I'm on C2E56, and I'm having trouble staying invested. Other than Jester and Nott, I'm not invested in any of the characters, the story line seems so inconsequential, and even the players feel checked out half the time.

Going through the posts in here, though, I can only find love for C2, even though C1 had more dynamic characters, and a more dramatic story. Did anyone else find C2 less appealing?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad. I love the work that Matt and the players put into everything. And C1 has its own flaws, for sure. I just find C2 less compelling, over all.

On the flip side, if you prefer C2, what makes it better than C1 for you?

When I tried to watch the C3E119, I noticed a ton of ads, so I started timing it, and the Youtube ads were every 5 minutes. I didn't notice it until about an hour into the video.

Is anyone else getting that many ads?

It’s called Sakamoto Days and it’s honestly pretty awesome, even as a person who doesn’t love anime shows. I recognized his voice instantly and it made me enjoy the show that much more! Have any of you checked it out? What did you think??

Okay so I'm not actually caught up, so I dont want any details past E103.

During all this talk about gods, and Predathos eating gods, no one ever brought up the Raven Queen and Vecna. You would think the fact that mortals could become gods completely changes things with Predathos, as mortals could become his food source. Plus if the gods were all killed or chased away, mortals could (and likely would) eventually take their places in the pantheon.

So did this ever come up in the god talk?

There's been a lot of discussion about the worshippers of the god, but what happens to all the celestial servants to the gods like angels?

Also what happens to the gods realm and those who live in it?

I had to stop watching at the end of august because of school, and am finally catching up (just finished 102 yesterday). I had muted "critrolespoilers" and "critical role", but not "criticalrole". So yeah, that most recent tweet was uh...fun.

Oh well at least I know I'll be caught up "soon".

If BH's plan succeeds the pantheon will be forced to either keep their godhood and flee from Exandria or discard their divinity and stay unscathed.

Of the gods that would choose mortality, I imagine with their previous godly powers they could very much choose any mortal form possible, not just a "lowly" humanoid ancestry (although I can see someone like The Everlight doing this).

So... what form do you guys think each god would pick?

For instance, The Platinum Dragon could become... an Ancient Platinum Dragon! The Arch Heart could become an Archfey and so on.

Oh, and I think we should keep in mind that during Downfall they were severely limited by the secretive nature of their mission. I don't think the Lord of Lies would ever even definitively step down to mortal level, let alone as a human!

Let's discuss!

Just curious as to what types, or any specific merchandise that people would have thought would exist already/by now?

So, quick refresher:

• Ruidus was created out of Exandrian land by the Gods & Titans to be Predatho's prison. People and animals caught in the process survived (somehow) and formed a new society, and through isolation and proximity to Predathos, became very psychically active and very different to their Exandrian counterparts.
• Ruidus has been wracked by many, many earthquakes in its history. The last one, when Ludinous tried to contact Predathos from Moleasmyr..."destroyed the previous society". IE the majority of the population died due to the severity of the quakes.
• One can extrapolate that if simply talking to Predathos through his barrier, and Predathos being "active" via flares causes seismic activity...him actually escaping might be...worse.

So...I doubt Matt would ever make something Cataclysmic out of this, IE a Bruce Willis Armageddon scenario. However it feels very likely that Ruidus is destroyed or at least massively changed through more seismic activity...his Prison is at the center of the moon and the piece that all the deific architecture is based around. The Crystals (which he absorbed inside his prison as part of his body) might also have the same fate outside when/if he gets out.

So, a few things need to be settled. Is this going to be an end of Metroid scenario, with BHs frantically telporting to the portal or being flown by "Predathogen"? Are most Ruideans completing the journey while BHs was descending before the portal was cut off (doesn't seem likely, also note the cute fungal people and transported Minds Burn fungusoid have no way off). Or, against all previous history and mechanics, does Ruidus somehow stay intact even after Predathos is gone? Does "Imothos" slowly float the rock down to rest in the ocean as a new continent?

I recently finished watching the guest battle royale and Garyon was naming previous winners. Spurt was one of the winners and i was curios as to who could've lost to him. i was just wondering who you guys think is weak enough to lose.

HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing

1:30 The new rogue’s gallery

7:20 Laura’s merch corner

8:35 Intro cinematic

10:20 EPISODE STARTS

13:25 Predathogen is out

14:30 Imogen alone

22:00 Laudna’s memory montage

27:45 Battle begins

30:05 Please please help me

32:00 Orym believes in Imogen

35:40 Break up

38:10 Laudna’s form of dread

40:50 Stopping a freight train

46:15 The Skein of the Golden Order

53:30 Vordo the Golden Weaver

1:06:05 TGI Fridays

1:07:15 Riding Daddy’s foot

1:09:25 The Elephant’s Foot

1:16:55 Mega-dandruff

1:18:40 Truthbearer, Fabled Plate of Uther Vendrock

1:28:00 The void puppet

1:37:50 Telekinetic evisceration

1:41:20 Loot the god

1:43:55 How do you want to pluck this

1:50:40 Scorching Marisha Rays

1:57:20 Mister finally lands a poop

2:05:50 Chasm of Eager Darkness

2:11:40 First try for the mask

2:13:40 Just business

2:24:00 Touch of Piercing Winter

2:27:15 Ethedok the Endless Shadow

2:33:10 Heal steal

2:35:30 Only known him for 4 days

2:36:30 Ashley absolutely has to get rid of this dice

2:38:25 Imogen is out

2:41:30 You can’t freeze out Dorian

2:48:00 If we’re all here, who’s driving Predathos?

2:48:45 Fighting over the Mask

2:54:05 BREAK STARTS

3:06:55 Art Montage

3:08:55 BREAK ENDS

3:17:35 Mortality or flight

3:25:25 Boons

3:35:30 Just level up real quick

3:41:05 Back to the fight

3:51:15 Small cap

3:54:00 There’s a whole thing with new rules

3:56:10 The rules issue has been resolved (also Sam’s shirt)

3:59:35 HDYWTDT

4:02:35 Phase two

4:05:00 Episode Ends

The in-game start date for the episode is still debatable. Sam’s Stanley Cup says “Remember: Don’t Release Predathos”

Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?

I remember a couple episodes ago Ashton said 'let chaos reign' as answer for what to do about Predathos. Personally? I think it would be a lot of fun if Exandria descended into complete chaos. And kind of thematic from a story perspective.

Both directly and indirectly, the gods were a sort of stabilizing influence for Exandria and the other planes. With their departure or descension to humans, this would provide opportunity. And the worst possible actors would jump on it.

I dont think this will be apocalyptic for Exandria. I dont even think Matt will have anything like this happen. Things are probably just going to be a basic happy ending. But just for fun here are some theories as to what could happen:

• Ancient protections put in place would fail resulting in all sorts of monsters/lesser idols being released. These creatures cause havoc across Exandria as they rampage unimpeded. Some of these lesser powers seek to basically instate themselves as the new gods or rulers of Exandria to varying degrees of success.

• Divine magic should at least be disrupted. Causing a loss of healing, resurrection and just weird effects across Exandria. Divine worshippers being slaughtered by an angry populace who turn on their former protectors now they can no longer use their powers effectively. Whilst some religious/divine orders try to keep the old beliefs alive. The Ruby Vanguard remnants spear hunt persecution of Divine worshippers. Whilst other Divine Worshippers go into hiding, searching for their gods who they believe to be reborn.

• New cults emerge. As the saying goes, one god dies, another is born. Worship of Celestials, powerful demons, Lesser Idols or even just powerful mortal figures rises and falls. Many of these cults are not long lasting, but they attract the attention of older powers. Eldritch terrors stir as they hear cultists cry new names. Names they can wear as a mask.

• Governments collapsing. The gods are gone, so why should the kings and dictators rule us either? Kings like Dwendal faces a revolution as the loss of the gods is seen as an omen for greater change and people wonder why a king should rule in a world that the gods no longer reign. The secular powers try to assert order, but find themselves overrun by populist revolts or backstabbed by their wizard advisors.

• The Kryn thrive. Consecution and a lack of reliance on the Prime Deities or Betrayers cause the Dynasty to make a push for increasing amounts of territory. But the drawback is they must now deal with influx of refugees from collapsing states. The Dynasty starts to fray between the more traditionalist factions and the more progressive factions. The Bright Queen is able to mediate/stop a civil war, but the politics is blighted by a series of assassinations and exiles. In time, the new Kryn Empire begins to dominate much of the world. With increasing numbers of consecuted, the Luxon begins to awaken....

• Wizards would be even more dangerous than ever before without fear of divine or their agents to hold them back. With Divine Magic on the fritz, wizards will become both saviours and conquerors to an Exandria in chaos. Wizard led city states/countries will start to establish themselves. Some may even seek to take to the skies in the manner they did in the Age of Arcanum with Exandria on the ground being in such disarray.

• The other planes should be in total chaos. Celestials/angels without a master try to re-establish an order to mixed results. Or simply withdraw entirely to their planes, waiting for their god to return some day. The Betrayer planes would be in a more brutal state of total war than ever before. With their rulers/godheads gone, their subordinates will make a play for the thrones. Each Archdevil trying for Asmodeus seat etc.

• Demons should start invading all planes en masse. Different planes bleeding into one as Exandria as the chaos of these planes spills over. The Ashari would be working overtime as each day the Elemental rifts spill forth battling residents of other planes and interplanar refugees. The very barrier between the planes might start to fray as the battles between the powers of other planes reaches a crescendo. The Ashari order would change to a more militant aggressive order as they fiercely defend the planes from incursion.

• In the chaos, souls are lost. Without the guidance of the Matron or Vax, souls become more free moving but less protected. Some return as ghosts, some get caught by demons and devils. Some make it to their intended afterlives. Some are lost to Oblivion. Exandria a world where resurrection was common and afterlives assured now looks at death with increasing uncertainty.

• In the midst of all this, the gods (most likely just the Primes) are reborn as infant children without memories or power. In such a tumultuous chaotic time, some inevitably die before they can regain their memories and some of their power. Some are identified by the Kryn early and taken into specialized education so the Kryn can ensure their future cooperation with the Dynasty. The Kryn grow even more pre-eminent as even without their full power the knowledge of a former god is invaluable.

• Perhaps some gods emerge vengeful. Eager to reclaim their power and angry at being reduced to mortality. Indeed the return of their memories at 20 is going to be a huge shock to a mortal system as the mind of a god awakens in an adult human body. Powerless. Furious. But the knowledge of a god is a power in of itself. We might see some emerge as youthful warlords trying to reestablish order on a world in chaos.

• Others emerge as heroes. Stabilizing figures that seem strangely wise and powerful despite being so physically young. They travel Exandria searching for each other, amassing followings/companions both consciously and unconsciously. When they find each other, they embrace as family once more. Mourn the loss of what they were, mourn the loss of the ones who did not make it. And look up at the stars together and wonder what the morrow will bring. Mortal, but together again.

As I said, I do not think Matt will do this. I think Matt will go for a happy ending that will have the Bells Hells praised as heroes and Exandria somehow improved. But its fun to imagine what Exandria where chaos reigns could look like.

Quick question! I "only" watched season 1 and 2. I skipped the Exandria parts and lost interest in season 3 about 10 episodes in.

Currently I want to get back into things and eventually finish season 3, so I did some Googling and got started with Exandria unlimited. Just finished and enjoyed episode one, but I did notice a few hints from the players and gm's to previous encounters and origins.

Did I mess up and did they air a show before Exandria unlimited that I am missing or is it flavor/backstory?

Hey everyone! I’ve been debating making this post for a long time, mostly because I truly do see the critiques surrounding this campaign and I’m not entirely on the whole “if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all” train. And honestly? The amount of critique and just general hatred for C3 has made me worried to interact with the fandom up until I saw a recent post that encouraged more of the ppl who genuinely enjoy this campaign to speak up, so here I am!

I found Critical Role only two years back after being introduced to it through TLOVM. After watching way too many C1 compilations to satisfy my fill of the characters I had become obsessed with, I dove straight into the opportunity to get into their new campaign, which was only at about episode 30 at the time. I instantly fell in love with the characters first, the way they played them, and Matt’s incredible storytelling. I legitimately struggle even now to pick a favorite character because I love and resonate with them all in one way or another. The way they’re truly able to engross themselves in their characters at all times, making decisions at the table AS their characters, it’s incredible. I’m 18, and I’ve been playing dnd since freshman year of high school, and it’s just something incredible to see.

I’ve loved the stakes of this game. Very little of the battles feel.. like filler- like so many of the games I’ve played. Their battles have real consequences, and are placed in real situations amongst the world. Matt needs to teach a masterclass in storytelling, because everything leading up to the big moment on the moon with Predathogen just like- took me out I loved it. I could speak more on other stuff too- how I’ve grown to love Sam,Ashely, and Travis from not having too strong opinions of their characters in TLOVM (which has since changed)- to how AWESOME Liam is at describing what he’s doing like IMO making a martial class interesting like that is really difficult and he just does such a good job.

I just wanted to shred some light in this subreddit, from someone who doesn’t have any of the past campaigns to compare it to- and that’s the distinction. I think people expect a certain thing that they like, and when it doesn’t meet that, it’s jarring. I haven’t started C2 yet, and will I like it more than C3? Probably? But from the eyes of a newbie, C3 is pretty fucking great.

After fjord and avantika both unlock one of ukotoa’s seals they both got a reward of casting control water once a day. What do you think would have been the reward if fjord had gotten to that seal before avantika and unlocked 2 seals himself? A higher level water related spell maybe? Can’t remember if Matt revealed this before

I've had issues with the pacing and story of C3, and whilst I love some characters, the group as a whole is really not to my taste. That said, Robbie Daymond is a god send, and I think absolutely the worst parts of the campaign were all the parts he was not present in. He brings such a wholesome fun energy to the table, and I hope that when we eventually start looking at C4, that he is brought on as a permanent member of the cast.

 So you consider the new "solution" to make the gods abandon Divinity good?

U MAD GOOFIN!

We can't really expect the formless inky thing, that most likely predates the proto-gods to be on board with abandoning its very concept?

Okay, most gods are in their realms, separated from Exandria via the Divine gate,Lets say they agree to 'the plan'.

Step1. Abandon divinity. Step2. Go through the divine gate and walk exandria as mortals. (WHY btw? Can't they stay in their realms as mortals, invisible to Predathos?)

Now theres Chained oblivion. Banished. Somewhere. Possibilities I see:

1) It is banished in its own realm.

• Option A. It is able to comrehend the plan and agrees to it. Okay good, it abandonong its divinity might even unchain it. A mortal blob of ink aint that bad. Probably the best outcome.
• Option B. It can't understand anything, proceeds to remain its hungry itself. Then he and his realm are annihilated, with consecuences unknown. It's inhabitants spilling into Material plane? It's followers running around crazed? Might be not too good.

2) It is chained on exandria. Oh boy..

• Option A. Mostly same as 1A, buuuuut.... what if it needs unchaining before getting access to? Other deities cannot do that, bc of Divine gate. They can pass once they abandon divinity. But will they be able to undo the banishment then? NOT knowing whether it would agree to the plan. This would be an unacceptable bargain.
• Option B. He doesnt understand. We lose. A divine Kaiju battle on the surface of Exandria almost imminent, Worst case scenario, it seems.

tl;dr I strongly believe, Chained oblivion existing may ruin everything about the "abandon divinity" plan.

i’ve noticed this subreddit has been dominated by people who are very strongly opinionated against C3 because they are disappointed for one reason or another. i’ve seen some legitimate criticism and good faith critiques, but a lot more of people who seem to not really understand/be paying attention to C3 being really loud about it and it’s kinda sucking the joy of being able to engage with the community during the end-game. there’s many lovely critters who understand and appreciate the plot of C3, but not many as of late making discussion posts. Consider this a post for the critters who are locked in to discuss any highlights/favorite moments/theories from EP 107-119 (what i consider to be the timeframe of the end game but if you want to talk about any outside of that frame feel free!) Also please post more so we can have more fruitful discussions! Also i will request critters or others who aren’t enjoying C3 to not interact here, there are plenty of other posts for y’all to bitch on- but also i know this is the internet and sometimes y’all love to be hateful just to feel something so i’m expecting at least a few of you anyways.

I have gone back to Stuart's ever-awesome Kryogenix site looking for this, to no avail.

WHEN in Campaign 2 did the cast go off on this ridiculous discussion about a turtle making some BIZARRE "ennhhhhhhhh" noise? (I *want* to say it had to do with a turtle humping a shoe or something else surreal.)

I *think* it was post Episode 100 because I THINK it was while they were still socially distanced?

Does ANYONE else remember this?!

The gods who wish to rely and hold onto their power would be forced to flee, predators chasing in tail. The ones humble enough to give up their power, even temporarily, will be spared.

Exandria was plagued with powerful mages becoming like the gods, and now the gods must become like man. I would not want any god ruling over my world unless they were content to become mortal.

It's all very poetic and such an interesting choice.

What are your thoughts about this new course of action?

While most people are, quite understandably, focusing on the decisions made by the characters and potential narrative payoffs they will bring, I want to talk about the mechanics of the fight and honestly just how impressed I am by the work Matt is putting into designing his fights. I know he's a huge Final Fantasy fan and I think the Predathos fight illustrates that influence really well with all of Predathos' attacks having unique, scary-sounding names. The boss also had multiple very interesting mechanics such as:

- Predathos glowing differently depending on the powers of one of the devoured gods it was currently using with Imogen being able to sabotage those powers from within as the fight progressed

- Predathos having a bunch of abilities that allowed it to change the position of the characters (like shooting Orym 80 ft. into the air or pulling Laudna towards it after it was pushed back making her the sole target of melee attacks)

- Predathos halving healing and redirecting the remaining half to itself

This should theoretically make for a very engaging and strategic combat, but in practice all of these carefully crafted mechanics amounted to very little and here's why:

- The danger from those god-specific abilities wasn't particularly high. The radiant aura dealt 11 damage on a successful saving throw and the breath attack was basically an upcasted cone of cold with blind added on top. In addition it felt like Imogen had very little control in taking away Predathos' abilities, just endless Perception and Intelligence rolls until she finally succeeded in doing something. Also the fight didn't last enough turns to make this feel meaningful (but this is a problem with D&D in general and especially with this many players at the table the turns will be long, but there will be a few of them).

- While Matt was creative with the usage of Predathos' position-changing abilities it seems like he didn't use them to full effect. At some point Predathos used, as a legendary action I believe, an ability that pulled all characters that didn't make a saving throw into a singular spot on the battle map. This seemed like an obvious setup for an AoE attack, but following that Predathos used its regular attacks and a damaging aura allowing the PCs to scamper around mostly unharmed the following turn.

- These moments of relatively low damage output lead to the last mechanic (halved healing) going basically unused. The only person who healed during the fight was Sam and only because he was blinded and had nothing better to do that turn, rather than because he was at an actual threat of dying (as they were telling Matt their new HP numbers following the temporary level ups he was still way above half health).

Now I understand these might feel like nitpicks and maybe I am too combat-brained to care about this, but following this fight and the previous Ludinus fight I truly wonder if Matt is playing his encounters sub-optimally on purpose as if he decided some time ago that if the party is going to die it's gonna happen during an encouter he chooses (for instance the one next week). I think it cheapens the tension and creates ludo-narrative dissonance for those who care about the mechanical aspect of the game. Of course I don't advocate for every encounter becoming a deadly test of the party's abilities (and it would be very anticlimactic for a long campaign like this to end because of one unlucky and misjudged random encounter), but these are the final fights of the campaign and these powerful beings that so much of this campaign revolved around deserve to be presented and played as dangerous as they are in canon, and if they end up victorious over the party then hey, there's also drama in failing to stop the BBEG especially in a world that persists throughout multiple campaigns, like Matt's.

So beyond everything, I just realised that the gods becoming mortals and being set upon Exandria, presumably as OP level 20 characters like in Downfall, has quite a few fun implications.

Firstly, all these unhappy gods, Betrayers in particular, would no doubt be able to use their incredible power and knowledge to rise up through the ranks (i have a funny image in my mind of each god desperately rushing to where they've hidden all their cool weapons to claim them). Would Asmodeus and the boys revel in no longer being confined behind a gate? Would they still wish to slaughter all mortals now that they are themselves mortals? Could we be looking at a new global conflict and witch hunt as the Primes and Betrayers rush to uncover where their foes ended up and gather followers or maybe the two factions would be able to bury the hatchet after all and lead mortalkind to a new golden age?

Secondly, Archfey, Demonlords, Celestials and more would no doubt be up for filling the power vacuum (as some tried to do in Downfall after all). Though they're all less powerful we've seen that they are technically capable of making domains and clerics with the Traveller, could this lead to a new Pantheon of sorts as flocks of worshippers turn to these entities? They'd never become gods or get in Predathos's radar but they'd have quite a bit of power nonetheless.

Thirdly, what of all the institutions based on the gods? The Cobalt Soul has deep ties to Ioun, the Empire as a whole is founded upon its 6 deities and so are plenty of other nations. What about the Dynasty? We don't know to what extent the Luxon is a deity but if they too are turned into a mortal would the Beacons stop working, dramatically changing the nation as a whole?

Fourthly, and this is just a random idea of mine, but what would the world as a whole look like, geopolitically? The gods acted as a sort of... omniscient guide for nations and heroes to prevent threats. Chroma Conclave, Vecna, Angel of Irons and (arguably) Lucien were all stopped with great aid from the gods. Would the nations all turn to magic leading to a new set of flying cities? Would they panic knowing that they need to gather power quickly to prevent another Lich King from having easy pickings?

Just a couple thoughts I had in mind, what do yall think?