On the lighter side, in the end it went like Emily: "Oh, you're going to kill my character? Fine, just you wait so i can reroll a multiclassed sorcerer cleric to completely destroy your campaign."
@@acolytetojippity in fact, looking at all the secondary characters, they were all overpowered, had their been a time of a first wave TPK, the combined strength of the second team would’ve been explosive
I love that "Tell Ruby I love her" was kind of a desperate, last words line, but then when Brennan recontextualizes it as her spirit standing near she realizes she has a little more time to speak and the priority immediately becomes "She has to know she's not at fault." Protective to the last
murph was so right when he said regardless of success, liams rope trick was the difference between jet "getting murdered in an attic verious dying in a magical demiplane with your close friend"
God, the worst part of this is Ruby's turn in the shop, seeing actual despair and helplessness as both Siobhan the player and Ruby the character have no idea what to do. Watching Siobhan struggle with knowing she couldn't fight off the attackers and having to run, combined with her in-character and also likely very real survivor's guilt, is just devastating.
Hope everyone doing good and staying safe. If you need to talk to someone or need help, there are people who care. Sending support and hearts. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
honestly, I do wish Lapin's death was talked about more, but obviously I understand that Jet, being related to 4 of the PCs and several major NPCs, had a bigger impact on the party and story than an advisor of the king's. I just love Lapin so much and wish he had as much support in universe as he does in the fandom
@@dwell7315 I agree. I wish Lapin had lasted much longer, not only his character was truely fascinating and fun, but it was rare for Zac to have such a role. He almost never plays the role of the serious/cunning/scheming one, and for the very little time it lasted, it truely felt like the role was made for him.
Lapin might be my second favorite Zac character (#1 will always be Skip from Starstruck Odyssey). The way Zac would suddenly loom in on Lou, thereby startling Amethar, was too funny. And the line "where's your bulb now" was just too good. But Cumulous had some very funny moments, especially when Zac was miming as an unconscious Cumulous being shoved off a cliff and then dangling from Ruby's rope. And also, when he kept finding magical weapons and artifacts and crying over them.
tbh because that roll was 40ish and her hit points were like 60 she should have rolled a DC16 check or been killed outright both times from 'massive damage'
I have no context for this clip, but seeing Siobhan tear up like that and really struggling immediately is both the most heartbreaking thing to witness, and also the best thing that could happen to a DM & campaign
@@mdtexeira the episodes premiered on RU-vid week after week, what the OP was referencing was the Live Chat for those premiers, which was an experience, shit got pretty awesome and gut wrenching
I know a lot of people are nervous about character death, and rightfully so, after all, people get attached. But I gotta admit, I always like to ask that at Session 0, if "Death will be a thing". Not because I want to avoid it, but because knowing that there -can- be consequence is what makes it FEEL like the characters come alive, and feels like they can be lost, and builds that attachment far higher. The hardest lesson I feel most players need to learn, is that failing a roll isn't failure, it's just another path to the story, and that a character's death isn't the death of the game. It's just time for the next character to be played to shine. (Depending on the ideas of the campaign and intent)
@@megaman1on1 I really think character deaths need to be pretty intentional, though. Here, although this character death may have been a surprise, it was a significant story beat, and there was an element of sacrifice; Brennan helped to pad it out, thanks in part to Ally's interference, in a way that made it feel meaningful. I've had DMs before who give the whole "We don't pull punches, the possibility of death makes the characters' lives more significant" speech, but then the deaths were like to a random poison trap or some other dumb garbage, and ultimately it just made players feel much LESS attached to their characters, and made the story a janky mess without a consistent cast at all
@@Aburaishi Plus they kind of deserved this death. If you look at all the details about how they got there in the first place, it was like 100% their own fault. They're in a situation where they're so surrounded by enemies that they need to stay in a castle to stay safe, and when a really obviously suspicious letter shows up, they instead sneak out like children again to satisfy their immature curiosity. Brennan did this on purpose specifically to kill them because they weren't learning just how seriously bad everything is right now. The bulbians are on their way to *genocide* candians. Right. Now.
@@treeofrage7622 that's something you'll need to learn to change in your future games. Some of the most memorable moments I've had in campaigns is the deaths of characters. Notice how they are close to tears here... that kind of emotion now... leads to an even greater feeling of triumph later. The skill of a DM does come into that though, needs to serve the story. Obviously would suck for a MC to die to something ridiculous and ruin a good story. Something to think about :)
@@treeofrage7622 I mean is making a new character really that difficult? The character sheet itself is about 15 minutes, and for the backstory it really depends on the depth of it. It’s not like you’re going to be or should be killing characters every single session
My sister died suddenly when my parents were away on vacation. I dont know how to deacribe it to someone who hasnt been through it. But seeing this made me remember how helpless and alone i felt waiting for my parents to get back home.
I usually hate spoilers but I’m really grateful someone told me about this in advance so I wasn’t blindsided. I’ve watched this season more times than I can count and I still get a little choked up at Brennan’s and the sisters’ faces. I love this team so much for their incredible storytelling ability.
I got the opposite. I saw fanart that was of Jett as the captain of the Tart Guard and thought she'd be fine. It fuckin destroyed me and I couldn't finish the series. It's a good thing you could prepare. Edit: Jett. Not Ruby.
@@thestranger954 Did you mean Jett (Emily Axford)? The show is so, so worth finishing, my friend. Please let them make the loss matter. Saccarina is a delight when she joins the team ❤️
i legit sobbed when this happened and wasn’t spoiled before - it was a great first time experience bc i didn’t realize how emotionally invested i was until that point, and i still cry on every rewatch too. the fact that the girls are also crying adds a lot to it as well, i never knew you could be so connected to a PC that you can’t help but mourn them, and that elevated the rest of the campaign for me.
I'm glad it was slightly spoiled for me because had I not known as bad as it broke my heart I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if it blind sided me
I was spoiled by the wiki fairly early on, though I didn't mouse over the "spoilered" parts regarding the new PC's, I did see "Status: Deceased" on Jet's wiki page, which led me to look up what episode it happened in so I didn't get ambushed
The most powerful part about this to me is not the mourning of a character death, but the mourning of sisters. Both Siobhan and Emily have sisters themselves. You can tell they felt it. Ruby says as much, calling Jet the other half of her in later scenes. And the sister thing makes the Saccharina storyline even MORE heartbreaking because as “too much” as she is for the other characters at first, you know that if Ruby was in the emotional place to embrace her, Saccharina would have loved and protected Ruby INSTANTLY with her entire heart. It’s the big sister effect. I don’t know if people without a sister get this. I just got a surprise little sister in one of my campaigns and let me tell you, I have yet to have a conversation with that kid, but I would kill or die for her. I’m an older sister in real life, too. And the character I play in that campaign is my favorite character I’ve ever created and I’m so connected to her. And STILL even without ever having a conversation with this little sister of mine, the only way I would not fight my own character’s death or destruction is if in some way it would save her sister. I’d be devastated, but I’d let it happen. In ANY other circumstance I’d be bullying the party to find my Druid mom to cast raise dead or true resurrection 😂
i feel the same way about my brothers, i haven't really had a sister so i imagine that the relationships a little bit different but i know i'd die for any one of them any day of the week
I don’t have a sister, but I have a twin brother. I’m only a minute older, but I’ve always thought it was my job to protect him. I know it got annoying because I tried to be almost a second mother and keep him from doing stupid shit, but we are still best friends despite of that. As a twin, this death broke me. The PCs played this so well that this scene is what comes to mind when I think of D&D and the storytelling possibilities. They are little people made of candy but the grief feels so real.
Coming from a family that was outwardly about togetherness, but inwardly about themselves, and seeing how earnest and caring you all are for your siblings gives me an awful bittersweetness.
Hope everyone doing good and staying safe. If you need to talk to someone or need help, there are people who care. Sending support and hearts. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
what makes it even more heartbreaking is... Ruby running probably wasn't the optimal play. Story-wise it makes sense to run for help, but if she had been able to use her turn to go invisible and then go into the Rope Trick with Liam and Jet, the Locket of the Sweetest Heart would have let her grant advantage. So Jet's saves could have been flat, rather than disadvantaged. But well. This campaign setting was designed to kill characters and break hearts. And so it did T-T
It was a tough call...at 3 hp, if she had stayed, Ciabatta's men might've been able to finish her off hitting at disadvantage...If they'd had even one other party member at the time they'd of stood a chance thanks to the action economy but that was just so brutal.
I honestly don't know if that's true necessarily. Rope trick would have protected them for an hour, but Jet may have still died and the Ceresians would likely have come back to the castle to "follow" them, and might have ambushed a very weak Amethar, or Theo with Caramelinda. Even if none of that happens, Jet is still unconscious and Ruby's still at 3 HP and they have to get all the way to the castle then run all the way to the ship. Obviously this was a massive lose-lose, but I think Ruby running is both in-character for her to do and the best play for everyone's survival. That being said, I'm still sad that Liam/Ally chose, by complete chance iirc, to attack the one attacker who happened to not be a goon. With the amount of damage he dealt, it's likely he could have killed two of the underlings, letting both Ruby and Jet take much less damage. It just so happened that Liam dealt enough damage to severely wound Ciabatta but not kill him, which also likely would have called off the attack.
I’m not sure the character of Ruby would do that though. She’s very young and foolhardy and this was her biggest reality check. For her to not be able to think straight here and be utterly traumatized, only able to freeze or flee, is extremely realistic to the character. It’s really commendable that Siobhan and Emily did not let their wisdom and experience as players and older adults to influence their characters’ decisions which were going to lead here.
There is a moment in Ruby's turn where you can see Brennan kinda smiles a bit. And I don't mean that in a "look at the evil DM" kind of way, but in a "He looks so proud that his players bought in". I would consider my life COMPLETE if I get any player to feel that kind of desperation at my table.
I can't believe this video was uploaded today. I *just* got to this place in a Crown of Candy and am honestly broken. When even the DM is holding back tears you know some sh*t when down. Beautiful storytelling, but it ripped my heart to pieces.
This was a heartbreaking moment. There was a hope the first time I saw it that someone would be able to save her. But it is also Game of Thrones inspired, so it wasn't totally surprising. Just sad.
This season was full of great “fringe” spellcasting moments. Detect Poison and Knock are also spells nobody ever takes, that got the chance to be completely badass.
I watched this campaign the week I lost someone very close to me. I watched this scene the day I found that person after a week a coma had passed. This scene was the carthtic cry I needed. I could cry and cry and cry over a fictional character the way I couldn't let myself cry for my friend. I am telling you now D20 is sometimes just the kind of therapy I need.
when i first saw this i had to stop watching the season for literal months. im gonna try to finish it now cause i wanna know what happens but FUCK. this is so devastating and it was definitely not helpful that i was watching this on the anniversary of my sister’s death and didnt know jet was gonna die
If you haven't gotten around to it yet, I cannot recommend it enough. While Jet's death is talked about extensively (as you might imagine) as it's obviously super important, it creates some incredible character moments, especially between Ruby and Amethar and Ruby and Emily's new character, Saccharina. The finale could not more perfectly tie up everyone's arcs in very satisfying ways, and is well worth the heartbreak it takes to get there, imo. If you have already gotten around to finishing it, then ignore me entirely lol
God bless Brennan Lee Mulligan and the entirety of the D20 cast and crew. You can tell a lot of love and tears went into making this series. Just finished watching this episode for the first time and holy shit did it rip my heart out. FUCK CRULLER!!!
I love brennans little smirk at 1:47 the satisfaction of hitting a huge story beat and also after trying to kill them the whole season, only go back to being bummed
I've been watching a handful of Dimension 20 stuff via clips since I don't have Dropout so I'm not attached to these characters but this still had me borderline sobbing on a Sunday afternoon? I think the look on Siobhan's face was what broke me
I have seen so much shit that would make a grown man cry, and I never thought that I would cry the hardest at this event. It is a dream of mine to someday play dungeons and dragons with these people. The raw emotion.
Me and my boyfriend started bawling when this scene happened... omg it makes my soul hurt right now 😭😭 it's the "works not over", that got to me so bad
Is Siobhan really emotional or is she just an amazing actress? I saw this scene and I was myself in tears for a good long time with her, Emily, and even Brennan getting choked up. When Ruby's shadow said goodbye, I could see that was also possibly a very emotionally charged moment where it could have prompted her to really cry. However, in the episode after Jet dies, at the very beginning of the episode before anything even happens she gets immediately into character and starts crying with just as much emotion as she does both the other times I've mentioned. Now, it is entirely possible that she was already that emotional just from the recap and the memory of what happened, but that one was quick and came out of almost no precursor to speak of. If she's acting... she is REALLY good.
The impression I got from what she said on Adventuring Party was that all of her tears were real. I remember her saying something about going into work after spending the weekend filming these and feeling a little embarrassed about how upset she still was because if any of her coworkers asked her what’s wrong she’d have to tell them she was sad about something that happened in her D&D game.
something else to mention is that they were filming 2 episodes in a day, with a break in between (they talk about this on adventuring party). The next episode after this one was filmed only a couple hours after, so while Siobhan is probably able to summon up the emotion with the drop of a hat anyways because she's an amazing actor, Jet dying really only happened a couple hours before they started filming the next episode- which (i would assume) makes it easy for Siobhan to get back into character and be just as emotional since it literally just happened
I think it's half and half. She was genuinely emotional at this moment AND she's an amazing actress, and if you think about it the two are basically equivalent. In order to play a character, you have to really become them and feel like them, and that's this immersion (her acting skills) that allows her to more easily feel emotions for her character.
Everyone championing emily in this scene doesnt understsnd that Brennan does all the leg work. "Hand on shoulder, good job soldier you got her home." From the aunt that the characters admired. Poetry.
Currently playing one half of a brother-sister duo and holy crap do I understand this. I have a brother irl, and I'm a theatre kid who loves improv, so I get very emotionally invested in my character and the relationships she has with other characters. My character losing her brother was and is something both she and I struggle with.
i've been wanting to rewatch some of my favorite d20 shows again recently but this scene singlehandedly keeps me away from rewatching acoc for the longest time don't get me wrong i love this campaign it's one of my top 3 but the heartache this scene caused me legitimately ruined me when i first watched it, like gasping-for-air sobbing at 2 am type of ruined
I just watched the first episode today, trying not to binge watching, but I encounter a video where Emily basically destroyed Brennan's campaign and one of the comments was Emily's wearing the same shirt when Jet was killed, and my heart dropped, the way I got bamboozled from a RU-vid comments 😅
I mean it was definitely obviously this one though. Acoc was a tense season and there were a lot of tense and dramatic moments, but I don't think any of them came close to this one in terms of actual tragedy. Lapin was some dude we knew for 6 episodes. Preston was very cute but ultimately also died too early and had too little character depth (SORRY PRESTON LOVE YOU) for it to really stick out to me. Jet's loss stung more than anything because she was so so full of life and she had so many plans, so much love to give and receive, so much to fight for, and she spent the whole time trying to protect Ruby just because she loved her... and to make Ruby have to run away while her other half dies was shattering in a way that nothing else in the season ever really touched. To be fair I also hated Saccharina so maybe I'm biased against her scenes.
From a dnd campaign perspective this is moment is very important, and I can't tell whether they decided not to do everything they could on purpose because it tells a better story, but if Ruby had held her action and gone into the rope trick as well as Jet and Liam she could have given Jet advantage on her saving throws with their locket making the death throws a straight roll rather than a roll with disadvantage. She could have still died but it would've given her a better chance, and it would have given a moment for Ruby to spend with Jet in her final moments giving her the opportunity to say something which could have exacerbated the sombre tone of the story. It would've been interesting to see how that changed the parties interactions with Saccharina as well if Jet had survived. It is a GofT moment though that is the unique appeal of a story like this. It is crazy though everything that happened because if they had rolled worse Jet, Ruby and Amethar could've all died within the same episode. If Brennan was feeling brutal he could've also had Ruby take 3 opportunity attacks (with disadvantage for invisibility) on her way out the room possibly having Jet and Ruby both in Liam's rope trick making death saves but Jet making them straight and Ruby making them with advantage (with their necklace).
1:05 "Umm, you also fall victim to the poisoned condition..." ...The character just got beat down to ~negative 20HP, pretty sure the poison is redundant. I guess they got rid of the rule where when you hit negative 10 you die.
Basically if the damage done takes them over the edge and reaches their hit point maximum it’s insta death so if a character had 40 hit points and has 6 left and if hit for 47 that would hit them for the last of their health and go over their hit point maximum. That’s how they play this
Watersteel daggers were very much designed to have a “technically you might survive this” energy so it makes sense that they handwaved “massive damage”
@@andreacallegari7137 They were playing a Gloomstalker Ranger with levels in Assassin Rogue I believe. There's story reasons that the character didn't have any healing.
@@andreacallegari7137 Also you usually have to like pick the spells and if Ally didn't pick healing they probably didn't do so for a reason. Not everyone optimizes characters like that.
This was Brennan getting really mad at the characters still acting like children lmao. They KNOW that most of the world is out to kill them. There are assassins everywhere. And when their family is sent a suspicious letter that, in this time, in this setting, was obviously some kind of plot, they STILL go to check it out. They walked right into this because they wanted to live like children in a time where they couldn't.
that isn’t true that he is mad at them. they were kids in the campaign, like teenagers/young adults and that would have been their first reaction is to fuck around. idk where you got that bullshit from but don’t spread lies.
They ARE children. They’re teenagers. In spite of everything, this still makes perfect sense. They knew it might be dangerous and gravely overestimated their abilities. As intended.
@@emilysmith2965 Oh of course. My comment was to construe that everything within the story itself made sense, it just *also* matched with how the players were playing. Intentionally or otherwise. This was a big mistake, someone had to die for it.
I can’t see the numbers, but shouldn’t that be instant death via massive damage? 53 was like 9/10 of his health. + 51 more I think she’s dead, unless they are not using that rule
The rule they do is the normal rule I believes, so let’s say in this situation she had a base of 10, and took 7 damage in the first attack, she would then need to take 13 damage in the next attack to fully die, in this her health is somewhere in the 60s I think, probably a bit more, she took 53, which left her with some remaining hit points then got 51, but that wouldn’t surpass her max hitpoint threshold, she would of needed probably 70something damage in that second attack
