Emily Axford Breaks Everyone In Critical Role | Critical Moments Campaign 3 

There was not just “yea” but “yea yea yea yea” 😂

@@MayLina “Yes, you understand!”

Murph is such a wild name and that's coming from someone named Chas.

@@LazyDev27 his actual name is Brian Murphy but he goes by Murph

Travis and Laura too!

ooohhh, between matt, brennan and murph it's a tough choice as to who would dm

Any of the critical role cast on Naddpod would be awesome as well.

Nahhhhh

I'd love to see a video of the group with Murph as DM

Casting dimension door through her spell book which was inside an animal that had eaten Orym. Incredible.

Hilda Hilda lives rent free in my head

The real reason Matt split the party; you can't have Emily and Laura in the same room or else Matt falls into the fetal position defeated.

​@@pentheclicketyno, she lives at 22 Hilda Street and 22 Hilda Boulevard in Bastion City.

As a fan of NADDPOD, I was already familiar with Emily’s wild antics as Moonshine Cybin, a circle of spores crick elf (and yes that’s crick, not creek, she plays a hick elf with an opossum named Pa Pa, her animal companion). I listened to NADDPOD before I watched Campaign 1, or even some of Exandria, and to go from the tides of chaos that is Emily Axford to Vex and Trinket, and Fearne and Mister, is so weird. Fearne and Mister don’t even compare to the dynamic between Moonshine and Pa Pa. To me Fearne is tame compared to Moonshine. I think Matt would have been driven insane if Ashley and Emily played together.

We think..

​@@taytayinexandriaHe is!

Utkarsh was honestly one of my favorite guests they've had on the show! He had such a fun energy, meshed so well with the rest of the cast, and funny little moments like this! I felt bad when he mentioned in the 6-sided dive that playing Bor'Dor kinda stressed him out, I would love to see him again in a role he can fully enjoy! Also you are correct, there are few better sounds in this world than Emily's cackle

"I don't have an accent. This is flawless Zemnian"

Sam's another good example of Chaos + Technical ability (even if he constantly plays down how good he is at the game). Spoilers: Tricking Matt into letting Scanlan get into counterspell range in the Vecna fight of C1 lives entirely rent free in my head.

​@@Deiwos0 Sam had moments of brilliance during C1, like Scanbo. But wow, he knows the range of his spells and positions accordingly? That's good play, but it doesn't seem amazing to me. But he fumbled through most of C2 not understanding the interaction between the Hide action (or bonus action for a rogue) and advantage as a way to get Sneak Attack. It took until about episode 100 that Sam clued in to the other way to get sneak attack (other than an adjacent ally), and that's the core mechanic of his class. And frequent failure to use Mage Hand for things, especially early in C2. And if you look at how he's playing in C3, it's often ineffective (although getting better recently), and he didn't even know how Turn Undead worked. And didn't know you could cast a cantrip in the same turn as a bonus action spell. And never casts FCGs ritual spells as rituals, instead wasting high-level spell slots on them for no reason even when there's no time pressure. Sam's "I don't know how to play D&D" was more of an act in C1, although it was still true that he only really knew how to play Scanlan, not D&D in general, e.g. it wasn't rare that Sam wouldn't know some rules basics like for attacking with a weapon which Scanlan rarely did, but which other people at the table did all the time. But by C3, it's less of an act, more of a sad reality. IDK what changed, but he just doesn't seem very interested in D&D mechanics, perhaps because the playstyle he wanted to play (healer that casts heal spells on most turns in combat) isn't very viable in 5e. He's said multiple times "I could heal but that won't do anything", and he's right; spells that make enemies less likely to hit, or stop them from doing it as much, tend to be more effective in combat to keep others alive. Spend spell slots *outside* combat on things like Prayer of Healing. Or use the Chef feat to boost short rest healing; that's why you sacrificed your Wis score to take that feat, right? So frustrating that he never uses the Chef feat for anything after gimping FCG's spellcasting to take it. We know he *can* learn mechanics and use them effectively, but he really hasn't bothered to do much of that in C3 until recently, e.g. starting to explore ways to use Compulsion. And apparently he can deliver shared suffering temp HP via spell attacks, so via spiritual weapon, inflict wounds, or guiding bolt (which are pretty much the only cleric attack-roll spells.) Also, temp HP are supposed to get used up when you take damage, but Sam doesn't seem to realize that they are actual temp HP, not just a separate pool that can only be dumped through an attack to not have them damage FCG. Matt has said they definitely are actual temp HP and will absorb damage before FCG's real HP take damage, but this happened like once and Sam forgot again.

@@Peter_Cordes I think a lot of the problems with FCG's effectiveness stem from Sam's need to make FCG distinct from the likes of Pike, Jester, and Cadeuces, to make FCG unique. But that has the side effect that Sam foregoes obvious spells like Guiding Bolt, Inflict Wounds, and Spirit Guardians, just because past clerics have had those spells. As a result, FCG has zero setup spells, so Sam has no idea what to do other than have FCG run head-first into danger. Now FCG is also an even poorer healer by 5e standards, however, because now they either get knocked out all the time or they have to heal themself to remain standing.

@@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria I think this is sort of why it's important to know how game mechanics can enhance your RP and character building. Before I say anything just disclaiming that CR cast is great, not bashing them when I'm talking about pedantic issues. It's more for observation and what I think other people could learn from it versus trying to dig at Sam. FCG was teed up I would say very well with a subclass that is both unique and effective in its role for the team. It is more focused on RP, but it has mechanical prowess if used correctly as well. I would compare it to how useful Abjuration Wards are. Damage prevention, potential damage boosts, and temp HP in one feature is honestly a very solid support core. But it's rare for FCG to make use of it, and I have a feeling that's because Sam is not a very rules-technical player. Yeah yeah you could point out moments like C1's climax to counter that, but I would respond and say literally every player has had mechanically genius plays in the past decade and a half of their campaigns. He actively didn't use features like halfling luck because he disagrees with the message of them fundamentally. Instead, asking a DM and being like "Hey, so I'm never going to use this feature. Can I replace it with a variant rule or with one of my previous racial features?" instead of letting it rust away on your character sheet would be likely to give more out of the experience. I know he did eventually relent on that front and grow, but it's still worth talking about as he didn't for a good amount of time in the core campaign. Matt is clearly willing to make those changes, in that same campaign he had an entirely homebrewed class and Jester's variant Tiefling that combined Water Genasi and Tiefling heritages. I will say that outside of Liam, Talesin, or recently Marisha I haven't seen them discover the meta of 5e is control spells/features and not damage just yet. Which is fine, do the big damage. But the reason why full casters reign supreme over 5e is that they have the most access to these broken spells. Especially Clerics who can be a blanket healer, damage dealer, or support caster at the same time just due to the versatility of prepared slots. FCG's low WIS score in combination with trying to always transfer the damage via a weapon attack makes a lot of their turns not do much and when they do actually heal it's not as effective. When we look at clerics like Caduceus or Jester, both of them really pushed their core features to their limits and understood how their subclass was designed in order to take advantage of that. Jester wouldn't be viewed as conventionally "Wise", and was in fact initially designed to be a Warlock and not a Cleric at all. But Laura did a great job at playing a character that is naturally intuitive versus learned of the world. Ability scores shouldn't dictate how you design your character, find a reason for them to fit into the mold that will allow them to perform their role the best. If we always adhered to ability scores from an RP perspective, it would be extremely limiting and only allow for very few fantasy archetypes to exist when there's so much more depth you can find by instead asking "why would my character have a high score in this stat?" If there's a fundamental conflict there, either change the character or change the class/subclass. Play a gish if your melee character isn't dextrous or strong. It can be flavored in any way you'd like while still retaining mechanics that align with your stats/interests. Mechanics can work to your benefit, so don't fight against the current because it results in play that is less satisfying.

Emily is the lord of chaos, Sam, Ashley & Laura are her disciples

As a fellow NADDPOD and D20 fan you’re so right!!

THE SIDE FLAP?!?! THERE IS NO HONOR IN THE SIDEFLAP!

How about Chaining a major Villian flipping him off and looking at her witch mentor and going “go go let’s get the fuck out of here!!”

As a huge Dimension 20 and NADDPod fan, I'm really happy so many Critical Role fans got to see firsthand how amazing Emily Axford is. 💖

@@Hey-Its-Dingo yes!! I haven't watched C3 of CR but I saw her and was like oh maybe I should

@@alexandrasloane She is, sadly, only a guest for the past few episodes, but I think C3 is a really fun campaign. It's not C1 or C2, it's very much its own thing, so as long as you don't go in expecting it to be exactly the same as C2, you'll have a great time.

​@@Hey-Its-Dingoexactly. If Vox Machina are the Avengers and the Mighty Nein are the Guardians of the Galaxy, then Bells Hells are that team Deadpool put together in Deadpool 2. COMPLETELY different dynamics. 😂

"Dirty stuff for a scry spell" One of many sentences that describe Moonshine Cybin to a tee.

Nothing. Will ever. Make Hilda Hilda not funny. The Police House?!

idk if it quite hit hilda hilda levels, seeing as she immediately backpeddled with "dirty stuff" and everyone had a quick laugh about it, whereas with hilda hilda brennan refused to brush by the interaction and forced emily to deal with the situation she created. this was moreso "saw a caterpillar chasing a butterfly", in my opinion.

​@@elrapido5150i

​​​@@nootdrawsthe reason Hilda Hilda was so great was because Brennan locked her into it and didn't let her backpedal out of it. Although in hindsight, Brennan only thought he had a firm grip on her antics, but we've all saw ACOC, Starstruck, Never after, and the Unsleeping City.

Get rule34 on it, stat.

that would be my kind of game too! An observation though: I find that Chaotic Narratives need a PC who is naturally thinking-in-the-box-of-reality-and-honestly-sanity as much as (imo) Based Narratives need one chaotic Emily/Laura/Brennan PC character who is naturally out-the-box-and-our-minds-andwhatisevenhappeningnowwhatwhatwhat. Oh-- its funny to think Emily and her DM partner (husband?) Murph embody the opposite character mold almost perfectly haha.

I believe the creator of the pepe meme has come.oit and denounced the people using it that way but yeah i see yoir point

@@Airahar Don't let the nazis keep taking symbols for themselves. Ramp up the symbols use in non-nazi fashions, especially in ways that make it clear it is in support of things the nazis hate. Do not surrender anything to them, they will keep taking more.

I'm sorry .. what? My whole corner of the internet must have missed that, and I'm a regular in several communities with 10k+ members. Pepes are posted daily, no nazis involved. I mean, there was a sorry attempt to brand pepe as alt-right around election time in the US I think, but pretty much no one cared.

Not using it just means they win.

Pepe is more linked to general internet and twitch culture. It’s used a lot on specific websites that harbour edgy teens, bigots and Nazis, but for a long time it wasn’t and I’m very confident that to most public it’s not either. And it’s like the other commenter said, not using it would allow hateful people to succeed in taking things away from us being able to enjoy things.

Ok maybe not a rules lawyer but still great with every other aspect.

@@jewfrogabe19 I mean... she's cool and creative, and from what I understand in Dimension20 they basically ignore Material components (and thats fair), but still my expectations were elevated higher. I also find it kinda funny that if Matt was a stickler to the rules, the whole art setup with corpses would cost them fair amount of gold (not sure how much but Magic Mouth requires costly components to avoid people overusing it. I've seen someone build a theoretical magical computer using this spell :) )

@@demogorghoneah your way sounds much more fun.

@@washyrose5904 I admit part of it is me being a bit salty because my DM is a bit strict about Material components of they are costly

@@demogorghon I mean my DM is strict when it comes to resources like spell slots, wild shapes, luck points, etc. like any DM. But I’m glad he completely ignores pedantry over material components. If we decide to include flavor from a spell description (like Magic Stone, for example) he’s down with that. But he doesn’t go, “And where do you get that stone from????”

you must be fun at parties

god i just know you’re exhausting to be around

.... Is that what you think "break" means when talking about a chaos player? Buddy.... You need friends.

Found the redditor 🙄