I’ve started thinking about critrole again thanks to tlovm and the newest episode of the current campaign…….iykyk
funniest thing ever was the sex scene in BD, you’re telling me a 110 year old virgin and an awkward blushing 18 year old had good sex…on their first try? edward was probably holding up 3 medical anatomy textbooks including his battered grey’s anatomy book trying to find the cl!t and dry sobbing every time he got it wrong
It appears that today JHark continues your thesis statement of him having an "I will not let such a small issue stop me" pattern
Let us recap!
May 3rd: *paprika gives incredible thirst*
Jonathan: I won't let a little thing like that stop me! *more paprika*
May 4th: *locals crying, hugging his knees, begging him not to go*
Jonathan: *significantly more unsettled* I won't let a little thing like that stop me
May 5th: *this door has no handle*
Jonathan: I won't let a little thing like that stop me...? Though I admit I am at a loss as to what to do about it
May 8th: *dracula yeets the mirror*
Jonathan: *annoyed* I won't let a little thing like that stop me *does his best with his shaving pot, which is fortunately of metal*
May 8th: *the castle is a veritable prison*
Jonathan: *running madly around like a rat in a trap* I won't let a little thing like that stop me!!! *sitting down quietly* ahhhh fuck
May 12th: *envelopes extremely see-through*
Jonathan: *resolving to write to Mina later in shorthand* I won't let a little thing like that stop me *immediately snoops on Dracula's letters*
May 15th: *the door is locked, the key is gone*
Jonathan: I won't let a little thing like that stop me. It's probably in the Count's room
May 15th: *one door not technically locked just suck*
Jonathan: *putting his back into it* oh I definitely won't let a little thing like that stop me...
And a bonus:
Dracula, May 12th: Don't go to sleep anywhere else in the castle or you will Literally Die. From, uh. Nightmares.
Jonathan, May 15th: I won't *yawn* let a little thing like *yawn* that stop me.... zzzzzzzz
idk what it is about the mighty nein but the cast plays them so strategically.
like maybe it was the sandbox nature of c2 and the fact that they weren't getting legendary items as much as vox machina.
at level 20, they have:
higher hp (collectively. caleb is still squishy)
less combat indecision
more battlefield movement and ways of not grouping up.
a well planned collection of buffs. plus paladin aura for saves.
a good split of ranged and melee attacks, both martial and magic.
ways of incapacitation (beau)
movement/terrain control through spells and sentinel
ways of mitigating damage
better action economy
a collection of twos: 2 casters with counterspell, 2 martials with sentinel, 2 clerics that cover healing, 2 (technically 3) people with evasion, 2 hp tanks, etc.
the ability to come back from bad saves/good adversary saves.
like even when they didn't make the most optimal decisions, they still were at a point that their prior planning prevented a lot of damage and potential issues. the heroes' feast and mind blank carried.
more thoughts under the cut
on the ranged thing: vox machina has more martial range, but less magic range. percy and vex are optimized for that, but if anyone whacks on vex she's squishy.
bells hells has magic range, but not martial range. i think chet has a shortbow now, but other than that it's melee (and orym's air blades) or bust. if they're out of range they're dashing in (or using boots).
maybe its a me thing. but i find mighty nein combat the easiest to watch of the three groups, followed by vox machina and then bells hells. and i'm a noted combat enjoyer.
little more of a rant:
it feels like they get stuck in indecision so much in c3. i think it's the caster split between parties; as i see it, travis and liam process and plan out their turns the quickest, then taliesin and laura, then sam, marisha, and ashley.
sidenote: the clerics in any given campaign flip back and forth between fast turns of mostly healing and slower turns of other stuff. i would say in terms of speed as clerics it goes: taliesin, laura, ashley, sam.
with the mighty nein, the process is optimized:
liam, taliesin, and laura as the primary casters, with liam for utility, buffs, and dps, taliesin covering healing and buffs/debuffs, and laura doing secondary healing, dps, and general battlefield chaos.
travis and sam in the mixed martial area, with veth covering big damage ranged hits as well as utility magic, and fjord covering quick teleports, disparate hits with eldritch blast, and some melee with smites & hexblade, also tanking with hp.
marisha and ashley as full martial, with marisha getting info, inflicting stun to grant advantage, and serving as a dex/ac tank, while ashley covers big damage, and serves as a con/hp tank.
their turns generally proceed at similar paces, unless there's a significant misunderstanding in play, and they have time for strategy and unconventional solutions in the mix. the faster players are playing longer turns as casters, but generally come in with their spells planned. liam fired off a time stop with 5 rounds and got through it in a little longer than a normal turn.
with vox machina, it's a mix.
travis and taliesin are full martial, but have action surges and thus sometimes take longer. percy also takes longer for gun reasons.
liam and laura fill the mixed martial area, but they're pretty efficient as a rogue duo.
ashley, marisha, and sam fill out the casters, but as they are with vm, they have higher efficiency.
pike is focused on healing, buffing, and tanking
keyleth has spells but spends a lot of time in wildshape. her spells also tend to run over rounds, so there's progressive damage.
scanlan has a standard progression as a lore bard, with a leveled spell per turn, bardic inspiration bonuses, and his reactions are his clutch moves. also his longer turns get filled up with improv singing, so it doesn't feel like combat indecision.
whereas with bells hells, it's not as optimized.
liam and travis are full martial, so even given shenanigans and descriptions, their turns go quicker. they're tanks, but the enemies move away from them after getting hit 6 times a turn/by blood curses unless there's maneuvering in place.
robbie is in the mixed martials as a swords bard, but as a full caster and one of the healers now, he's been more on the casting side in recent memory
taliesin takes longer in c3 due to the path of fundamental chaos and the adjustments he has to make with each rage. he tanks, but ashton has so much nonsense going on that you never know what's going to happen with them.
sam is now in the mixed martial area and has faster turns, but started the campaign as a full caster and thus had longer turns. fcg also had action economy issues as part of their subclass and by virtue of sam not wanting to play a cleric like the other clerics, so it took awhile.
the witches all have long turns, but in order as far as i recall it usually goes laura, marisha, ashley, in terms of the amount of time. with two sorcerers and a damage focused druid/rogue, they hit a lot of combat indecision. they specialized so much that if they hit a point where they run out of the standard options, it just drags on. lots of spell attacks and saving throws, and quicken spells, and familiars (gun monkey, bone rat, and shadow dog) and form changes, and on and on.
it means that combat runs long because they take awhile to decide on what they're doing and then longer to adapt to changes on the battlefield. they also have limited options for range, standard movement for the most part, the witches are all pretty squishy, and when they're up against enemies with easy transport around the field, they get hit hard, because the tanks can't be everywhere.
bell's hells just gets beat up more.
i don’t think I’m ever going to get over this line
i'm sorry i wiggled your skinny boyfriend like a sheet of metal. weeop womp weeoop womp weeeoop womp