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angelsndragons · 2 years

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well it seems like caduceus won’t be part of the mighty nein two shot so the way i deal with my grief is to plot out how the nein will play mechanically without him (because holy heck did he carry that party on his thin furry shoulders time and time again). warning: word vomit. but you should be used to that by now.

baseline assumption: matt’s going to level up kingsley, just not to the nein’s level of 16. probably level 10 minimum and 13 max. essek will be along for the ride as well, leading to an 8 person party.

okay, so. right away the healing pool has diminished greatly. cad’s healing role in combat was topping people off, mass healing word, mass cure wounds, prayer of healing after the fight, that sort of thing. he did some cure wounds during combat as well. cad was also on standby to help in cases where characters went down or suffered a removable condition (ie dispel magic, revivify, or greater restoration when they had the diamond dust to burn). towards the end of the campaign, he also provided clutch death wards.

all of that is to say our healers are now jester and fjord, with yasha providing an emergency healing hands (probably for beau) and caleb holding a raise dead in the back pocket. there’s good news/bad news there. good news is fjord: he regains his three 5th level spells after an hour’s nap, has a small lay on hands pool, has access to the paladin prep list, and has teleportation for days in an emergency. bad news is fjord doesn’t have any 2-4 level spell slots nor spells, which means he doesn’t have revivify, lesser restoration, or any of the other higher level healing spells. that means that fjord doesn’t have access to big group heals, so the nein will be wholly reliant on jester for those plays. good news is that jester and laura both have grown into the healing role. cure wounds was one of jester’s most cast spells and she was mostly providing single target pick me ups to make sure her teammates got their turn if cad couldn’t provide. now that she has access to better healing spells like mass cure wounds and heal, she seems to find healing a much more cost effective use of her higher slots. bad news is that jester is the only member of the nein with access to revivify, which puts a lot of pressure on her to conserve a few slots for those emergencies she would otherwise use to blast the baddies. considering how team oriented he is, i cannot imagine travis not stepping up to the plate and helping laura in the healing department so that she can play the way she prefers.

mechanically speaking, jester and caleb are the pair you have to keep up if you want to make sure the nein survive their journey. good news there is that caleb and essek could have a few new spells in their arsenal thanks to tasha’s, as wizards can add to their spell books without gaining levels. and they’ve been off in aeor doing who knows what for how long so there’s a built in excuse if liam wanted something like wither and bloom for caleb (skeptical here but also it’s thematically fitting dunamancy). really, what the nein have going for them this time that they didn’t have back with molly is a) jester has far more slots plus backup and b) caleb’s ac and hit points are no longer that of wet tissue paper. they’re not great but base ac of 15 for a wizard puts shield, mirror image, and protection from evil and good into play, as we saw in the finale.

the nein have also traded healing/support/utility for dps/support in kingsley while essek runs a support/control build. outside of just healing, caduceus provided a range of support and utility options for the nein. water walking, control water, bless, bane, spirit guardians, dispel magic, commune, holy weapon, and that all important clutch sentinel at death’s door are the bare basics of the support/utility cad provided. the good news is that kingsley, essek, caleb, and veth can provide some relief in this department. kingsley has access to blood curses, one of which is that lovely curse of the eyeless we saw molly use on vax and another is chet’s curse of bloated agony to punish multi-attackers, essek has haste and tether essence, caleb has a boat load of support spells like polymorph and dispel magic, and veth has things like hypnotic pattern and phantasmal force.

so, assuming kingsley plays similarly to molly (taliesin could very well multiclass him or tweak him based on the battle royale), what do the nein gain? assuming kingsley can stay up, the nein have a third front line melee fighter to throw into the ring. and this one will hit hard. blood hunter does not play around in the dps department. crimson rite, brand of castigation (psychic damage to the opponent when they damage the blood hunter or a creature within 5 feet, damage doubled if kingsley is level 13+), the ghostslayer’s brand of sundering (extra crimson rite damage), yeah, that damage stacks fast. again, assuming a molly-esque build, that’s two attacks round 1 after a bonus action to activate the rite, then three attacks from then on. that’s 1d6+2d8+DEX for each main attack, then the bonus action attack is 1d6+DEX (assuming two weapon fighting style). kingsley being in melee with his prey will punish enemies who try to damage him, yasha, or beau (or fjord if he goes into melee) by inflicting psychic damage on the branded opponent every time they do it. that’s an extra 3 or 6 damage (calculated off molly’s WIS) every time the opponent damages someone near him. note that it says damages, not attacks, so opposing damaging spells should count. yeah, kingsley is going to be a single target meat grinder. he’s also going to be the biggest target of the melee kids. yasha has her rage protecting her while beau has her ridiculously high ac. however, this could be a good thing. beau and yasha’s sentinel features cancel each other out when they’re the only ones in melee. if a third person is in melee and they’re the target, sentinel is absolutely fair game for both of them. (honestly can y’all imagine beau and yasha teaming up against the clown picking on kinglsey, protecting him in a way they couldn’t protect molly? boy howdy i sure can).

bottom line, the nein’s versatility will shine once more. certain characters will have to shift roles a bit to accommodate caduceus’ absence, fjord, jester, and caleb in particular. they’re trading some staying power for (hopefully) finishing fights faster. it’s doable and they’re still a cockroach party but i have a feeling they’ll be lamenting their cow man’s absence before too long.

#critical role #mighty nein #the mighty nein #two shot speculation #DnD Mechanics #cr spoilers #my meta #long post

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