MESMERA LOST SIGHT OF HER KINGDOM BECAUSE SHE WAS SO FOCUSED ON HER OWN INTERNAL TURMOIL SYMBOLISED BY THE MURALS BECOMING MIRRORS. What a genius Mark.
In 6 second rounds, I would believe that most of them would not even notice but probably there were some fun situations of people not being able to speak mid-sentence. The ones like flying I don't think no one noticed after hundreds of years of being banned, unless they decided to try to fly just because on that precise instant.
I was originally on the train that the combat wasn't challenging enough (even though Mark is still an amazing DM) but I definitely think Katie has a point when she says D&D is just a game they play to have fun and it doesn't need to be anxiety-inducing to have tension.
Combat with a big party in 5e is hard to balance. Difficulty often comes down to dice rolls, and can easily become a slog. Sometimes a party of 2 can defeat a room of 12 hench bad dudes in 2 rounds, and sometimes a party of 6 will take 20 turns to defeat 3 absolute weenies. Nobody enjoys a combat that takes 2 hours.
As you get higher levels too, the complexity goes up and up and up. The party comp, the magic items, the specific spells and abilities they have, all of it can make a huge difference. This party in particular is very challenging to create fair encounters for. Enemies that would deal threatening damage to Aila, Sentry and Nova will absolutely DEMOLISH Lucius and Quill. The traditional weaknesses for Paladins/Barbs (wis saves, spells etc), Quill can remove easily and Sentry gives an HUGE AOE buff against magic. They also pull out great ideas and do tactically creative things which can completely negate things. I'm purposefully giving them encounters that aren't meant to be all or nothing fights too. Imagine in a movie if EVERY fight scene was a desperate close call, the tension wouldn't be there for the actual proper fights. Sometimes you just little brawls to wear down their resources a little bit and make them look/feel like kickass heroes. I fully agree Graz'zt was a pushover, I knew that as soon as I saw the official stat block. XD Mesmera was never going to be a traditional fight.
@@SherlockHulmesDM 100% agree. Having run a 1-20 campaign with six players, balance becomes almost impossible. I loved that Mesmera was an encounter were the group couldn't just hit it to death and you definitely need easier fights for contrast. Showing the players as badasses who can defeat huge monsters with ease, then only to struggle with a new foe is great for setting up a villain. Classic and impactful storytelling, you're doing great Mark, keep it up!
@@SherlockHulmesDM my campaign is hitting L15 so know what you mean (and I don't have thousands of viewers analysing my choices !!). I like the way you have always used environmental challenges in your battles, or custom rules, rather than HP bag baddies. And if that fails there's always Zakira's meteor swarm 🤣
I honestly thing that the last episode was one of the best in a long time. It was a very well done final "boss battle" that tested not only the group's combat prowess but also their ability to think outside the box. The ideas you came up with and the way you roleplayed a desperate and irrational Mesmera was honestly amazing. Keep up the great work both Mark and the Players!
Idk if this hasn't been done or I am dumb but... "Is starbain looking over your shoulder, seeping into your dreams. Nord vpn can redirect him to zarkira, protect your privacy with nord vpn"
Tom knew that using the eye to see valla* wouldn’t really help. Probably make it worse as mark would have to think of what situation she was in. But did it anyway which is why i love them
I know this is a year old+ at this point, but in my opinion, as long as you guys are having fun, don’t worry about the negative comments about “how you should play DnD”. The majority of us love these videos and your style of play.
I love how this entire arc Quill and Sentry have always been chiming in to give commentary on the situation, it’s so funny picturing these 2 reacting to all these situations
Don't care what anyone says. Mark you're my favourite DM, you've got me laughing, crying and wowing along to this adventure. You my man can tell a story!
Fighter/warlock is dope! Thats such a cool idea for multiclassing Nova/Kim! Im loving this stream, ive binged ALL of Aerois over the past year and with this and am finally caught up! Cant wait to catch my first live stream, thanks High Rollers!
I would have the level distribution 9 warlock/8 fighter, keeping level 5 spells and level 5 spell slots, and still be able to do all the echo shenanigans
It's just hit me that so many of the thumbnails for Highrollers are Rhi in her yellow shirt, often going "AAARGHH" I don't know what to do with this information, but that's your burden as well now
I loved the mesmera fight! I thought both this episode and last episode were so much fun and so well done. Because it was handled so differently, the whole encounter felt more believable and impactful for me. We also got to see the characters in a stressful fight-like situation fight in a different way, which was really fun. I think this is a perfect example of just one of the reasons why highrollers is my favorite thing to watch
I am really looking forward to the real end game stuff of this campaign, including the combat. However, I honesty doubt that there will be any real challenge in those fights, since the players don't seem to enjoy the clutch moments with lots of tension any longer. They are deeply attached to their characters, and some of them expressed during a episode how their characters have helped them move through the pandemic. It seems the difficulty has been lowered, because the players "around the table" wants a more chill escapism experience rather than grappling with death, loss and anxiety regularly. That's my interpretation, and I am aware that I might have gotten it wrong. I really hope for some combat encounters that pose a real challenge soon! I agree that the happiness of the players are important, but with a audience and show like High rollers, not critically evaluating how the combat encounters are experienced by the fans might be a mistake.
Wait episode 15 wasn't that when... BROOKSTONED?! As someone who is just now getting to this episode and started watching when they streamed episode 15, good luck. If you have more free time than me, then maybe you got back to this episode before I did.
I have always loved high rollers. I been watching since light fall. I have watched most of the mini series and one shots. You all have come so far. Thanks you all the years of amazing content. (I fell behind in critical role multiple times to catch up on high rolls!) I have not notice any railroading. I thought everything has been aligned with characters backstorys and goals. And there has been plenty of very difficult fights. I mean at one point sentry and quill were both dead!
I had what I think is a funny monster idea. A Gnoll that occasionally sits still for so long that grass has started to grow over it. It also has a small goblin with a crossbow that rides on its back. A shooter on a grassy Gnoll.
Amazing intro mark! Can't wait to finally watch you guys live...been watching/listening to you guys while I'm driving around Lincolnshire while at work and you guys are simply incredible
Thanks for the discussion about difficulty at the end, appreciated that. I am one of those who have felt that it's been too low for quite some time now. I love everything else about you guys playing though ❤️ I actually felt the difficulty might have been a bit too high for the first half of this campaign, but it was also one of the reasons for it being so exciting to listen to. I love seeing the heroes becoming strong and really crush some lesser opposition now and then. I still wish for at least some encounters to feel like they have stakes though. If not, it's breaking the campaign for me, and it makes it feel like a video game, and less like a real adventure in a distant world where anything could happen. I think also that people might react and comment regarding difficulty because this campaign was really rough for the first half, and then it changed and we as viewers don't know why. I guess some of us got used to watching a thriller-comedy-drama-actiom-adventure, and now the thriller bit is gone, and some of us miss it a lot. But of course, it's up to you guys! ❤️ Btw: I loved the Mezmera encounter!
Literally saved this episode so I could watch it while I recover from surgery. I had major surgery this morning, and it seems ot was a complete success! Thanks for keeping me entertained
I agree with aila. A creature shouldnt have 2 ranges for attacks of opportunity. It shouldnt matter if it has 2 attack ranges its combat range is its farthest melee range
Im having so much fun. Im stressed enough with what is happening in game. I dont need anymore character deaths. I cried when Sentry and Quill died. It broke me for a couple of days. I love how you play it. It is cinematic its fun and its not just go there and hit stuff.
I hate that people will bash people's play style so harshly. If you don't like it no one is forcing you to watch. But I love this show so much, definitely my favorite group an I love that Mark KNOWS that he's a good DM 😃
No Kim! Trot is not talking about your whips and chains collection, he’s talking about your character nova getting married to the, once snake lady, keep your head in the game girl, we love you…
One of my favorite episodes yet. The intro was truly hilarious, and the role play and combat were top notch. Truly a work of art. Thank you for sharing with us your imagination, Mark and the storm chasers.
Well said on the "my groups fun is priority" very important for any GM. I know I made a comment last video about the mesmara stuff, I just want to clarify that was from my perspective as a player. I did like the encounter, but I think building up some understanding of the limitations of the fey rules, and how they worked would have helped with it feeling very cutscene like/rail roaded and feeling as if the only reason that "succeeding" was possible was because of ambiguous fiat, since it felt like she suddenly lost the ability to incapacitate the party. I know it was for novas respec, but the player in me would have sat there wondering haha. Im sure you had limitations in your head though. I love high rollers and want you all to have the best time doing it. Which is why I criticize anything. You are all great and I hope to have another 6 years of your adventures and hijinks.
You guys are the best, I love your play style and it’s obvious you guys love playing with each other, which is the most important thing! The day this becomes “just a job” is the day it won’t be as incredibly captivating to watch 😊 you do you guys! Forget the haters ❤️
I just got done listening on Spotify and had to comment. I LOVED listening to the mesmera fight! It was great storytelling and a fantastic way to allow Kim her class change that felt like a natural progression of her symbiosis with tiang gong. I look forward to these every week and am inspired for my own game every time I listen while at work! Thank you all for this great story!
Wow, Kim's respec really threw me. I expected maybe a few levels but the multiclass going so far that the warlock became the minority of levels was quite the surprise.
This episode is SO GOOD I watched on twitch and now I'm watching here again. Top TTRPG right here! Also, spoilers start here. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= . . . . . . . Man, the whole Mesmera thing was amazing. Great RP there. And it is about time Callus takes on Xarkira (or however you spell the bitch's name). For a supposed "honoured" villain he has let her run her evil shit for far too long. Can't wait for next episode!
Mark, I think what you do is amazing! And the fact that you put fun above all else is to me the most important thing. Yes, as you say, we all have different opinions, but mine is that you put on an amazing show... and the entire team is kicking ass!
I am still catching up, so this is posted very late, but I feel the obligation to do so in front of any comments on how is Mark DMing. I believe anyone who has some experience as a DM can tell he is doing a good job. First and foremost, this is about the players having fun as he says. But setting that aside and objectively assessing the adventure and the encounters I would say the following. The narrative is good, and the amount of combat is very well-balanced. Having hundreds of encounters does not do any favors to the story and the player's fun. These are high-level characters with very powerful magic items and abilities/traits added to the default ones so balancing the fights is an art. High-level combat on DnD is usually quite in favor of the players unless you want to make some very unbalanced fights with lots of annoying effects to counter all the players' arsenal. So a fight/encounter/event like the one with Mesmera (sorry if the spelling is not right) is a great idea to provide a different type of challenge other than just a plain fight and contributes to the players' creativity. Railrolling for the narrative sake or to provide a cool scene is as much unavoidable for any DM unless you are OK with really anti-climatic and unsatisfactory conclusions versus the epicness that will keep your players engaged. The amount of railing you use depends on your playing style and how narrative-focused it is, but I do not know any good DM who does not guide the narrative, as well as I do not know any good DM who is not able to improvise when players go off the rails. I do not believe that there is a successful way of DMing that doesn't require both. A 100 percent improvised and unguided adventure/story will not be as engaging to the players. There are sandbox games for that. All in all, Mark is doing a great job as a DM. This should be obvious by now and should not require any post by anyone like me to point it out, but as always seems like the hate voices are sadly the louder ones.
I don't think you can say any DM is the best because different people enjoy different play styles, that said Mark is great at the style of play I enjoy watching the most.
Sentry really started to wreck everything in the fights in the last episodes, she's doing like 100 damage per turn consistently. High level paladins are so op. Also, Kim must be so mad she didn't multiclass into paladin instead :D
I will say this. They'll have not been able to play dungeons & dragons with anyone in a very long time no one's fun is wrong. This dungeon master and this group had their own way of playing and I absolutely love it. Also the evening star campaign that Mark runs is fantastic as well! The way I see this if the players are having fun at the dungeon Masters having fun at the wolves get bent a little bit or altered slightly then that's their decision :-) it's a make believe game that's meant to be fun so there :-) love you guys keep up the awesome work!
I'm 8 months late and nobody's going to ever see this, but I don't think the complaints about the Mesmera fight were valid, for three main reasons: 1) The complaint was that the fight was unwinnable, but that's clearly not true, because the players _won_ ! Mesmera never had infinite power (Mark explicitly said as much in the episode, even though he wasn't explicit about what the limits were), and besides, she was _not_ acting as a rational actor during the battle anyway. Her powers were foreshadowed several episodes ago when they first entered the Feywild, and they were a ~perfect~ thematic fit for the world. (They are also within the lines of established, published lore. It's not like mark made up the concept of the rules of three or archfey). 2) The complaints that the fight wasn't tense because Mesmera could do whatever she wanted don't hold water -- the fight was tense precisely _because_ Mesmera could do whatever she wanted. When she froze everyone at the beginning my heart was pounding -- how would the heroes POSSIBLY escape? Yes, that _particular_ case was a bit of a farce in order to let Nova's statblock change, but when people complain that the group isn't playing to the audience (and to be clear: I don't think the group SHOULD play to the audience), this is exactly the sort of thing that has to be there for viewer continuity. In a "real" game you could just handwave it. But this made it so much cooler! The constantly-changing rules then turned it from a game from "how can I smack her until she dies" (which we've seen hundreds of times over the campaign) into "how can I attack her in such a way to unlock the way I _really_ want to attack her -- which we've not seen before and likely won't ever see again. This is easily one of the most challenging combats they've had since they entered T4, but somehow the people who are complaining combat is too easy don't like it. 3) The last portion of the complaints are that that's not how the poster would like to play if they were in the campaign. Well that's kind of the point: they aren't in the campaign! Mark designed an encounter that his specific players would love (and it certainly seems like he succeeded); had he had a group full of people like the complainers, he never would have done that encounter in the first place. "I don't like it because that's how he would do it in a completely different circumstance" is just a nonsense line of reasoning. As is, I usually listen to combat in the background and focus more on the RP, but this was probably the combat that took more of my attention than any other. Keep up the good work!
I liked this side quest. I like the skill challenges. Time for a yeh olde carr chase on winged monsters. I like when the side-side quests add to the main plot. Keep up to good campaign!
Here’s my theory for next episode. The party finds a way to deal with the Dragon or quill banish’s it either or, and then they get to the scene and they’ll get their just in time for Lucius to 9th counterspell the teleport and nova then uses the ring to cast a 8th level modify memory on Calais to make him believe they convinced him his plan fails. Valla is a demigod so she can fight and fed off these attackers for a time. So there’s a chance here a lot of good can come from these. They just need to deal with this dragon
I appreciate the outro and the discussion of different playing styles and balance between narrative, fun, and anxiety. Personally, It seems I'm with the minority that the fights don't feel as difficult as the narrative stakes prop them up to be. Obviously still watching though lol and glad the players are having fun too ofc. The Mesmeria fight was a nice unique boss though love the idea of it, my focus is more like on the combat with the knightmares and simluacrum but also bigger picture, the simlucarum foreshadowed an entire invasion. Love the creativity would like to see more stress in combat, but actually lol the creativity also allows everyone to avoid many a fights and perilous situations which is also awesome. But if extremely high difficulty combat is not these players style, so, still cool.
Honestly I would have wished for Mesmera's wings to grow back. I know Hope can heal them, but she didn't mention it until much later, and that will take time. Mesmera deserved that ring, hands down, and I was surprised they just left without even considering it.
Question maybe someone could answer... Since Hope (Rosemaddow) could heal Mesmeras wings even though the damage had happened hundreds of years ago, could she not heal Quils wing?
I know what your talking about with the play style. I see it as the DM is the game your team, the PCs are playing. Every DM is a different game and should play the game as such. Not out to get the player too much and not out to help them so much you break your own world. I think Mark has a very good balance in this. It's about fun, then story, then anything else is what I expect from D&D and I see a lot of that here.
Lunaria might work slightly differently from the Feywild connected to Toril or Exandria, or it could be because they were in Mesmera’s domain and she didn’t want them to forget/prevented the forgetfulness from taking effect.
2:59:27 First of all forgiveness is for you, not the person who wronged you. Hate in your heart only hurts YOU. Secondly, Mesmera has become a monster alreadg. Just like Thalia she is going to be telling an awful lot of people sorry. Lastly reliving old memories makes them worse or better depending on memory. The brain works that way. Human psychology...
Hi High Rollers, I just wanted to say that you are my favourite RU-vid channel and I love your videos. Also I really liked you Battle Royale video could you maybe consider doing another one please. Thank you for making all for your videos they bring lots of joy to me, bye 👋.
Plenty off times I have been disappointed with some of the things Mark has done with the rules over the years, but the Mesmera encounter is not one of them, I thought that was brilliant and they were told that Mesmera could make up her own rules. I hadn't read the comments and it took me a while to figure out that was what was being referred to. And when I say I disappointed, I just really mean, it is not what I would have done, but then I have never played in a game or watched a stream where I have agreed with every decision or enjoyed every scenario created by the DM. As a player in the Mesmera situation, I would have been as frustrated as hell, but would have loved it.
