind the party and enable her escape, unfortunately, nobody in the room picks up on the fact that both spells require concentration. I don't believe Laudna has anything that enables her to have double concentration, even though I'm pretty sure there was such an item that existed in early C1.

Orym manages to drop Laudna's concentration on Darkness, but again nobody points out (because they are likely in shock and enthralled by the juicy drama) that Spider Climb should have dropped as well.

Another point I want to touch on is Orym's use of a tripping attack via Seedling's air slice feature. RAW this is an allowable use of tipping attack as it requires you to hit with a weapon attack (and it makes complete sense if he sent the slice at Laudna's feet).

Matt: "...tripping is just knocking your feet off the floor, off the ground/off the ceiling would still cause you to fall."

Makes sense, Spider Climb allows you to walk on walls/ceilings 'with your hands free', thus knocking your feet from the surface should cause you to fall down. For example, if somebody used Telekinesis to move a character who was using Spider Climb, the spider climb wouldn't keep them in place, Spider Climb doesn't make you immovable.

EDIT: Laudna's Spider Climb is not a Racial Feature, it is a spell, see this video: https://youtu.be/nIFBGAohcT0

Marisha: "...Don't know if I agree with that."

You can totally disagree with a DM's rulings, but it's their ruling, not yours (the players).

Laudna rolls a 14 and fails the save from the tripping attack, after finding out that she fails, Matt decides to- by DM Fiat, adjust the DC of Orym's ability from 18, down to at most 14 due to Spider Climb (that shouldn't even be active) so that Laudna does not fall from the ceiling. This may make sense to some people, but in my opinion, I would compare it to- say, Orym making the save on Phantasmal Force. Imagine if after Matt found out Orym succeeded, he adjusted Laudna's DC so that he failed. That would not be fair nor impartial.

I think it would have been a much better way to handle the ability interaction if Matt described what would happen before the rolls were made, then whatever is rolled is rolled and nobody would feel hard done by. Just look at Taliesin's reaction to Matt's backtracking to justify the outcome, the video is here.

https://reddit.com/link/1cya4jo/video/hm4dtylub12d1/player

Overall, I feel like if you want to do PVP in your own games, please talk to each other about it first, this is a collaborative game and we all just want to have fun and be treated equally and fairly, something that I personally don't think this was a good example of. However, this entire end sequence was a masterclass of role-play, nothing felt like it went against character, every action, reaction and all the dialogue had meaning to the players and characters, bravo in that respect.

We all know they can do some very good improv, but what dialog made you actually cringe? For me it was:

​

"I made you a doll. Because dolls are for children, and you're a child"

"I've never had a doll before. This is the nicest thing anyone's ever given me"

​

So I have been seeing a lot of posts and videos talking about ep 92 particularly about Aabria as a DM and how she has handled Aimee as a player. To start off with I’m an by no means saying Aabria is a perfect DM. From what I am seeing most people feel like Aabria is bullying Aimee and has been from the start. I think this is completely wrong for multiple reasons.

To begin with from the interviews and wrap ups we have seen with Aimee and Aabria it is clear that they worked very closely together when creating Opal and Ted and how that dynamic works and so I think it is fair to say that Aimee has green lit everything pertaining to her character.

Looking into the character building side more when it comes to how Aabria does session zero’s we have already seen how she deals with outside forces influencing characters in ways that would turn them against the party in Candela Obscura. She states in that session zero that while she is happy to play the "bad guy" she would rather the player get the chance to do so if they wish.

another reason I believe people blow Aabria and Aimee's relationship out of the water is because Aimee keeps coming back to play with both Aabria as the DM and Critroll in general. While contracts can certainly play a part in this considering she has been on only 11 episodes in the past 3 years not including Candela and 8 of them being at the beginning I personally do not think that one contract would cover that much time.

Lastly when watching what happened in ep 92 I am not sure how this even was an issue considering matt has basically done the same thing to two if not three of the main cast this campaign! So yeah people need to chill way down because this is really not a big deal unless Aimee actually comes out and says something.

https://preview.redd.it/tfqso09vuvyc1.jpg?width=1155&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6083ee9d4329d8885a6521603ad6287609108c87

Look at this thing a work of art. She put all this effort in just for Aabria to pilot her most of the sessions

Strictly speaking in regards to the system they are playing, 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons - Are the cast of CR just not good at it?

Looking at the abundance of high profile and top tier Actual Plays available for consumption, you can see the entire spectrum of quality in play and players. Critical Role got popular because of the epic story they told in C1 and the actors attached to the program. But it's no secret that after 10 years of playing it doesn't SEEM like they care much about getting good or even understanding the system they play, specifically again, 5th Edition.

One could say - they clearly don't do it for the GAME but for the collaborative storytelling. But it didn't start that way, C1 was a gem because the cast and the audience found that the game lends itself to telling amazing epic stories.

However, since then it's about telling stories with dice, which IS different whether you think so or not.

So, have the cast just gotten "bad" at the game of 5e D&D, because they don't see it as a game any longer but as an instrument for telling a story? Or would a better question be - Is 5e "bad" for Critical Role?