The Kill Box | Critical Role: VOX MACHINA | Episode 52 

James Martin i play at school and in our last campaign our "rouge" ignored sneak attacks and stuff and just went out in front of everyone for some reason

@@supercool1312 Cause they were playing a Rouge, and not a Rogue. Makes perfect sense.

Rogues were way more powerful before 5th Edition. They nerfed them hard by taking away the sneak attacks.

Before 5th you think they were more powerful? I'm confused, because they still have Sneak Attack in 5e, and definitely also did in 3.5. And they're insanely better in 5e than they were back in the 3.5/PF days, where Rogues were fun jokes that Wizards and Druids talked about at parties.

@@Anduril74871 Rogues were garbage in 3.5. They became pretty good in 4e and continue to be so in 5e. They used to have garbage hp, garbage BAB, no way to half melee damage every round (ala 5e), got their sneak attack shut down by constructs + undead, and their sneak attack was ridiculously outclasses by any 2-handed Str build with a few good feats. Now, their damage is pretty good compared to other classes and, more importantly, compared to monster hp scaling.

GOG ALMIGHTY no, you aren’t. I only know because the fight finished in one episode

@@mitchelldeines6413 two if you count Grogs opening fight with kevdak

last Saturday there was a chase at my table which lasted for 1m54s, but it took 1h real time. D&D is so funny and time relative.

You're not watching the anime.... Yet.

@@NecRomant1c Hyped for that one thou!

As someone that's speaks English as a second language, this makes total sense to me! That's genius!

That's probably it. With his low int score, he fumbles the words of his secondary language, but among his peers, using his primary language, he's rather eloquent, that's what I think too.

That, and he grew up with the herd. The culture, the way you talk, the way you walk and so much more.

I hadn't thought of this but YES! It sounds so right.

Reminds me of one of Geoff Robinson's characters in RollPlay that made that joke. An (half?)orc that spoke in 2-3 word sentences, but when they came across some other orcs, he spoke to them in a highly sophisticated upper-class manner.

I would have asked what asshole he meant under those circumstances.

Spits out my drink and coughing

Hahaha , please specify which asshole

I down voted this. Not because I didn't Ike it, but to try to get the number of likes to an appropriate level 😉

After 1000 likes, I rescinded my thumbs down the dream is gone.

Ha ha ha ha ha! I laughed too much at this. :)

Or the fact will wheaton (dice curse extrodinare) touched all of matts dice and stuff 😂

It was Wheaton... He makes himself have bad luck and everyone else gets super high roles at critical moments. Combined with the percy factor and you get and extreme 1/20 Coin produce from a 20 sided dice

He's like Samson, but nerdier.

6 years later and it's still the best comment for this episode.

What's the context of this? I don't follow CR and I'm just making my way through the series.

@@scylax7669 Ashley's character in Campaign 2 is a Barbarian

Scylax Yasha the Aasimar Barbarian!

untill it didnt anymore TT_TT

Its fine she is eventually coming back

That drove me up the wall lol

Ik don't know why but this is the funniest comment I have seen hahaha

@@Th3M4k40n what does that mean?

@@HelloThere..... It's a phrase for "that was incredibly annoying"

​@hellothere436 It means he's a Monk because he can go up walls

And thus several years later the box of doom was born

He doesn't get new gear a lot, but he takes full advantage of the effects.

Sam's a really good player.

Oh shiiiiiit I didn't realize that part

Straight after he did it they talked about how they have spent all week texting and planning so I think the opening moves had been pretty planned and thought out. Still a really good move.

That's bards for you. Controlling the battlefield.

+Rune Schwarz most intense 54 seconds ever

+Rune Schwarz Thank you!! I love stats like this! 54 Seconds, that's crazy! knowing that now almost makes this more intense and awesome for me!

Not quite, each person is 6 seconds; so multiply 9 rounds x the number of people x 6 seconds per person

No, each round is 6 seconds, everyone has 6 seconds to do their stuff because the whole round lasts that long, everything happens almost at the same time (no one would wait for everyone else to do their thing before doing anything), the initiative shows which begin first, but the next one begins while the first is still in motion (if not, in a 1v1 you character would act once every 6 seconds, but in a fight with 11 people you would be waiting a minute before moving again? why would you character do that)

The official turn system for 5e is six seconds for a round, one minute is ten rounds

OMG UR RIGHT

Cept Kevdak has two of them

Good thing Grog went for the head

And they win, because even Grog is smarter than Starlord. (To be fair, Dr. Strange should have used hold person. Then Starlord could have hit Thanos without breaking the spell)

Travis has played thooor!!

And Critrole stats was born....

He looks like golum

2:13:25

Everyone: "Aaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"

Yes! I had to rewatch that a couple of times to understand what he was saying

And then Caleb happened 😂

@@isaacstevens1912 oh

Seriously though.

MyRYNOrunsHot greeaattttt..... I'm just starting the episode...

And how did that work out for you?

Scarlett Kara Seems they didn't make it

Nope. A shame really. Didn't even get to the kraken yet.

He's playing the D&D equivalent of the Axis of Awesome Four Chord Song.

There are too many other details Matt nails for me to be upset about something so ridiculously insignificant

I know right. Grog went through so much to grow that f...ing beard. The beard alone should have an intimidating presence.

I am now

​@@jgamer2228 calling Grog's beard insignificant is why you got stabbed Ceasar.

​@@michelvanderlinden8363 bro that was elite comedy 😂

In what way was he amazing? Roleplaying his low intelligence properly? Well, he seemed to help a lot with the planning and clever plays, so no. Showing the bravery and honour of his character? No. He went in boasting hard and then cried for mummy as soon as the fight got hard. In front of his whole herd. Then he died as well, but somehow got to be the big brave leader. Its all Mercer not Travis.

+chipping Well, keep in mind that while he does have abysmal intelligence, his wisdom isn't quite as bad. There is a difference between crying for mother and knowing when you're beat. While Grog has probably been a bit too smart in the last couple of battles for his intelligence mod to play out properly, you have to at least concede that poor intelligence is probably the hardest stats to portray when you genuinely care about the outcome (It's a huge handicap, especially for a personality like Travis). I would say that in all ways besides intelligence, it's a more mature version of the same Grog we have always known. I would also say that Grog would have advantage in manner of the Herd, not to mention that Kevdak had a legendary ancient armament bolstering him. Even Grog would have been aware that he was going to die (6 INT is still twice that of what a beast can attain, and beast can be intelligent in their own way.) I think saying that it's all Mercer is a bit harsh (Mercer is fantastic, don't get me wrong). Travis is a very talented actor who showed up to the table and performed well, not MVP more then likely, but I doubt you'd be singing Travis praises if he'd thrown Grog Headlong into his demise within the first 30 minutes essentially forcing the party into a TPK situation attempting to save him. I believe Travis played Grog honestly here.

+AJ Shirley Mostly good points. Though everybody should realise that a 6 INT in this game is equivalent to an ape and common people have an INT of 10. So Grog is at the level of having difficulty stringing sentences together. This low intelligence should never be allowed for a player character because its going to be a useless character for any adventuring. The player would have nothing to do and everyone else would have to nurse maid - just like playing Trinket. No, in fact its worse because villains can easily dupe him. The only reason Grog's int is that low is because Travis was metagaming (wanted to make other stats higher) at the time. A good GM would never have allowed it, but Matt panders to his players' every whim under the guise of 'making it more fun'. Now in Crit Role everyone basically ignores the roleplaying of character stats - all they are there for is the die rolls - -i.e. rule-playing. Regarding your point about wisdom and intelligence, the thing you are ignoring is the world (game world). Everyone seems so wrapped up in the characters. The GM alters events and world social and physical laws to suit the party. It shouldn't be like that. The world is supposed to present the party with challenges, if it keeps being changed to suit, the challenges are a lot less. The case in point - its not about his int or wisdom or any other such thing. Its that his actions lost him any honour had in front of the tribe. Anyone that turns up with big words and makes big challenges then screams for mummy, when he wasn't even hurt, is goign to be seen as a joke - according to their moral code, according to the world. But here, we just conveniently brush failure under the carpet and pretend it was a win...because failure isn't fun. Is it fun to play a game where its very difficult for you to lose? Well anyway they are entertaining to watch. I like Travis, he is actually quite funny and a pretty smart player (would have been better off playing a better character).

+chipping You made some good points there as well. Especially about the part where Grog should be struggling with stringing sentences together. I know little of their Meta-gaming decisions prior to Episode 1, but I do now that meta-gaming is hard to avoid sometimes when you're putting together a party of first timers. However, the DnD ruleset does allow for stat assignment or a roll best 3 of 4d6, which could result in a score as low as 3. As for Grog doing what he did... he broke the rules of the Tribe in a big way, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First is that with the portrayal of this specific herd, might always makes right. (Grog was beaten and left for dead simply because he tried to protect an innocent. This was accepted by the herd as fair play.) Second, the moment Kevdak was defeated there was a power vacuum in the leadership. This doesn't mean that the Herd would have accepted Grog, but it does mean that Grog was in a position to bargain. And Thirdly, Grog rolled a nat 20 which flipped the tables further. As for the basis of whether or not Grog could have pulled this off, I'd look at charisma and Wisdom over intelligence (He probably should have retarded the speeches a bit though.) So from the perspective of world rationality, I cannot say I disagree with what happened although it did catch me by surprise. Another thing to note is that a party of 7 has an inordinately high probability of success by default, so programming encounters that are challenging can be very difficult. I also got the feeling that Grog had abandoned his connection to the Herd a while ago and that had been building up to a sharper edge recently. P.S. I agree that Travis probably deserves a better character.

+chipping I'm not saying you're wrong, at least not completely. If you read my first post, we actually agree on the intelligence is hard thing. I simply think that in the context of this episode, there was margin for error I don't feel that you're recognizing. I don't think that Intelligence is the sole stat that reflects thinking capacity. Wisdom, as an asset, involves intuition. Sometimes people can guess an answer that is correct, and if backed up by solid charisma, carry that solution to a meaningful conclusion. Intelligence is about knowing the answer, solving a problem with analytical ability and academic knowledge. As both being abstract stats, I feel that under certain circumstances they can be interchanged, as here. Even in real life, Intelligence and Wisdom are often confused since they often tackle similar subject matter. Like touching poison Oak. INT defines your ability to correctly identify it and avoid it (or remedy it if you accidentally touched it). At the same time you could come to the same conclusion via a gut feeling that something probably isn't a good idea (WIS). Perhaps in order to help Travis correctly identify what Grogs INT should play out as, Matt should set a precedent of forcing an INT check every time Travis pushes the boundaries of Grog's intellectual capacity. On the other hand, Travis definitely needs to stop with the back seat driving, since Grog probably couldn't process information on that level. However on the point of tribal speechcraft, I don't think Grog play entirely out of the realm of believability, I just think he should have been more simplistic with it. As for how Matt treated it, based on how things played out, I will say that I think that could of happened. What is more unbelievable for me is their entire sequence of rolls at the exact right moment (this seems to happen to them a lot.) My main annoyance with Matt is that he seems to treat anything below a 15 as a fail, and a natural 20 as god mode activated much of the time. I know there is probably more to it then that, but I feel like there are a wide range of actions that would fall under easy-very easy that get passed over in favor of an on-off switch. I'm not sure if this relates to what your saying or not, but perhaps it'll add some clarity to my side of the table. In short, I think you are right about a lot of things, but perhaps a little abrasive in your application of the ruleset. P.S. I don't think animals are stupid, they are generally just treated that way. In fact, I think that many types of Dogs could easily have pulled off the dog version of what grog did here. And they are auto-relegated to INT=3. Perhaps our difference of opinion here is driven by the fact we have a different idea of what an INT of 6 actually represents.

You think Sam is the lovable fool, when really he's a heartless monster who'll throw anyone under the bus as long as it's not Pike. THAT ain't no joke.

@@xFlareLeon But... he helps his friends by giving advice like when Vex stole the broom and is willing to go on his on in missions to try helping people

What at the table id say scanlan is the most caring character in vox mochina second only to keylith.

@@thomasweir2213 Yeah except for him straight up murdering two villagers this episode. Scanlan cares about the other members of vox machina and Kaylie.

@@thomasweir2213 id actually say vax is probably the most caring member, at least in regards to the party

Do you have a time frame???!

@@LadyLier17 7:22, it was somewhere around here I think!

No one looked stupid in this, this inteo was pure marvel and bliss.

@@DeCode343 Ehhh, I think most of them looked goofy af. But I also wouldn't be disrespectful about it. Just bite my tongue and cringe.

@@a.m.4049 bro let them have their fun who tf cares haha

I agree, although the way it's played out is good. My only frustration was Grog not pulling out the Tiefling-forged Moon Hammer after losing Craven, and then AGAIN after being disarmed of the Firebrand. I love Travis and think he's one of the most brilliant at truly occupying his character rather than just powergaming. But I think he forgot he had it, and I wanna see what it does!

@@Bboyoriginalsin I think that it's just a regular hammer, but a cool looking one. IIRC, Matt said the he got no additional bonuses when he swung it when he got it.

This is not an anime. In one Grog would get some ridiculous unexplained power-up during the fight and win relying solely on it. It's much better this way, as DnD simply acknowledges that characters have limitations and there are bridges they can't cross alone.

I don't know about that... Depends on which anime we're talking about. Many of them would have him take on Kevdak himself, sure, but others would revel in the "power of friendship" trope.

@@Bboyoriginalsin It doesn't *do* anything. Pay closer attention in the episode he got it in. It's just a nice looking hammer. More of sentimental value because of who forged it than of actual combat value. Definitely something to use as a last resort if magical weapons aren't available.

damn, grog was in a locket for an hour, or 12 seconds, whichever you would like

for similar vibe see : campaign 2 episode 93 ;) (which im sure you've already seen haha)

Semi-spoiler for a 1 shot battle royal . . . . . That necklace makes a pretty fun appearance ;)

Grog is now a pokemon

Preparation H?

This is an UNDERRATED comment 🤣🤣🤣

What’s that acronym?

@@ALJ9000 It's a name for a character in C3.

@@TheWordN3rd So nothing I’m familiar with, got it

“He’s a robutt!”

hell yeah! im ready for the escalation

I mean there was the Redskins shirt from way earlier

Agreed. He's the kind of player that realizes that 'wasting' a 6th level spell just to lift up Grog isn't just cute but is actually Important. The Kill Box set the standard for his future Clutch Moves.

I feel like Scanlan's real change where he became more of a role model was after he met Keylee. His character now has someone to protect, and that changed how Sam played him.

Indeed. And all of it is building up to his brilliant performance in the final boss fight of the campaign. :)

The few times he wields his Vestige, he uses the advantages gained from it in an extremely well planned manner. He's brilliant

What about fireballing civilians?

5E Bards, yo. The power is real.

let's be real, he's the de facto leader. You can tell that Sam takes the time between each session to look through his spells and make at least minor plans to start the next session. let alone all the song parodies he contemplates.

MrTingles Though personally I've started to like that Merisha doesn't check her spells. Only half knowing them really suits Keyleth's personality of klutzy naivete.

What about the fact that she was 100% useless that whole fight, and even her fire damage she rolled terrible and hardly did any damage.

***** 22 wisdom and you're not expected to be wise? Lmao.

It's just too bad he didn't pick up the arm/gauntlet while he was there.

@@lianehargrove2440 I don't think he would be able to as it's probably another action

The imagery is so vivid. Vax dives off the roof, swoops down past a barbarian who can't even spot him as he is little more than a black smear of motion before he bolts right into Kevdak's space, plunges the points of his daggers into his flesh before he spins on his heels and leaves him to bleed and think on his final remark, "Your fate is sealed here today, my friend"

Keiran Roberts I know riiiight freaking love it. True dark dramatic rogue mood there.

@@hahmann yeees omg that was crazy

Thus is why I love Taliesin. He's such a team player.

Followed by not adding his brutal crit damage and not immediately severing the arm

​@@Ryanais420 yeah. Some dick ripping was happening when I watched this live for that reason.😂

I am so happy I met Travis!

​@@Ryanais420sooooo frustrating!

He shouldn't be giving that much information before casting a spell, because it gives the players an unfair advantage. He should just say "someone runs over to Kevdak and seems to be casting a spell".

@kiekebe Not only a talented one, somatic and verbal components are a thing, after all.

@kiekebe Yeah, i agree. Identify which spell is being used requires a lot of experience, but to notice that a spell is being used is easier. I think that's the diference between only using a counterspell and using a counterspell of the right level. When i DM, when a player asks me if they know what magic is being cast, if they are the same class of the enemy caster, they know. If they are different classes, they can make a arcana check.

Here's a fun trick for DM's: Counterspell the player's healing.

@@knutandersson4606 Oh yeah I've done that plenty of times lol.

Well they said they planned for the fight a lot, so I guess that makes sense

Is holding your action even a third in d&d? Because I know that for ready attack it says if the trigger doesn’t happen you’ve lost your turn,but nowhere in the combat section of the player’s handbook did I see anything on delaying your action. Wondering for my campaign

@@wolverinehobbit1 Is not a rule in 5e as far as I'm aware, so it's probably a homebrew done by Matt. "Readying an Action" in 5e not only makes you loose your turn if your trigger never happens but it also uses your reaction, forcing players to only use them if they are trying to do something really cool. As you can see in the game, Matt's homebrew makes for more dinamic fights, but also it's really hard to keep track of.

@@at5203 thanks I wanted to know for my game

Lol I thought that too

Thabk you

Thanks :)

BOOST

Boost

Boosting

I was a bit too much for me. At some point she was just complaining about everything and anything and her constant yelling kind of got onto my nerves watching it.

Agreed

@@achimsinn7782 Jesus, god forbid your free content does something not to your utmost liking.

I think it was more of she was either drunk or high and reverted to a 12 yearold.

@@robertthompson5701 I just want to preface this by saying that I love Laura Bailey. She's a saint. But that doesn't mean that having to listen to her saying "We're all going to die" every episode in Campaign 1. doesn't grate on me. I was half joking when I said on another episode that if I took a drink every time she did that, I'd have no liver left.

Man, I was hoping he would say "Six."

That would have been so great. It's a shame Matt didn't play them as at least a LITTLE stupid. 😂

@@cpt.awesome7281 I think it's cause Grog is really the stupid one among them, the others have at least an average intelligence. Kevdak certainly seemed pretty smart at least.

@@shypup5675 I like to imagine Kevdak beat the intelligence out of him with a really bad concussion

I think he was a little disappointed for sure, but I think he also genuinely enjoys being outplayed fair and square. They make for great in-game moments and are the cause of much joy, excitement, and celebration among his friends. I think he also likes that it helps him grow as a DM, and as the DM, he knows that there's always next time.

He was making some weird calls this fight. Like making sure Grog only got resistance on physical damage, not necrotic, as per rage rules. But then letting all of HIS barbarians resist fire damage multiple times?? Not saying he did it consciously, but he definitely seemed a bit defensive after such a big upset to his plans right off the bat (shoulda had legendary resistances if he didn't want that to happen). This is my first watch through, so hopefully his refereeing improves with time. It just felt very skewed, beyond the already difficult circumstances themselves. Like he didn't want to reward their creativity.

@@KooblyK All of his barbarians were bear totem barbarians that get resistance to everything except psychic damage

​@KooblyK if you had watched the last episode*, even if you don't know how barbarians work, Matt literally explained it at the end. He was confidently correct in his rulings.

... STABILIZER

@@williammattes1991 ...Nice

1:44:10

Haha didn't expect this did ya!

Tell me that wasn't one of Vex's best moments. And I did love Matt's reaction when he saw it as well.

1:36:50

@@SupaBass1793 Thank You

Those attacks should have been at a disadvantage for being a fast moving target, and surprised...

Very true

What an epic thought :D so true

He actually was lol. There’s a vid on RU-vid of Liam and Travis getting him to come in and touch Matt‘s dice and table and even gave him a hug. It’s great.

the dice giveth but also taketh

@@creidy2018 do you have a title or link?

Also, is CRITROLE the original WEPLAYDUNGEONSANDDRAGOOONS?

@@pagenein it is 100%

"You guys, D & D Beyond..."

There was a moment about two episodes ago that vax missed a perfect opportunity for saying "CRITROLL" that's a CRITROLL...

Prepare for the loot crate shenanigans

I made a percy comment/reaction irl when that happened haha

I believe the total count according to critrole stats is 9 for Matt, 7 for the party, though I might be wrong

with the obscene number of attacks that Matt is actually rolling it kind of makes sense that he would be getting more than the entire party put together

@@BrentDnD A pussy? Really? The whole party are freaking out the whole fight and you're going to call Matt that because he was mystified by the number of crits they got? They're rolling whole hell of a lot less dice than he is, so it's pretty reasonable to be surprised by their obscene luck.

Dammit Jim, I'm a tinker not a doctor!

@@kaizen5023 I hate how much I laughed at this.

"Daddy, there's an electrical engineer on the roof!"

Time stamp?

But then!! Percy's nerdery actually came in handy. So good

i wish i could like this comment more

Rooooooxane!

@@rileyobrien3455 no

lmao yeah

@@davidstelting3146 bathroom?

Me so hungy

I rewatched it like 3 times out of joy lol

I ... might have shed a tear.

2:32:58 is the timestamp for those who want to know.

That harmony was impressive! especially considering there was no planning

Love you!

Replied to see if it moves to top And thanks a lot from the future.

Thanks

Thanks! Also 3:16:57 - “Sorry About Last Week”

It's so sad. 😂 She tries so hard to do the right thing.

In the 2-week end-of-month drought after she shows up again in the 3rd campaign, I’m anxiously looking forward to her showing us how much she’s improved at this!

I like to think of it as the result of her hypocritical self-righteousness and how naive she is... it feels like karma and makes me laugh. That said, obviously Marisha as a person doesn't deserve the hate she gets/got about how she played her character. Before anybody gets the wrong idea, I obviously don't condone that.

​@@bschneidez called her hypocritical self-righteous and naive but claim to be against the hate the player receives immediately afterwards? Pick a line buddy

@@claire3614 He called Keyleth naive and hypocritical, not Marisha, and even defended the player right after. The character can be a total piece of shit while the player who plays it a total saint of a person. Chill out.

Time stamp?

@@Grayhammer I know this is late but 17:01

He was definitely the MVP of the fight, so many things went perfectly for him. Percy was also clutch by nearly single handedly shooting off one of Kevdak's arms in one round.

In retrospect every move made played out perfectly. Vex had two perfect (though unplanned) actions as well-Pokéballing Grog (who would have died and been dismembered in the next round) and releasing him to get the killing blow. Even with hold person there could have easily been a TPK without that sequence of events!

Scanlan's were the only brilliant moves in the whole thing, the rest were just a catalogue of blunders and desperate gambles.

chipping Blunders and desperate gambles that ended up saving their lives!

chipping Laura popping Grog into the necklace literally saved the entire party this fight. If Grog had fallen, even if they killed Kevdak the other goliaths would have kept fighting and it would have been a TPK for sure. Vex is MVP this game

Almost; I was a fan of Arya stealthing through the castle after the walkers got in.

Not a high bar to clear. That being said, this had Way less budget than GoT so it's even more embarrassing.

@@kaneo1 Would have been way better had she gotten to assassinate Cersei, or actually attempt to.

Similarly dumb choices by all the characters but yeah

I would argue….. any and all seasons of GOT

you made me spit all my water against my monitor, thank you, haven't laughed this hard in a while

Would like, but you're at 69 ....nice

@@mrmoosetachio respect

Ancient joke

Dammit, I just snorfed my drink reading that!

Agreed! I gave you your 200th like for that comment. *high five*

It’s now a personal quest to find an Abelhawk comment on every episode. Love ur channel

I love Percy as a PC and Taliesin as a person! He's so supportive of the team, genuinely thankful (and sometimes overwhelmed!) By the love from the Critters. I had such joy watching him lose his shit at Grogs speeches. Then he talks about how he takes his unwanted stuff from his Loot Boxes and makes like Santa Claus with the kids in his neighborhood...my heart. BTW. That scene made me cry imagining it. Percy, battered, bloodstained, smelling of black powder, gently singing in Celestial to save a child, the aftermath of the batte smoudlering around them as the light of Sarenrae descends.

@Dean Forrester hahaha percy cares about the innocent... oh man, now thats humour!

@@Darksnakemrniceguy who hurt you?

All of Taliesin's characters are my favorite to the point that leading up to C3 I was saying "I wonder who Taliesin has picked as my C3 favorite character?"

@@tiph3802 apparently Taliesin Jeffe.

Sam has saved my mind from many dark headspaces.

Sam is the human antidepressant

Natural born bard.

​​@@roboticd he really is a real life bard. His comedic timing and the shit he says is genius.

"Where does your strength come from?" "My Friends!"

And so many good quotes. "Daggers out, hasted, Raven Queen armor, f-k y'all" should be a bumper sticker.

I agree that it was a great play. I just don't see how cutting words gave Kevdak disadvantage on a wisdom save ? Cutting words reduces the enemies die roll. Confused here.

Longstreet 01 it’s an effect of mythcarver, scanlans vestige sword. I’m not quite sure Matt realised how powerful this ability would end up being when Sam played it so smart

@@insertcoolwordhere but like, Vestiges are artifacts from Gods so it makes sense if it were OP. And Mythcarver are pretty tailormade for Scanlan anyways. Also for his current level he only have 5 Bardic Inspirations per long rest, so imo it's pretty balanced.

@@czarLanay Really liked when they found it and Matt is reading the description. Sam: its a sword, whatever. Matt: weapon of Master bards Sam: Oh Really?

i guess if you go in expecting the worst you'll never be disappointed lol

And in this encounter there was a 99% chance they would have died if they didn't just run away immediately

Every time! It’s hilarious

And the scream. "Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!" Laura's a gem

Followed by "It's a sneak attack" or "do I get advantage?" 😂

Really hope not, let's not forget they barely won that fight.

@@usasoldiern nerfs already occurred before both your comments

i see your vestige and raise you mine... I WIN!

You got a timestamp for that?

@@SomeKindaSpy Might be the one at 41:45

NO MERCY PERCY

I LOVE THIS SO FUCXING MUCH

I thought she looked pretty cute in the video! They only thing I thought was strange was that two-eyed 'wink' she did. Either she was afraid we'd not see her in close-up, or she doesn't know how... But that's not a critique of her looks!😁

Hell I thought she looked the best out of all of them! If anything, her wink at her brother made me cringe and chuckle.

@Ursula Cabrera, FYI the timestamp about people commenting about Laura's character *starts* at 7:20.

I had to go back and catch that part when I saw this. I have to admit that her elf ears did look strange and I would of made them less accentuated if I had time to you know try making multiple types of elf ears and testing to see which ones look good. She also had a lot of dark make up on which I think added to the quirky effect and made her over all look slightly less gorgeous and attractive than she actually is (and Laura is super beautiful)but is not bad by any means.

No, of course not... Unless he has too! 😉

I say it in my head every single time

Ugh I know I feel let down and empty every time

Campaign 2 spoilers :P

Yeah, something always seems to be missing! Glad it isn’t just me!

It kinda happened this ep

I want to believe that Will was at home watching and rolling every time they did and every time he rolled a 1 they rolled a 20 and then had a "THAT ONE WAS FOR YOU" moment every time.

ZhinZhaw Gourneau He was actually there. Travis and Liam had him go up and touch all of Matt's stuff.

That's the one flaw with D&D. The odds of a critical failure and a critical hit are always the same regardless of level or bonuses. You could be a 20000th level god and still trip and fall with the same likely hood as a 1st level child. I always hated that aspect because it doesn't make sense although it does make the game far more hilarious.

Bill Kennedy Regardless of crits, the likelihood for success generally increases with level, but if a level 20 character fails it’ll be the same as if a level 1 character fails. That’s not a flaw with the game. Also, with improved critical, it does increase the chance of scoring a crit for certain classes

@@goldflame3390 as well as halfling luck decreases crit fail chance.

...That's a lot of people moving in on VM now. I thought this fight was going suspiciously well.

A true talent.

And the fact that’s he’s is so great and being anti-meta/un-meta whichever way you prefer, the moment that always comes to mind is back in that dinner scene with the first encounter with the briarwoods and matts like sam what you doing, and he’s just like I don’t know what’s going on so I’m having a drink 🤣

That's the perfect description! He's like the Victor Borge of D&D. (Pianist, look him up, he's skilled.)

@@jamesdelaneywhelan9255that was the moment he became my favorite player. Absolutely fantastic lol

Also... 3 individual crits in one round from Vox Machina Matt: You guys.... Matt proceeds to crit at least once in every group of attacks, often twice.

I'm just going through C1 for the first time now and only intended to watch til break. I was glued to this episode. So. Fucking. Good.

Wait did you miss Vax!?😂

@@jacktalos7 vax's yeet into the whole group to stab kevdak and then flip over the spikes to safety was pretty epic

Bailey actually let it slip that it was scripted with how she was dithering about letting trinket out of his poke ball before there was any purpose to it, it wasn't needed, and when letting a large noisy bear out would be a bad idea (and is something she rarely does). She remembered she was supposed to but couldn't remember what she was supposed to do it in response to.

@@jimmydesouza4375 or, I dunno, she let out the big ass bear inside the house as an extra means of defense should anyone come inside. Just a thought. Try not to be so cynical

And then he proceed to punish her, making 5 AdOs by enemies without reach weapons against a flying target. I love this show and Matt's DM style, but this fight was unfair.

@@grazianogiacobone4321 Seriously, also concentrates a lot of attacks on Scanlan because he held the hold person. And then the heal spell which does not return limbs (I know it wasn't fully dismembered but still). Maybe if he had healed him for over half of his maximum, but he healed only 70, which for Kevdak isn't that much.

They are sentient creatures they would attack weak links and those being smart, I always roll perception checks on the bad guys if they are semi intelligent to see if they notice things like the concentration of spells or people healing, it’s tactics, the games no fun if there’s no challenge, and being the dms attacks the not having reach doesn’t matter as much, he even said they are tall ass Goliath’s with great swords

@@juraj1998 His other broken arm got healed, not the one that got cut off.

@@grazianogiacobone4321 She has to touch Grog to get him into the crystal, so she would have technically been within five feet of all the barbarians. It's not punishing her, it's playing the game as it's written and as it would happen.

I think as Matt said in one of his wrap up interviews or somewhere it had to be Grog to kill Kevdak or the rest of the Herd would just have kept fighting and probably killed the whole party. Only having one of there own deliver the death prevented the total party kill. It was that close.

@@Dunybrook I'm not gonna be like that one guy that has years-long arguments that "these two coincidences are DEFINITE, IRREVOCABLE PROOF that CR is scripted" but between this and Percy getting basically all relevant kills in Briarwood arc I think Matt's not beyond shaving off a couple hit points here and there if the right player for the narration gets close enough. Then again, both guys in question are well capable of dealing three digits worth of damage in a turn.

@@IRQ17 first time watch CR through, but I've heard mat on some stuff here and there say "the fun comes first and foremost" (even though Matt has been getting a bit ruley sometimes, but I think he's just trying to stop things getting out of hand with people taking liberties, maybe) or something like that anyway, and it's no fun to have someone's character not get closure because someone else got the kill, unless you're gonna turn that into a story line, basically what I'm saying, I agree with you, but I also don't mind matt doing it.

​​@@IRQ17I think Matt is just very conscientious of the game and the players and drops them hints about the game so that the players can play accordingly. At one point Matt stated that Kevdak only had 70 HP left; that's enough information for them to go on to adjust their plans to give Grog a good chance at the killing blow. Basically, I don't think he needs to fudge the numbers because the players are good enough as a whole and he trusts their abilities enough for it to not be necessary (not that I think he would anyway). He very much puts a lot of focus on fun but he also puts a lot of focus on the integrity of the game and on creating and delivering a fair and organic experience for the players and audience alike, far above any particular or "ideal" outcomes I think.

​@@IRQ17 Right? That's not "scripted", that's good DMing. Seeing the joy and exhilaration on your players faces when an epic plan/move goes through is the point of being a DM. Just imagine how lame it would have been for Grog to do his helmbreaker into a sacrifice, if it left Kevdak with like 3 HP and a random spiritual weapon or an arrow poked him to death after that. Sure, the party would still cheer because a big threat was eliminated, but this way it was FUCKING EPIC!

IIRC, The occupant of the necklace doesn't *feel* time pass, but time does pass for them. That might be a DM choice if used in another game.

YES!

And that's the absolute truth.

Damn right

In that case he should have taken a quarter because the Titanstone gauntlets also give resistance to fire cold and lightning damage while the enlarge ability is used, and he went large at the start of the combat with grog.

Resistances do not accumulate, only in case you make a Dex save of a spell AND have resis.

@@JonnyJKL matt regularly allows quarter damage, I think matt either wanted to give the party a helping hand or he forgot/ didn't want to do the math managing so many npcs

@@walfman100 Read the comment again

@@Levyathyn maybe he had something like persistent rage that only ends if the person chooses to or falls unconscious

so fucking many clutch moments, were they to fail a single one of those would very likely result in tpk, butt clenced throughout this fight

Underrated comment of the decade.

@@chalor182 2016: Wants to rage agains the storm herd 2019: Rages using the strength of the storm

You guessed his character concept 5 years later

@@Now_Its_Orange it is fucking crazy that you fund this comment 5 years later lmao

I mean he also has a much wider array of abilities/spells to choose from. Thats just the nature of being a caster vs a martial class.

Looked good animated too.

I think he was ressurected a day before because it was in the frostwheald then they came to the outside of westruun and waited a night for the dragon to pass and then they did this. But semantics 😅

OMG yes

Nerdarchist spotted in the wild!

That's what you get for giving the Hasted Dual Wielding Rogue a set of +2 studded leather.