#cr meta

[essektheylyss]

Okay but you know what's really clever about the choice to include off-screen campaign content in the Nein animated show, is that it puts the audience on far more equal footing.

There's a lot of intrigue going on in Wildemount behind the scenes, and those of us who've seen the campaign have an idea of what that is, but rarely a clear answer. There are a lot of interpersonal dynamics that we don't see but that make a major impact on outcomes for the character: not only Essek's dealings with the Assembly but his relationship to the rest of the Dynasty's upper echelon, the Assemblies' interactions amongst themselves, Astrid and Eadwulf's dynamic with Trent or other scourgers, or Lucien's relationship with Cree and the other Tomb Takers. These alliances make or break the characters' decisions with regard to the Nein depending on how much loyalty or trust they share, and they shift a lot while the Nein aren't present.

I think there's a bit of this in tlovm with the happenings in Whitestone and the dynamic among the Chroma Conclave, but these exist primarily to ground the antagonists, because it's not the same kind of story; Vox Machina's story is about how they become Big Damn Heroes. There is political action happening, but while it does have an influence on them, it always exists to an extent to be either a boon or an obstacle to them, because it cannot deal with the threats at hand without heroes (not necessarily Vox, but in the archetypal sense). The Nein, in contrast, are in a story about being the tangential players to numerous plots of intrigue that occupy no small position of power in the world, plots that in fact actively resist the role of heroes, and the struggle for personal agency that comes with that.

So giving more information to the audience about those other happenings means new fans get a lot of the information that existing fans will go into the show with much sooner, while existing fans are receiving new information at the same time. By the time the characters find out what the audience knows, the audience is more or less on the same page waiting for that shoe to drop.

#m9 animated #mighty nein #critical role #cr meta #I have so many feelings about this okay it is GREAT as a choice for this narrative #I have so much shit to do why as I given things to have thoughts about TODAYYYYY

[residentinsomniacartist]

wait wait wait guys have you ever thought about how the Mighty Nein are everything they shouldn’t be upon first glance

no no guys guys listen to me they’re all the antithesis of what they’re meant to be and that’s why they’re such amazing and heartfelt characters

like, Caleb is a wizard who’s afraid of his own fire magic. his own power causes him to falter in battle. his strongest spells are his most dangerous to himself. wizards are supposed to be prideful of their magic, but Caleb’s is the reason he hates himself

Beau is a monk who never wanted to be. her job is one that people normally associate with being calm and collected and Beau was a wild rebellious kid who got dragged into this line of work against her will. she never wanted to be this!! but now she is and she’s gotta deal with it!!

Fjord is a warlock who never wanted power from his pact, which is why you’d think a warlock would make their pact at all. but no. Fjord made his pact because he wanted to live, not because he wanted power. he was a scared orphan who hated his tusks, not a buff, muscled, angry half-orc like people assumed

Nott is NOT, that’s the whole crux of her narrative! she wasn’t pretty, like a halfling girl was supposed to be. she wasn’t a goblin, she was just transformed into one. and not only that, but despite being a three-foot-tall alcoholic kleptomaniac, she’s the mom of the group!

Jester is a Cleric whose god isn’t actually a god and who would much rather bash bad guys over the head with her lollipop than have to stop and heal her friends!! she’s a bubbly, optimistic ray-of-sunshine, but you know when she says she’s gonna change the world with friendship she means it as a threat

Mollymauk is an amnesiac, but he doesn’t want to remember who he was. if you ask him, that wasn’t him! he might be a flirtatious hedonistic carnie, but he’s also single-mindedly devoted to making the world a better and more loved place than it was when he found it. he’s a liar, but he means well. he’s an arrogant fool, yes, but he’s right! he did it! he left it better!

Caduceus seems like he’d be creepy and grim from growing up in a graveyard, but he’s actually the most chill out of the entire Nein by far. he’s calm, he’s sweet, and he’s comforting, more than anything else. you’d think he’d be amazed by seeing the outside world for the first time, but he spends the whole time knowing that one day he’ll return home, that he wasn’t supposed to be the one to leave

Yasha is a barbarian with skeletal wings and a dramatic, monochromatic look, but she’s a complete sweetheart. she’s Molly’s best friend, she was a carnival bouncer, she’s a lesbian disaster who collects pressed flowers in a book out of love for the wife she lost. those black wings were actually hiding soft white feathers

Essek was born straight into the den of politics, he was a spymaster, he literally started a war for his own gain, and yet. he’s sounds irredeemable on paper, but. he’s not!! sure, the Nein kind of have to drag his alignment kicking and screaming into neutral, but they manage it. Essek learns and grows and he overcomes his nature. he becomes good, against all odds

guys guys guys don’t you see it!! look at them!!they’re such compelling characters!! they’re everything they’re not supposed to be!! dude y’all how didn’t I realize this earlier!! they subvert their narratives in the most interesting ways ever and I justhshsbhshshsjnsmshsnhsfn!!

#having very normal thoughts about the hyperfixation before bed as you can see #god I love the Mighty Nein #I swear to god their story is one of the best things I’ve ever discovered #it just #it just screams ‘you can be more than what the world made you to be’ #‘you can be more than you once were’ #‘you can live and grow and love and it can be so so amazing. just let yourself have it’ #the Mighty Nein’s story is one of such overwhelming hope and love for the world and I just #*distant sobbing* /pos #the mighty nein #critical role campaign 2 spoilers #critical role #cr c2 #caleb widogast #beauregard lionett #fjord stone #nott the brave #veth brenatto #jester lavorre #mollymauk tealeaf #caduceus clay #yasha nydoorin #essek thelyss #cr meta

[pocketgalaxies]

C1E60 || C3E88

#critical role #criticalroleedit #vex'ahlia #imogen temult #laura bailey #gifs #* #*cr #*parallel #cr1 #cr3 #vex'ahlia cr #syldor vessar #liliana temult #r: vex x imogen #angst tag #nova shh #cr meta #47m c1e60 #3h12m c3e88 #laura bailey said it's all about the blood of you mixed into the blood of me whether i like it or not and what does that mean #because it certainly doesn't seem to mean that you love me. #and how can i love you when you were supposed to raise me and protect me and care for me and you didn't #how can i love you when you were supposed to teach me what love is and instead you only taught me hate and loneliness #and why is there a part of me that still desperately hopes that you do love me? that you could bring yourself to love me? #and then the part that makes me go even more batshit crazy: THEY HAVE /MET/ EACH OTHER. THESE TWO WOMEN HAVE M E T #*SCREAMS FOR SEVEN THOUSAND HOURS STRAIGHT*

[thisisnotthenerd]

ok so i clarified otohan's build for myself

she's a 20th level psi warrior fighter base, and the backpack lets her use echo knight abilities. this all tracks--4 attacks, 2 action surges, 12 psionic power dice (+1 if regained on a bonus action) at a d12, and the ability to manifest two echoes at once. i'm going to guess that she uses two-weapon fighting based on the damage rolls from her offhand weapon. plus 3 legendary actions that she could use to attack with either weapon, dash, psi-powered leap (80 ft), telekinetic control (2 actions, move target 30 ft in a direction of her choice), and 3 legendary resistances.

if they hadn't immediately dealt with the backpack she could have been flashing all over the battlefield, 10 attacks each in the turns that she used action surge, 6 otherwise, split across multiple opponents or targeted to one. given her place in initiative, this could have been a full massacre before she went exaltant if she had hit the casters and healers first, instead of chetney. she had the movement for it.

speaking of that: she regained both action surges and presumably all of her psi power dice, gained resistance to all damage, and a +3 bonus to AC. I'm guessing the state was triggered by a damage threshold. i'm willing to bet that if she didn't have the health potion they might have gotten her down within the round, assuming the threshold is 1/4 of the total or something like that, and the 66 she got back brought her back over half.

on the other hand, even given the multiple deaths and 1 permadeath, bell's hells really worked hard on this one. ashton and fearne using the shards and doing big damage. fcg keeping the party up with 2 mass cure wounds and a revivify. laudna debuffing with bane and getting damage in with the eldritch blasts. imogen getting the backpack off. orym using bait and switch to defend imogen and overall being a tiny tank. chet dying, coming back, and still going around to get imogen up. so many crits. fcg's hail mary.

they got her now, so there's no more shadow assassinations, and they won't be splitting attention when they come back to kill ludinus.

good riddance.

#critical role #cr spoilers #bell’s hells #otohan thull #cr meta

[stickandthorn]

I was thinking about that post about redemption I just reblogged, and I think it’s worth pointing out just how difficult and time consuming it would to de-radicalize or “redeem” Lilliana. And I think Essek’s redemption in campaign 2 is actually a really good example of what I’m talking about.

First of all, what the Nein did to redeem Essek was not slowly and politely talk him through why what he did was wrong. They didn’t even know he did anything wrong. What they did was continually reach out to him and give him a support system of friends he did not have before. Notably, friends who he could be comfortable sharing his worldview around: he was an atheist* in a theocratic society who had to hide his worldview in order to have any social, academic, or governmental standing. The mighty nein were probably the first people he could be himself around, and creating a change in his personal life is what led to a change in his ideology. Notably, he did most of the actual deconstructing of his ideology on his own, some before the big betrayal reveal and a lot after. The Nein helped with that directly a little, but the main thing they did was offer him a personal connection he had stakes in, and a people in his life with different world views he hadn’t seen up close before.

This is pretty true to life, in the real world, most people who leave radical or bigoted groups leave at least partially because of a change in their personal life. Even if they do leave because of someone directly challenging their worldview, it’s usually someone they care about who challenges them in a non-aggressive way. It’s still personal.

Secondly, this took a lot of time. I can’t remember exactly how long they spent in the Dynasty, but they befriended Essek over a really long period of in game and out of game time. The cast spent actual real world hours talking pretty much one on one with Essek, and the party spent weeks, maybe even months slowly getting to know him and bringing this support structure into his life. Essek spent even longer actually thinking through and deconstructing on his own. The change in his worldview between the ship and the outpost really shows this, he did a lot of the thinking that led him to change by himself over a lot of time we weren’t there for. They could not have gotten him to actually change his mindset, fully realize what he did was wrong of his own free will, in anything approaching a short amount of time. This was a time consuming process.

All this to say: this is the kind of effort it would take to legitimately de-radicalize Lilliana. She has been in the Vanguard for ~25 years, she most likely joined when she was in her early to mid 20s, and she gave up all personal connections, even her daughter and her husband to join. Not only has her entire ideology been built around this being the right thing to do, her entire personal life is contained within the Vanguard. It’s most likely where she gets any housing or money or really anything from. It is her whole life, and she believes wholeheartedly in it. The level of time and effort it took to get Essek to organically change his mind is most likely the level it would take to get Lilliana to change hers, if not more.

And they don’t have that time. Lilliana is actively doing harm now, she is helping the Vanguard release Predathos right now, they simply do not have the time to redeem her. It sucks, but pragmatically speaking, it is simply not worth the time and effort. Essek gave away the beacons in the past, but also, the Nein did not know he did that for their early friendship. If the Nein had known, they probably would not have put in all the work it took to get him to change. They probably couldn’t have. Lilliana might be able to be redeemed in theory, but so can a lot of people who do very bad things. Focusing on that redemption process is prioritizing Imogen’s complicated feelings over the harsh reality that this is a war, and Lilliana is a key figure in that war doing a great deal of harm. It sucks, but I do think it’s time to move on, and I think Imogen is now leaning that way.

*atheist is a loose term here, it’s hard to be an atheist in a world where gods are proven to exist, but it gets the point across

#critical role #cr spoilers #cr meta #imogen temult #essek theylss #Lilliana temult

[quinn-of-aebradore]

Terrible painful thought that I’m now obsessed with;

Vax is a full blown Champion of the Divine and something bad just happened to him. What if the other current Champions could… feel that?

Pike, Scanlan, and Vex feeling something tear in their chests, an indescribable heartache coursing through the bond they have with their deities.

Yasha, waiting anxiously at home for Beau to return, feeling Vax’s scream through her connection to the Stormlord and is suddenly angry in a way she can’t quite place.

Caduceus and Fjord being met by cold winds from Melora and a bone-deep sense of dread.

Opal and Zerxus, deep within the thralls of their gods, having moments of clarity as they feel Lolth and Asmodeus fear for the first time.

(Cad and Fjord aren’t canonically Champions of the Wildmother, I know, but I love the idea of them being such so I don’t care)

#critical role #cr spoilers #vax’ildan #quinn metas #pike trickfoot #scanlan shorthalt #vex’ahlia #yasha nydoorin #caduceus clay #fjord #opal #zerxus ilerez #cr meta

[ladyfoxfire]

Something occurred to me earlier about Otohan's claim that Fearne was vital to the Ruby Vanguard's plans: that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

The night of the solstice, Ludinus's speech was a lot more "I'm about to kill the gods right now and you fuckers can't stop me!" than "I would be about to kill the gods if not for Zathuda's custody dispute!" He laid an elaborate trap for Vax, but not for Fearne, who was also right there? It doesn't add up.

But then it occurred to me: it does add up if Fearne was always intended to be plan B, and plan A is completely fucked because the Bells Hells sabotaged the Malleus Key.

Rewind in time to Ludinus starting to put the Ruby Vanguard together. He's figured out two potential ways to release Predathos: build a giant laser beam powered by dunamancy and a divine champion, or do some mystery thing involving a Ruidus-born fey. He's pretty sure the laser beam will work, but it's good to have a contingency plan, so he tells Zathuda to start working on making a baby while he works on the Key.

But then Birdie runs off with Fearne, and plan B is now on hold. Not great, but progress on the Key is going well, so they'll put some resources towards tracking her down, but if they can't find her, they'll just have to make sure plan A doesn't fail.

But then plan A does fail, because somebody blew up the secondary Keys and unplugged a bunch of wires from the main Key. Instead of firing with enough force to blow Ruidus apart (or whatever the plan was) it's just acting as a bridge and jamming everyone's Sending spells.

So now their only option is plan B, finding Zathuda's kid. They can't scry directly on her, because they don't know what she looks like or what name she goes by, but they can put more effort into finding Birdie and interrogating her. They find her hiding in a cave outside of Bassuras, but she's gone by the time they get there. (Remember that's why Birdie said she and Ollie were at Nana's, because Ollie foresaw Paragon's Call attacking the hideaway)

But then Otohan, in the course of tracking down those asshole adventurers who keep blowing up all her stuff, puts it together that the faun is the one they've been looking for this whole time. And then she fucks up and Fearne and FCG escape, now also knowing that Fearne is vital to the Vanguard's plans.

So yeah, I think that version of events fits all the evidence, but let me know if I missed or misremembered anything.

#critical role spoilers #critical role #cr meta

[rollforshenanigans]

here’s a what should be a cold take but i know it’ll be taken as a scalding one: 

inter-party conflict is good for storytelling, tension, and characterization and growth. aversion to conflict just creates wet noodle characters that are uninteresting. a story without conflict or tension isn’t a good story. 

#cr meta #critical role

[the1pandemonium]

" I realize I'm not as good at lying as I thought. Which is weird because I do it all the time! " x

#cr art #critical role #critical role art #cr3 #critrole #artists on tumblr #ashley johnson #cr meta #fearne calloway #fearne critical role #fearne #bells hells #critical role fanart #myart

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

The Changebringer calls her newfound ward onto a new path. A path she and so many others had tried so hard to show FCG: one of life and love and jubilation. A path he only discovered in the final seconds on the Material Plane

Maybe they'll be returned to their friends at another time - but for now he rests knowing that he saved his family

#critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #cr meta #the changebringer #cr fcg #bells hells #sam riegel

[druidposting]

"Have you not realized that im a hypocrite?" This. For everyone unironically mad, please realize that this has been the core of ashton's character for eons. The moment he said "i need to be the hero" i knew hed be fucking toast. This is ashton, yall

#critical role #bells hells #ashton greymoore #cr spoilers #cr meta

[essektheylyss]

I do want to say, just in general, that I genuinely think the fandom sorely underestimates Essek in combat because of the specific types of combat we saw him in.

The Nein's caster contingent was so broken by the end that Matt had to build combats specifically designed to hinder a wide range of high level casters, which meant a lot of counterspells and anti-magic. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the reasons Aeor was the setting for the last arc. Essek also has a lot of AOE concentration spells, and that's just not a good move with that many people on the playing fields. On a meta level, DM's curse made him less effectual when using ranged attack spells, but his support casting is clutch. The dunamancy wizard schools are generally very strong subclass options, regardless of stats, and he's got features of both, for no goddamn reason, just because Matt could. He is still a glass cannon but between Mage Armor, Shield, a likely Mote of Possibility, and Chronal Shift he's probably not going down immediately.

In conclusion:

#if you actually get mean on this post I will block you. I am sick of the slander. #anyway l15 essek was built to be a decent (not difficult! but decent!) fight for THE NEIN AS A WHOLE at l11 or 12 #his build is actually very strong! I am sick of the slander! #essek thelyss #cr meta #critical role

[tiamat-zx]

Several of the big moments in the last episode couldn't have been possible without specific level-up choices.

Orym sticking with Fighter gave him all the attacks he needed to lay the smackdown on that reiloran juggernaut.

Fearne taking her second level in Rogue gave her the cunning actions she needed to close the distance AND assist Ashton in liberating the Shard from its resting place.

And Laudna choosing to max her Charisma is what put her spellcasting modifier at just the right threshold (+5) to be able to effectively counter Ludinus' 9th-level spell drop.

Funny, how all that worked out.

#critical role #cr spoilers #bells hells #orym of the air ashari #fearne calloway #laudna #ludinus da'leth #c3e75 #cr c3e75 #cr meta

[pocketgalaxies]

We want to destroy my mother. (insp by @dadrielle)

#critical role #criticalroleedit #imogen temult #liliana temult #laura bailey #matthew mercer #gifs #* #*cr #cr3 #cr spoilers #angst tag #cr meta #nova shh #scheduled #3h12m c3e88 #18m c3e12 #3h17m c3e42 #3h42m c3e51 #4h20m c3e51 #1h35m c3e49 #i think this gifset might be a little bit unfair to liliana from a third party perspective but #i think it's Very Real for imogen. to feel like she reached out so many times and the loyalty there was so fucking flimsy #barely there to begin with and then gone in an instant as everything turned to red mist #thinking about how laura on 4sd a while ago said imogen is so fucking sick of it she's sick of having that hope #her reality is that her mother no longer has any loyalty to her and the pain of thinking she does isn't worth it anymore #:(((( #'help me.' 'this is for the best.' breaks my H E A R T :((((((((( #and matt's fucking Smile afterward. speaks a thousand words #thanks rj for the discord message that kicked this off!!!

[thisisnotthenerd]

the fact that orym, chetney, and imogen primarily guided the communication exercise gives so much insight into the leadership structure of bell’s hells. even the ways that each of them did it—orym giving rapid fire instruction and adjusting the direction based on response. chetney sticking to one mode (clock system) and being direct and methodical. imogen holding pace with thought and encouraging with every step—keeping emotions calm. granted that’s also the players’ communication styles coming through, but still.

at this point, i would say that they form the base that bell’s hells revolves around. orym as the lookout, as the one on alert both in and out of the party. chetney observing and learning about the environment physically and personally. and imogen guiding decisions by calming emotions.

#critical role #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #bell’s hells #orym of the air ashari #chetney pock o'pea #imogen temult #cr meta

[stickandthorn]

While Ashton’s mentality comes from a number of places, I feel like there’s a chronic illness/pain angle to it that’s really interesting. When you live with chronic pain, you end up having to put your body in harmful or painful situations to live your life. I and most of the people I know with chronic conditions are always doing a little calculation about what we spend our bodies on. For instance, I have hand and arm issues that make it difficult to write. I know I will be in pain when I take notes in class or write a paper, and I might not be able to use my hands for a little while after, but the level of pain that will cause me is worth it for my degree.

The self destructive/sacrificial mentality Ashton has feels like a very magnified version of that mentality. When you view your health and comfort as a calculation, “is this level of pain or injury worth it for this goal?”, it’s very easy to see how that could spiral into “is my life worth it for this goal?” when you’re in the situation and the mental state that Ashton is. I don’t think it’s the cause of their self destruction, but it feels like it could really play into it. If you already have to view your body as something you have to harm to use, the steps to get to where Ashton is now could definitely become smaller.

#critical role #ashton greymoore #cr meta #bells hells