Exactly. When getting ready for the home game this campaign came from, Sam Riegel asked "what's the worst race and class combination" and Liam O'Brian suggested a Gnome Bard. Sam was determined to play that due to his love of playing things with negative consequences and wound up proving that being a bard could actually be a badass thing.
During the campaign: Cassandra: If only your stature was on par with your tales. Scanlan: Well, heh, I mean 😉-- Percy: NO! *Grabs Scanlan by the collar*
@@Syntell Seeing her pick up on so many different little things is one of my favorite things about watching y'all, on top of a whole list of other reasons. Y'all are great!
Did you guys notice Percy’s shadow when Scanlan asks who the 6th barrel is for? Percy is pointing his gun straight up at the ceiling in that moment, but his shadow is pointing the gun to his head.
@@andyhannon255 spoilers: I know, I watched the whole campaign and wrap up too. I never said what the 6th barrel was for, I pointed out a detail the artists chose to depict in that moment. And it is still technically foreshadowing, because Percy does put the pepperbox to his own head in Denouement. When you know what tries to convince him to shoot you know who.
Taliesin (Percy): She’s the only other adult in the group he can really talk to. Also she’s hot. Laura (Vex): She can tell there’s more to him than meets the eye, and she wants to find out more. Also he’s hot.
When I started watching I could remember how to spell their names, but still couldn't keep track which one was which so I tried to remember it by thinking "Vex'a*h*lia haggels, Vax'il*d*an daggers"
I never tried to get them right. I just went with whatever came out of my mouth because it was 1 of 2 things, either I was correct, or I was going along with the show's inside joke. Either way works for me!
I was waiting for this. This episode is covers one of the best and most unexpected moments in the campaign series. This is a bard, not a great solo class, going into a mansion where an expected tough opponent and a bunch of guards are going to be. So how it happened in the stream campaign you can see in this 30 minute clip here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eeBxr04FyYw.html To break it down for those who don't want to spend 30 minutes watching it, here is what happened: Scanlan wanted to go to one of the houses by himself. In the series they were going to 2 houses because the plan was that in order to inspire the people by taking out top lieutenants of the briarwoods and signaling the residents to rise up by the mansions burning down. So he went to one of them and the rest of the party (5 of them) went to the other. So Scanlan uses his polymorph spell to change into a triceratops and bashes through the front door only to find Duke Vedmire and a bunch of guards with crossbows waiting for him on a second floor landing where they all shoot at him. With no where to go, he crashes through a door (it took 2 tries so he got shot at again) off to the left into a dining room and hides under a table. Bear in mind Scanlan can get out of this situation at any time because he has a spell that allows him to teleport up to 500 ft away. Bards don't have many direct damage spells (and what they do have is rather lackluster) as they are all about charming people and making illusions. Scanlan does have one direct damage spell due to a special class option but it wouldn't do enough damage fast enough to all of them if he used it and they have to be in a straight line to maximize the effect. As you can probably guess, the spell is a lightning bolt. But the player wants some action so he uses some spells to pin down the guards and Vedmire that surprisingly works for a round. You'd expect Vedmire to be able to resist the spell based on how it works but he does not (he rolled low on the saving throw against the spell). Scanlan is still outnumbered though and ultimately has to teleport to the roof of the house. Once there he now has to figure out how to set the place on fire. As a bard he has no magic that can create fire and the player says 'I don't know why I was sent on this mission'. He probably was just being facetious though as he insisted on doing this on his own. Keyleth's player is rather incredulous 'How did this plan happen then?'. After checking his inventory, Scanlan's player realizes he has a potion of fire breath he has been holding onto for a long time so he uses it to start setting the place on fire. Then Duke Vedmire appears on the roof through a hatch Scanlan didn't spot (Scanlan's player rolled a 1 or 2 to spot anything up on the roof when he appeared there). At this point Scanlan is short on spells as in D&D you can only cast so many a day. Now think of this like MMORPG games where you have the caster vs a melee DPS and the melee DPS is in your face. You are gonna be toast. So the player frantically tries to think of how to deal with the Duke as he is trapped. Then he realizes what the spell called Bigby's Hand can do and uses it try shove Duke Vedmire away and off the roof. In D&D terms, this is a contested check of the Duke's strength vs the hand's strength. Naturally the Duke is strong so the player is a little worried. Scanlan's player rolls an 18 plus the hand's strength modifier which is 7 for a 25 total. And the DM rolls for the Duke and gets... a 1. The Duke goes flying 25 feet back and falls to the ground. They then make a mistake on how spells work in game terms. Technically speaking Scanlan could have teleported off the roof but they overlooked how you can use a higher level spell slot to cast lower level spells no matter what. So Scanlan's player decides to trust fall off the roof with the hand catching him at the bottom and thus 'Scanbo' is born as he single-handedly accomplished that mission in true Rambo style while the 5 others went after the other mansion. It was an amazing moment in D&D terms and one in which people figured he was going to get killed trying, including me.
@@Syntell Well as a D&D player, you would appreciate how splitting the party like that into 5 & 1 and going a solo in a situation like this would amount to a death sentence but he managed to scrape through. I was on the edge of my seat watching how it played out when it first streamed. They had to capture that epic moment in the animated series.
That video is so good. I'd seen that during the stream, and of course remember it being awesome, but I STILL got super excited re-watching it. That was D&D perfection, right there.
This was one of the most LEGENDARY moments in Critical Role history and something fans of the show have been WAITING for. Scanbo. In the OG game it was 30ish minutes of BRILLIANT and lucky play by Sam Riegel(scanlan) being in a situation that he had NO RIGHT surviving and absolutely clutching it. I strongly recommend watching at least the clip of that. Just search for "Scanbo" and itll come up. And this is all from the guy who constantly proclaims "I dont know how to play DnD"
I love seeing you two watch this! Especially with no prior knowledge of the campaign! You dont need to be perfect with everything, just enjoy the show!
Loving these reactions. Totally agree that Vex is the unofficial leader of the group, and that Keyleth would be the most powerful if had the confidence and experience to back up her power.
Scanlan’’s solo fight here in the house is one of the best memories from the table campaign I have. Everyone was laughing out asses off while he was doing.
The door thing is a direct callback to the actual tabletop sessions. Not to spoil anything too much but it took three party members entirely too much effort to open a door thanks to some cursed dice rolls. Needless to say, hilarity ensued and they couldn't go a single session after that where at least one person didn't have trouble with a door, hence the running gag.
Unfortunately, Vex eats meat. But later on (in something that isn't this series' arc focus, so it ain't a spoiler) Scanlan straight-up went vegan. 'Bring us the finest vegan wines...!' Idiot. But amazing.
Doors are the BBEG (big bad enemy guy AKA the ultimate enemy) for Vox Machina. The fans starting keeping track (www.critrolestats.com/blog/door-trouble) and there were 26 doors they failed to get through the first time by the end of the Briarwood arc. If there was either exactly 3 people present OR only males present, the first attempt always failed. This is more impressive for those who play DnD to know that at the start of the Briarwood arc, Vax had +13 Expertise for his lockpicks AND the lucky feat so he could re-roll for free 3 times a day. The door that they never opened in the show until a guard just opened it and threw pee on them was the most extreme in the live action game. Vax started by rolling a natural 20 lockpick to open it and was told it failed- the door isn't locked, it just has a piece of wood leaning against it.The DM said they could move the piece of wood out of the way by just sticking something through the gap and knocking it out of the way. . It took 7 total attempts (10 rolls because several were with advantage), 4 spells and when Percy's sword was used for the first time ever in the campaign, it ended up stabbing Scanlan through the door.
One thing that will probably be poorly explained in the show is that Whitestone was settled on a mountain range that was once where the DawnFather, god of the sun fought a Betrayer god the Chained Oblivion. He was the one who then planted the Sun Tree. That epic battle infused the mountains with magic producing a rare mineral called residuum. That's a ridiculously rare and thus expensive material as it can hold and amplify magic. Probably why Whitestone can economically survive despite being remote with difficult trade routes. Wizards will sell a son for a bag of that stuff.
Actually, residuum comes from the Whitestone itself. Not the city, but the mineral. Anders was finding a way to purify the stone down into a crystal. What we didn’t see in the livestream was how long residuum was around, because in the LS, it was insinuated that residuum was discovered by the briarwoods.
"Scanlan is my favorite, finger's up." My favorite quote from you guys by far. I'm gonna probably be pretty quiet on my comments the next couple lest I accidentally spoil something for you. Meh, don't worry about getting people mixed up. Shit happens. 💙😊💙 Fun fact, the Duke and Grog are both Goliaths.
watching you guys make predictions while knowing where the story is going is fascinating, i love all the similar theories people are coming up that are either very close to the punch or far off but equally interesting.
@@donalddepew5373 Shhh 🤫 spoilers. You should hide that; . . . . Scanlan says "I just had a thought, Percy. (I cast Friends on him.) I think I know how to fix your gun, if you hand it to me."
Dragon's breath. It's one hell of a spell. And very useful at times especially how you read how it works. So is Thunderclap, I believe that's what he used. Fun fact that's how my Monk got Thunderclap by drinking a potion.... he's not that bright.
Scanlan cast Polymorph on himself. So he takes on the abilities and limitations of the Triceratops form. All the damage he takes from the guards goes to the polymorph, not to Scanlan. So when he runs into the door that was the last hit points for the Triceratops so Scanlan reverts to his normal self.
I can't wait for you to get caught up, holy moly! Love your reactions, and Michael has the most infectious smize and laugh, she cracks me up! Also cracked up when you showed the little screen shots of squeaky Critters having an "ish" with mixed-up names! I know it's easy to miss stuff when you're reacting, so I hope you're getting a chance to re-watch these again after! I know I'm planning on straight-binging the series again when I'm caught up with all the reaction streams. There are so many little sly pop-culture Easter Eggs hidden, even for non-Critters, I keep finding things I missed!
Yes doors and charisma checks are love/hate. Love y'all's T-shirts where did you get the tequila one? Btw checking for traps can be hell too. If y'all try a one shot please record it and share the highlights please. Stay safe and happy out there. 😃
I really do enjoy seeing a reaction from a non Critical Role fan. Over the pandemic lock down I caught up on the first season of the live play. So going in I had an idea of the story progression. No hate for coming in blind. In fact I like this reaction over the ones that are fans.
Vax and Vex. The way I remember who is who I use the Spanish language for this. In Spanish the A is typically feminine. The twins reverse this. Vax'ildan is the guy and Vex'alia is the girl. And yes I may have spelled that wrong but spell check was no help at all.
@balijosu 😂 Fortunately it wasn't like that. Half-Giant is the name of the race. They had to change it for legal reasons and Goliaths are related to giants in D&D.
Vex is the girl. It’s short for Vexalia (vex-ah-lee-uh). Vax is the guy. It’s short for Vaxildon (vax-ill-dawn). Literally even the players got it mixed up all the time though. :)
