| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[folder:General]] |
| 4 | * AccidentallyCorrectWriting: While viewers in chat were happy to correct Matthew Mercer's pronunciation of "sigil" to "sidge-ul", his initial pronunciation (sig-ill) is actually closer to the original Latin sound of the word, descended from the same root as "signature", "significant" and "signify". |
| 5 | * ActingForTwo: |
| 6 | ** Matt by necessity, as he is the DM, and thus plays every NPC. |
| 7 | ** Taliesin voices both Caduceus and Mollymauk during Campaign 2. [[spoiler:The two characters only met face-to-face in the penultimate episode of the campaign, making Taliesin voice both characters talking to each other.]] |
| 8 | ** [[spoiler:Sam voices both Scanlan and Tary in Campaign 1,]] and the other players ''make sure'' there's at least one scene where they're forced to talk to each other. |
| 9 | * AscendedFanon: In January 2020, it was announced that ''The Explorers Guide to Wildemount'' would be published by Wizards of the Coast, making the world of Exandria an official part of D&D canon. Prior to that, the official 5e adventure ''TabletopGame/BaldursGateDescentIntoAvernus'' alluded to the events of the Campaign 1 finale, with the inclusion of Arkhan the Cruel as an NPC with [[spoiler:the Hand of Vecna]]. |
| 10 | * AuthorsSavingThrow: During late 2019, the American fast food chain Wendy's sponsored a full one-shot episode where the Critical Role team ran a promotional game released at New York Comic-Con as a marketing joke. Critters were quick to pile on to the CR team, pointing out that Wendy's subscribes to some rather questionable labor practices. It didn't take long for the crew to get the message and apologize, [[https://twitter.com/CriticalRole/status/1180219441247703040?s=20 donating their promotional fees]] to groups fighting to change said questionable practices. Parts of the fanbase considered the matter forgiven but not forgotten. |
| 11 | * BannedEpisode: Following the revelation of Brian Foster as a domestic abuser, all episodes of ''Talks Machina'', ''Travis Willingham's Yee-Haw Game Ranch'', ''Between the Sheets'', ''Undeadwood'', and any one shots he was part of have been removed from public viewing on [=YouTube=] as of July 2023. |
| 12 | * ChannelHop: From Geek & Sundry and Alpha to Critical Role's own [=YouTube=] and Twitch channels. |
| 13 | * CreatorBacklash: A variation in that Matt loves ''Critical Role'' and happily is still doing it, but he's been vocal about how much he dislikes the "Matt Mercer Effect" that has come from the success of the series. Essentially, the popularity of the show has caused a NewbieBoom in ''D&D'', but it's resulted in people wanting their DM to be like Matt, or for the campaign to become some kind of successful show. At various points, he's spoken online about how much he dislikes fans who seem to think that every ''D&D'' campaign is/should be like ''Critical Role'', saying that what works for his table won't work for everyone. |
| 14 | * {{Defictionalization}}: As Critical Role has released its own merch, a number of in-game items have become real: |
| 15 | ** Vax's daggers (as letter openers) were perks for the ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'' Kickstarter campaign, later sold in the official shop. |
| 16 | ** "The Night Before Critmas" 2018 one-shot featured the ChristmasElves players making action figures of Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein. As of 2022, [[https://mcfarlanetoysstore.com/critical-role-the-legend-of-vox-machina/ both exist]] [[https://shop.critrole.com/collections/reaction-figures in real life]]. |
| 17 | ** Nott's flask, Chetney's hat, and Beau's monk vest (as a cardigan) were all sold in the Critical Role shop at one point. |
| 18 | * ExiledFromContinuity: Following his departure from the show, Creator/OrionAcaba has been treated as PersonaNonGrata by the remaining cast members and his character Tiberius Stormwind has been retconned from ''Critical Role'' lore. Pointedly, Orion isn't thanked in either of the campaign setting books whilst the rest of the cast and several guests are, and any mention of the original home game in media (Such as "The World of Critical Role") simply acts as if he was never part of the group. This is also true for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'', where Acaba has no appearance anywhere in the cast, and Tiberius isn't present as part of Vox Machina or as anything else. |
| 19 | * FanCommunityNicknames: ''Critical Role'' fans are known as "Critters." |
| 20 | * ProductionPosse: To put it simply, the entire reason the group know each other is specifically through working on various video games, western animation, anime dubs, and web originals; the game actually began because Matt found out that Liam used to play ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' in his youth and offered to DM a one-shot for Liam's birthday as they worked on ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6''. |
| 21 | * PromotedFanboy: |
| 22 | ** Colm [=McGuinness=] started out composing fan music for the show. He has since been featured as an instrumentalist on "Your Turn to Roll", the DoItYourselfThemeTune for campaign 2 and ''The Legend of Vox Machina''; his track "Welcome to Wildemount" was chosen as the music for the campaign 2 art reel; and he was brought in to compose music for the final campaign 2 battle, as well as the theme for ''WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited''. |
| 23 | ** The Wikia provides [[https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Official_artists a non-exhaustive list]] of official artists, a majority of them having been featured on the fanart gallery before being hired by Critical Role. |
| 24 | ** Dani Carr won a giveaway in episode 7. She went on to become Critical Role's official Production Coordinator, Lore Keeper, and unofficial "studio mom" (according to ''The World of Critical Role''). |
| 25 | ** Matt Mercer has been a fan of Creator/StephenColbert since TheNineties and said early on that his dream was to one day DM a game for Colbert. He got his wish for the Red Nose Day 2019 one-shot and again in 2022. |
| 26 | * QuietlyCancelled: ''Travis Willingham's Yee-Haw Game Ranch'' stopped production due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While there was a brief spin-off, ''Yee-Haw Off The Ranch'', to accommodate social distancing procedures, this stopped after two months. With Brian W. Foster leaving the company in August 2021, the show has seemingly been cancelled, and as of July 2023, all previous episodes have been pulled from Youtube. |
| 27 | * RealLifeRelative: The core group of on-screen talent consists of two married couples (Travis & Laura, Matt & Marisha). |
| 28 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Occasionally players being absent because of real-life commitments causes them to be absent in-game for various reasons, with three notable instances. |
| 29 | ** Ashley's commitments to ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'' led to Pike leaving the group indefinitely to help reconstruct a temple to Sarenrae & subsequently CommutingOnABus for the remainder of the campaign, as Ashley had to leave for New York for filming. This continued in the second campaign until late 2019, when Ashley finally returned on a permanent basis after ''Blindspot'' wrapped. |
| 30 | ** Orion left the show after episode 29 for personal reasons, which led to Tiberius leaving Vox Machina to focus more on his personal quest. |
| 31 | *** With Vox Machina's early adventures being adapted to comics & animation, this has subsequently led to Tiberius being AdaptedOut to a degree. In the prequel comic series, he’s present in the first volume when the majority of the group first meet, but takes a leave of absence at the beginning of the second volume, before Pike & Percy join the party. In the animated series he's completely absent. Though given the fact that the animated series skips most of the story arcs that he ''was'' present for, it hasn't affected the story much. |
| 32 | ** Travis & Laura were absent for episodes 25-30 in the second campaign, as they took time off from the show after the birth of their son, which necessitated [[spoiler: Jester and Fjord getting kidnapped by the Iron Shepherds (along with Yasha) at the end of Episode 25]] (They were meant to leave the following episode, but the baby came early). [[spoiler: Jester's absence in particular meant no one was around to heal Mollymauk, leading to his death.]] |
| 33 | * ReferencedBy: |
| 34 | ** WebVideo/OutsideXbox has jokingly referenced them occasionally during the ''WebVideo/{{Oxventure}}'', mostly as SelfDeprecation that they can never live up to CR standards. |
| 35 | ** D&D Channel [[https://www.youtube.com/c/xptolevel3 XP To Level 3]] has covered Critical Role a few times, often highlighting the cast as examples of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XYqrbhLjIM how to make good characters]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCOHqWttXzs how to DM]], or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu2lQMdx6Pw how to be a good roleplayer]]. |
| 36 | * ScrewedByTheLawyers: Several of Matt's homebrew classes and subclasses (namely, the [[https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/blood-hunter Blood Hunter class]] and the Gunslinger subclass for Fighters) were unable to be included in the ''Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting'' and its UpdatedRerelease due to Matt originally publishing them to the ''DM's Guild'' website. |
| 37 | * SeriesHiatus: The COVID-19 viral pandemic of early 2020 led to Critical Role suspending all live broadcasts as of March 17th, following episode 99 of the second campaign. The show returned on July 2nd for its [[MilestoneCelebration 100th episode]] with a new studio set-up (to allow the cast to social distance) and a switch to pre-taped episodes instead of live broadcast. |
| 38 | * WordOfGod: Whilst Brian W. Foster has been happy playing in one-shots, he has adamantly stated that he will never play a guest character in the main campaign as he prefers his role as an outside observer in his capacity as ''Talks Machina'' host. |
| 39 | * WritingAroundTrademarks: |
| 40 | ** The Gods of Exandria started out as the D&D Dawn War Pantheon (plus Sarenrae); as such the release of the ''Tal'Dorei Campaign Guide'' saw each deity receive a new name (for example, Melora became the Wildmother) in the book, although they were still referred to by their original names in the show until the beginning of the second campaign. |
| 41 | *** ''The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'', an official Wizards of the Coast publication, would make the names included in the ''Tal’Dorei Campaign Guide'' part of the Gods' official titles in Exandria. |
| 42 | ** The second volume of the ''Vox Machina Origins'' comic swiftly wrote Tiberius out, largely due to Orion holding the rights to the character. |
| 43 | ** Sarenrae, a holdover from the days of the group playing ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' at home, was included in ''The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' as Raei, the Everlight. |
| 44 | ** Starting in Campaign 3 and the release of ''Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn'', many races have also undergone a name change, to allow them to be published by Critical Role in any future non-D&D works such as comics, novels, and the TV show. Examples include [[FaunsAndSatyrs satyrs becoming fauns]], [[BirdPeople aarakocra]] becoming eisfuura, and [[CatFolk tabaxi]] becoming katari. Additionally, [[DraconicHumanoid dragonborn]] are called draconblood in ''TCSR'', though Matt hasn't called them that on stream. |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Campaign 1 and One-Shots (2015-2017)]] |
| 48 | * ActingInTheDark: Taliesin wrote Percy's backstory from the perspective of the character, and left several details regarding the Briarwoods and their takeover of Whitestone up to Matt's discretion. |
| 49 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 50 | ** The use of an acid pool in Episode 21 was a direct reference to the fate of Creator/WilWheaton's character Aeofel on ''Podcast/AcquisitionsIncorporated'', by Matt's own admission on stream after the session ended. |
| 51 | ** In the "Dalen's Closet" one-shot, [[spoiler:Liam describes the temporarily-returned Vax's attire as being adorned with growths on the shoulder that resemble a cross between bones and Cordyceps fungus, the same kind of fungus that serves as the basis for the zombie plague in ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', which Liam voice-directed in addition to portraying some of the infected. Ashley, who plays Ellie in the games, smiles at the reference.]] |
| 52 | * ActorLeavesCharacterDies: After Orion Acaba left Critical Role, Tiberius was killed offscreen. It was done by [[KilledByRequest request]] by Acaba. |
| 53 | * AscendedFanon: Matt loved and confirmed on ''Talks Machina'' the fan theory that Lionel Gayheart was a [[spoiler:duck that Scanlan ''True Polymorphed'' into a Half-Orc]]. |
| 54 | * {{Corpsing}}: So often, it's practically OncePerEpisode. Some memorable moments include: |
| 55 | %%** Special props when Rimefang was addressing [[CallBack Burt]] [[MakesSenseInContext Reynolds]]. |
| 56 | %%** Everyone during Percy's encounter with Victor the black powder merchant. Happens again when he returns in episode 43, which is immediately lampshaded. |
| 57 | %%-->'''Liam/Vax:''' I'm going to stand over here and fail to keep in character! |
| 58 | %%** Everyone again during [[CampGay Gilmore's]] first entrance. |
| 59 | ** [[RunningGag The sudden appearance of Burt Reynolds]] ''always'' cracks Matt up. |
| 60 | ** Episode 30 took place shortly before Halloween. Everyone wore costumes which spawned many a case of the giggles, at one point Liam O'Brien had to hold his turn in battle because he was laughing too hard to play. |
| 61 | ** Episode 35 is one of the best examples. Near the end, Keeper Yennin is giving a heartfelt speech when Ashley brushes against her mic. Matt as Keeper Yennin passes the noise off as a fart and everyone except Taliesin loses it one by one until even Matt can't keep a straight face. |
| 62 | * CreatorBacklash: If Matt has ever made one thing clear that he regrets about Campaign One, it was letting Vax keep his Boots of Haste when the group transferred from ''Pathfinder'' to ''Fifth Edition''. The reason wasn't because Liam abused it, but because it was such a gamebreaker on account of how the item was balanced for ''Pathfinder'' but not ''Fifth Edition'', that Vax became incredibly overpowered because of it. |
| 63 | * FandomNod: |
| 64 | ** Fans long suspected that Gilmore was actually a dragon. He's finally asked in Episode 41 and denies it. |
| 65 | ** Many fans interpret Garmelie, the sketching satyr from the Feywild, as a nod to the Critter art community...[[spoiler:which is very flattering, considering Garmelie is actually an ''Archfey'', or at the very least a very, very powerful creature]]. |
| 66 | * FirstPersonPerspective: Tiberius is the only character who talks using "I" statements during the playing of the character backgrounds, except Keyleth, who jumps around a bit to give more personality to her narration. |
| 67 | * OfficialFanSubmittedContent: |
| 68 | ** Of a sort. As a reward for a charity fundraiser benchmark, Matt hosted a stream where he worked with the Twitch chat to create an [=NPC=] and an enemy encounter. The results were [[spoiler:K'ryyn the drow bounty hunter/baker, tasked with bringing Tary home and connected somehow with a ziggurat]], and [[spoiler:Symphior, the tiny celestial with high charisma who fights using the surrounding terrain,]] respectively. |
| 69 | ** The Broker was a fan creation brought into the show. |
| 70 | * TheOtherDarrin: |
| 71 | ** Pre-break, Grog in Episode 19 is played by Laura (who does an admirable job with voice inflections and Grog mannerisms). |
| 72 | ** Matt tends to do this for players who are absent for the episode but are still with the party in-game. |
| 73 | ** Liam and Laura work together to play Pike during Episode 79 and 80 as well as 82 and 83, as Ashley isn't present to play and the fights involved are major enough that she can't be left to Matt to control, as is usually the case. Both of them even manage pretty good Pike impressions when dialogue's needed. Likewise, Taliesin and Marisha work together to play Scanlan in 82 when Sam himself is absent as well. |
| 74 | * ThrowItIn: At the end of the campaign, after Grog wakes up from [[spoiler:having his soul taken due to the Deck of Many Things, Scanlan joked that a pack of Bugbears had appeared and ripped off Percys arm while in Pandemonium. Matt liked the joke enough, so when they did the Search for Grog episode, Matt had a pack of Bugbears suddenly appear and rip off Percy's arm, just as Scanlan had joked about.]] Judging from Sam's reaction, it was clear he had been joking and didn't think Matt would actually do it. |
| 75 | * PlayingAgainstType: |
| 76 | ** Creator/WillFriedle plays Kashaw, a cleric. Is he a goofy, nice guy like Eric Matthews or Ron Stoppable? Nope, he's serious and a jerk. |
| 77 | ** Creator/WilWheaton plays Thorbir, who is as pure of a fighter as there is in Critical Role, but he has on multiple occasions stated that he prefers to play Wizards. He states that playing a pure fighter is something he usually never does. Once you see him play (and you realise that many Wizard spells don't require attack rolls, just the enemy making a saving throw), [[BornUnlucky it is very easy to understand why]]. |
| 78 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: |
| 79 | ** Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia are twins because Liam O'Brien and Laura Bailey share the same birth date. |
| 80 | ** Taliesin got sick right before Episode 26, resulting in Percy having a very in-character [[spoiler:HeroicBSOD and sealing himself up in his workshop for a day.]] |
| 81 | ** In episode 84, Sam was absent so Scanlan was [[spoiler:treated as being in a coma-like state, even after his revival, and only woke up in the subsequent episode.]] |
| 82 | ** Whilst the exact circumstances weren't planned, Taliesin's "Thursday by Night" two-parter was designed to kill off Matt & Marisha by the end of the first night, due to them leaving on their honeymoon between the two episodes. |
| 83 | * RoleReprise: All cast members for Vox Machina (bar Creator/OrionAcaba) reprised their roles for the animated series, with Creator/MatthewMercer playing Sylas Briarwood. |
| 84 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: |
| 85 | ** Matt never expected the group to forge an alliance with Clarota -- he had originally planned their ''initial'' meeting to be a fight. |
| 86 | ** According to Matt's Twitter, the party would've skipped the "second phase" of K'varn's fight (him reviving as an undead) if they'd managed to pull the Horn of Orcus off during the first phase. |
| 87 | ** A meta example: Creator/AshlyBurch and [[{{Series/Nerdist}} Chris Hardwick]] were the group's first choices to join the party during the Slayer's Take arc, but neither could do it due to scheduling issues, so Mary and Will were recruited instead. Hardwick would eventually guest in '''Episode 46: Cindergrove Revisited''', while Burch was part of the Pathfinder goblins one-shot and Liam O'Brien's one-shot game "The Screw Job" where she and the rest of the players were members of the Clasp. |
| 88 | ** In the aftermath of episode 25, Liam remarks that Seeker Assum must have had a better plan than Vax did and that it would have been safer than what he tried. Matt confirms that, yes, it was "quite a plan" but Vax forgot to meet up with him during the Feast. |
| 89 | ** After the session ended for Episode 26, Matt shows off an encounter map he made for the Roc-and-Druid fight. It was never used because Keyleth and Scanlan convinced the pair to leave in peace. |
| 90 | ** According to Matt's post Episode 52 discussion, if [[spoiler:Grog]] hadn't been the one to land the killing blow on [[spoiler:Kevdak]] in the fight, the DecapitatedArmy trope would be averted and the rest of the enemies would continue to fight the party, which would have resulted in disaster as these enemies, according to him, "[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill don't stop when you're at 0 hit points, they keep hacking until you're in pieces]]". Additionally, Greenbeard's main offensive tactic was going to be casting Sunbeam then going into Earth Elemental form to become [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a laser beam-firing rock monster.]] |
| 91 | ** Apparently the party managed to skip an entire sidequest by [[spoiler:tricking Garmelie into taking their home-made "threshold crest" instead of trying to steal one from Syngorn.]] |
| 92 | ** A brief glimpse of Matt's notes during his "DM Tips" video on screens shows a few plans for the Feywild arc that never ended up happening. First, an encounter with a hag who would've given some backstory for Saundor (and eventually revealing his weakness) in exchange for personal information from each party member (for example, what is the kill Grog regrets the most? Would Keyleth [[SadisticChoice choose her tribe or Vox Machina?]]) Second, had Vex accepted [[spoiler:Saundor's offer]], she would have [[spoiler:become a part-Fey PlantPerson, gaining +2 Constitution and a weakness to fire, and would have been "loaned" Fenthras until "her task was complete".]] This was further elaborated on during the Fireside Chat with Secrets video, where it was confirmed that for the former that information from the hag would've allowed them to take a wits-based battle approach with Saundor and that if they'd succeeded he would've withered away without a fight. For the latter, [[spoiler:in addition to becoming a Fey, Vex would've become bound to Saundor and she'd have him as a patron the rest of the campaign unless she rebelled, which wouldn't have gone good]]. |
| 93 | ** Said DM tips also contain an explanation of why Tiberius is a Chromatic Dragonborn when his siblings are all Metallic. Only a small part is visible, but it says something about [[spoiler:Tiberius' father being "touched by Tiamat", likely at the time Tiberius was conceived.]] This was probably planned as a major reveal for Tiberius, but with Orion leaving the show [[spoiler:and the character's later death]] it never came to be. |
| 94 | ** [[spoiler:The situation regarding the Ravinites and the Draconbloods in Draconia was meant to be an arc for Tiberius. Unfortunately, with the dragonborn dead due to Orion's departure, it fell onto Vox Machina to carry on in his stead.]] |
| 95 | ** According to a Periscope Q&A, Marisha originally had a plan to help find Grog's lost Javelin of Lightning after it was deflected and launched out the window of [[spoiler:J'Mon Sa Ord's palace]]. She was originally going to have Keyleth and Vax do a "buddy cop" routine and then she would've used ''Locate Object'' to find the javelin, and then (as a prank) sneak into Grog's room and place the javelin next to Grog, the intent being to make him believe that the javelin was "haunted". |
| 96 | ** Had the player concerned so wished, [[spoiler:Percy could have refused his own resurrection in Episode 69 even though the ritual was successful; Matt left it solely up to Taliesin to decide in the end. Taliesin himself noted that had Pike or Vax used their divine favor during the ritual, he would automatically refuse resurrection]]. |
| 97 | ** As the party decided to [[spoiler:gateway-summon Yenk to lure out and fight Vorugal]], who knows what Matt's original plans for him might have been. They would have had to get the Vestige from inside him somehow! Elaborated on in the Fireside Q&A, Vox Machina would've had to travel through the Maze in the Abyss, which would be very difficult to navigate. Additionally, they would've had to bargain with the Demons within to find out ''which'' Goristro was the one they were looking for, and seeing as all Demons are [[ConsummateLiar Consummate Liars]], this would have been incredibly risky. |
| 98 | ** Sam confirmed that while he knew [[spoiler:Scanlan would leave in 85, his plan was to leave solo. It was the group talking to him that convinced him to stay with Kaylie.]] |
| 99 | ** Due to how unsupportive she felt Vox Machina had been to her prior to her encounter with Kerrek, Keyleth would've taken levels in the Barbarian class and end up going far off the path of the Aramente. Said encounter changed many of Marisha's plans for Keyleth going forward. |
| 100 | ** During Battle Royale III, Grog just ''barely'' avoided getting plane shifted by Keyleth.[[note]]On a technical note, [[ForgotAboutHisPowers he only made the save due to Travis forgetting the -2 to his saving throw and Marisha not having properly updated her spell save DC]].[[/note]] According to Marisha, she would've transported Grog to the water plane and let him drown, and Taryon would've been given the same treatment. |
| 101 | ** Episode 103 "The Fate Touched" has two. Having plane shifted to the Feywilds in a panic to escape [[spoiler:from the disastrous first battle with Vecna, the remaining party members try to figure out how to revive Vax after being destroyed by a ''Disintegration'' spell, notably finding 25,000 gold worth of diamonds for Keyleth to cast ''True Resurrection''. Liam, having been kept isolated from the table for the first portion of the session before being brought back in for a solo portion[[note]]with the others then being sent off into isolation in the studio kitchen[[/note]], instead has Vax's fateful encounter with the Raven Queen in the afterlife, that leads to his return as a "revenant" long enough to finish the quest against Vecna, but called back to the Raven Queen's side once the threat has passed. Later Talks Machina revealed that, had Vax instead waited for the group to revive him, the Raven Queen wouldn't have taken kindly to his choice.]] The other being that due to the party resting for the night in the Feywild, Matt had to check to see [[NarniaTime how much time had passed on the Prime Material plane]], a dice roll which Matt admits could've ended with the party returning months or years latter than when they left it and dramatically changing the plot. Thankfully for the party, they end up returning on the same day they left. |
| 102 | ** At the end of Episode 106 ''The Endless Atheneeum'', the party openly wonders at the revelation of [[spoiler:Delilah Briarwood returning from the dead yet again, that if Percival had killed her all the way back during the Whitestone arc with "The List" and thus let Orthax devour her soul, there was a chance she wouldn't have been able to return as a threat in the first place.]] |
| 103 | ** In episode 100, during the groups fight with the [[spoiler:revived Delilah Briarwood]], Scanlan attempted to use Dimensional Door to bypass her Prismatic Wall. Due to the nature of both spells[[note]]Basically Prismatic Wall makes a seven layer magical barrier that prevents people from traveling through it or else they take a lot of damage from each layer and have debuffs to contend with, while Dimensional Door basically is a teleport spell that allows the user to move through dimensions, essentially "opening" a door to the point they want to travel[[/note]], Matt initially ruled that Scanlan would have to roll to get past each layer due to the way Prismatic Wall works. However, since Dimensional Door is worded in such a way that suggests the user is basically going from one point to another as if there wasn't a gap between them, technically meaning Scanlan would be able to get past it, Matt changed his ruling and allowed Scanalan to do so. Had Matt gone with the original ruling, Scanlan would have needed to go through all the barriers defenses back to back, which almost certainly would have just killed him given the high rolls needed to pass through and not take full damage, meaning Scanlan would have essentially eaten a ton of damage. |
| 104 | ** Two big possibilities in Episode 115 [[spoiler:in regards to Vax's fate. If Scanlan hadn't used his 9th Level Spell against Vecna, he would've had some wriggle room to try and save Vax using Wish. This would've included stalling for time so the group could try negotiating with another god or changing the conditions of the agreement so Vax's death could be delayed. If Percy had been allowed to invoke his contract with Ipkesh, he would have attempted to sell his soul to bring Vax back.]] |
| 105 | ** [[https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/status/931647680895508480 According to Liam]], if Vax had remained dead when he was killed by the kraken, his backup character would've been a Halfling Druid/Monk sent by Keyleth's father to help Keyleth with her grief. He also would've been a widower to an Ashari named Riegel. This character later got reworked into Orym for the third campaign. |
| 106 | ** Similarly, if Percy had remained dead [[spoiler:or if he had refused resurrection in Episode 69,]] Taliesin would have introduced the Tiefling carnie Mollymauk as his second character. He would have been introduced via a circus coming to town, and he would've done a horror show on "The Terrible Tinker of Tal'dorei" (which could refer to either Percy or Ripley, both of them being blurred together via ShroudedInMyth). Mollymauk ended up being Tailesin's character in the second campaign instead. |
| 107 | ** According to the Tal'Dorei sourcebook, Dr Dranzel works for a bard-based BenevolentConspiracy called The Golden Grin, and [[ObfuscatingStupidity most of his personality is a front to hide this.]] It's possible that discovering this would have led to an arc for Scanlan, but the players never did, and his character ended up going in a different direction. |
| 108 | ** Various 'what ifs' were revealed during the Campaign Wrap-Up: |
| 109 | *** If Vox Machina not destroyed Hotis in the Nine Hells, he would have come back after Vax's death. After finding out the object of his vengeance was gone, his vendetta would have transferred to ''Pike''. This wouldn't have affected the campaign, but it ''would'' have had repercussions for the epilogue, [[spoiler:Pike, Scanlan, Kaylie and future children they had might have had a recurring adversary to deal with.]] |
| 110 | *** At the start of the Chroma Conclave arc, there was a key choice where [[spoiler:Gilmore could've died during the attack. If the group had looked for treasure instead of immediately looking for Gilmore, they would've found Gilmore dead.]] |
| 111 | *** It would've been possible to obtain boons from other gods. [[spoiler:However, that would've required researching, searching, and time. This would've resulted in Vecna destroying Vasselheim, succeeding in the miracle, and gaining an understanding for his powers. His influence would've stretched beyond the ocean and he would've been more difficult to defeat, even with additional trammels.]] |
| 112 | *** If Percy had completed his revenge [[spoiler:and the gun hadn't been destroyed]], another six names would've appeared on the list. This would've continued indefinitely. |
| 113 | ** The Fireside Q&A answers a few more: |
| 114 | *** Had Vox Machina not dealt with Raishan directly, or had allowed their agreement to proceed without betraying her, she would have found what she needed from Thordak's corpse, which included a ritual to Dracolichdom. She would've then left Tal'dorei and never interfered with Vox Machina again, but would've taken over another continent and become a possible villain for the second campaign. |
| 115 | *** If Vox Machina hadn't killed General Krieg/Brimscythe in the pre-stream, Thordak [[YouHaveOutLivedYourUsefulness probably would've killed him after the Chroma Conclave's attack on Emon]], as both dragons wanted control of Emon. |
| 116 | * WordOfGod: A lot of information has come directly from the mouths of the DM and players, particularly the post-episode interviews and comments on social media. For example, Matt tweeted a copy of [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFo_Qe3VAAEC_lK.jpg K'varn's character sheet]] detailing his powers and alignment. There's also the occasional updates to the Gunslinger archetype that Taliesin Jaffe plays as. |
| 117 | * Laura Bailey is the first one to do a dice roll in Critical Role. She also has the distinction of rolling the first Natural 1. |
| 118 | ** Marisha Ray, by contrast, has the distinction of rolling the show's first Natural 20. |
| 119 | *** '''Episode 74: Path of Brass''' is the first episode to not have either a [=Nat1=] or a [=Nat20=] rolled. |
| 120 | *** A constantly-updated record of crit wins and crit fails, among many other statistics, can be found [[http://critrolestats.com/running here.]] |
| 121 | ---- |
| 122 | !!Misc. Stats for Campaign 1: |
| 123 | * Sam Riegel has the distinction of having the first "[[FinishHim How do you want to do this]]?" of Critical Role - which is remarkable, since it was also the first time he'd ''ever'' dealt a finishing blow in the whole campaign! |
| 124 | ** Travis Willingham, to date, has had the most thus far, with a whopping 15 (and a half): |
| 125 | *** A bulette. ('''Episode 4: Attack on the Duergar Warcamp''') |
| 126 | *** [[spoiler:Kern the Hammer.]] ('''Episode 23: The Rematch''') |
| 127 | *** A behir. ('''Episode 28: The Sun Tree''') |
| 128 | *** [[spoiler:Orthax]] (with Trinket's help, thus why it's half of a kill). ('''Episode 35: Denouement''') |
| 129 | *** A purple worm. ('''Episode 39: Omens''') |
| 130 | *** An orc war chief. ('''Episode 49: A Name is Earned''') |
| 131 | *** [[spoiler:Thunderlord Kevdak, leader of the Herd of Storms and Grog's uncle.]] ('''Episode 52: The Kill Box''') |
| 132 | *** [[spoiler:Greenbeard, seer of the Herd of Storms.]] ('''Episode 52: The Kill Box''') |
| 133 | *** [[spoiler:Umbrasyl the Hope Devourer.]] ('''Episode 55: Umbrasyl''') |
| 134 | *** [[spoiler:Saundor.]] ('''Episode 63: The Echo Tree''') |
| 135 | *** A cobalt golem. (kicked out the window) ('''Episode 66: A Traveler's Gamble''') |
| 136 | *** Luska the goliath. ('''Episode 68: Cloak and Dagger''') |
| 137 | *** [[spoiler:Yenk the Goristro.]] ('''Episode 71: Vorugal''') |
| 138 | *** An ember roc. ('''Episode 77: Clash at Daxio''') |
| 139 | *** [[spoiler:Earthbreaker Groon.]] ('''Episode 85: A Bard's Lament''') |
| 140 | *** Momma Magma Bulette. ('''Episode 107: Scaldseat''') |
| 141 | ** Ashley Johnson is the last core Vox Machina member to have a moment of her own with her slaying of a zombie stone giant in '''Episode 32: Against the Tide of Bone'''. [[spoiler:She later gets another one in '''Episode 58: A Cycle of Vengeance''' against a resurrected Hotis.]] |
| 142 | ** As mentioned above, Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey (using Trinket), in '''Episode 35: Denouement''', are the first to get a legitimate joint kill on [[spoiler:Orthax]] since they attacked it at the same time. The second time is in '''Episode 68: Cloak and Dagger''' when Vox Machina slaughters [[spoiler:Dr. Anna Ripley]] as retribution for [[spoiler:Percy's]] death. |
| 143 | ** Creator/MaryElizabethMcglynn is the first guest player to have one much less two, first a White Dragon ('''Episode 19: Trial of the Take, Part 2'''), and then a Beholder ('''Episode 44: The Sunken Tomb'''). No other guest member had a [[FinishHim killing blow]] moment until Ashly Burch's character in "The Screw Job" killed a Mimic (albeit in a non-canon one-shot), Patrick Rothfuss' character Kerrek [[spoiler:slayed Raishan ('''Episode 83: The Deceiver's Stand''')]], and Nate Stevenson's character Tova [[spoiler:killed the pit fiend Utugash ('''Episode 93: Bats Out of Hell''')]]. |
| 144 | ** Marisha Ray is the only player to get a HDYWTDT in front of a live audience: the plant-crocodile in '''Episode 62: Uninviting Waters'''. |
| 145 | * '''Episode 50: Best Laid Plans''' is the longest episode of Critical Role (5 hours, 55 minutes, 44 seconds!) to date, consisting of the normal 3-hour session and a 3-hour Critmas session, and that includes the Q&A sessions from Episodes 4 and 10. '''Episode 100: Unfinished Business''' is the longest episode ''without'' a Critmas session or anything extra (5 hours, 47 minutes). |
| 146 | ** On the other end, '''Episode 3: Strange Bedfellows''' is the ''shortest'' episode to date (2 hours, 36 minutes, 16 seconds). It is also one of only '''29''' episodes to technically have no initiative rolls and therefore no combat, the others being '''Episode 14: Shopping and Shipping''', '''Episode 24: The Feast''', '''Episode 36: Winter's Crest in Whitestone''', '''Episode 38: Echoes of the Past''', '''Episode 45: Those Who Walk Away...''', '''Episode 47: The Family Business''', '''Episode 53: At Dawn, We Plan!''', '''Episode 56: Hope''', '''Episode 57: Duskmeadow''', '''Episode 59: Into the Feywild''', '''Episode 60: Heredity and Hats (LIVE)''', '''Episode 64: The Frigid Doom''', '''Episode 65: The Streets of Ank'Harel''', '''Episode 67: The Chase to Glintshore''', '''Episode 69: Passed Through Fire''', '''Episode 70: Trust''', '''Episode 73: The Coming Storm''', '''Episode 74: Path of Brass''', '''Episode 75: Where the Cards Fall''', '''Episode 78: The Siege of Emon''', '''Episode 81: What Lies Beneath the Surface''', and '''Episode 84: Loose Ends''', '''Episode 89: Curious Tides''', '''Episode 90: Voice of the Tempest''', '''Episode 91: Vox Machina Go to Hell''', '''Episode 95: One Year Later...''', '''Episode 103: The Fate-Touched''', '''Episode 104: Elysium''', '''Episode 106: The Endless Atheneeum''', and '''Episode 115: The Chapter Closes'''. |
| 147 | ** While some of the aforementioned episodes did have the party attacking, killing, and/or injuring some enemies and vice-versa, there was still no roll for initiative. |
| 148 | * The most cast spells in the campaign are Cure Wounds (107 castings), Hunter’s Mark (89 castings), and Healing Word (88 castings). The most cast Cantrip is Druidcraft, with 41 castings. |
| 149 | * Several of the characters have had specific episodes or arcs devoted to them: |
| 150 | ** '''Episode 22: Aramente to Pyrah''', '''Episode 45: Those Who Walk Away...''', and '''Episode 46: Cindergrove Revisited''' are dedicated to Keyleth's personal mission and her dealings with her fellow Ashari tribes, namely the Fire Ashari in those three episodes. |
| 151 | ** '''Episode 24: The Feast''' to '''Episode 36: Winter's Crest in Whitestone''' are focused on Percy's mission to exact his revenge on the Briarwoods for murdering his family, and freeing his family home of Whitestone from their tyrannical rule. |
| 152 | ** '''Episode 37: A Musician's Nostalgia''' to '''Episode 39: Omens''', as well as a few others in-between arcs, have focused on Scanlan and his [[spoiler:becoming a better father for his daughter Kaylie.]] |
| 153 | ** '''Episode 47: The Family Business''' to '''Episode 56: Hope''' are Grog's as he faces the herd that left him for dead years ago [[spoiler:and later reconcile with after he slays both Kevdak and Umbrasyl]]. |
| 154 | ** A handful of moments in-between '''Episode 44: The Sunken Tomb''' and '''Episode 57: Duskmeadow''' are focused on Vax and his gradual acceptance of [[spoiler:the Raven Queen and becoming her champion]]. |
| 155 | ** '''Episode 59: Into the Feywild''' to '''Episode 63: The Echo Tree''' are Vex's as she and Vax [[spoiler:return to Syngorn in the Feywild and search for Fenthras, one of the Vestiges.]] |
| 156 | ** '''Episode 67: The Chase to Glintshore''' and '''Episode 68: Cloak and Dagger''', as well as a few other episodes beforehand, detail Percy and his dealings with having spared [[spoiler:Dr. Anna Ripley]] and the ramifications that occurred as a result. |
| 157 | ** '''Episode 70: Trust''' to '''Episode 83: The Deceiver's Stand''' serve as Keyleth's arc as she faces her struggles regarding having to deal with [[spoiler:[[ArchEnemy Raishan the Diseased Deceiver]] and the anger and pain that comes with going down a similar road to Percy's when it came to the Briarwoods.]] |
| 158 | ** '''Episode 86: Daring Days''' to '''Episode 90: Voice of the Tempest''' serve as the [[spoiler:final leg and conclusion of Keyleth's Aramente.]] |
| 159 | ** '''Episode 91: Vox Machina Go to Hell''' to '''Episode 93: Bats Out of Hell''' serve as Vox Machina's journey to [[spoiler:the Nine Hells to find and destroy Hotis once and for all.]] |
| 160 | ** The second act of '''Episode 95: One Year Later...''' and '''Episode 96: Family Matters''' focus on Pike and her relationship with her visiting cousins, and the discovery of the Trickfoot family curse [[spoiler: which turns out to be false]]. |
| 161 | ** '''Episode 97: Taryon, My Wayward Son''' to '''Episode 99: Masquerade''' focus on Taryon's dealings with his family and the Myriad. |
| 162 | *** By extension, '''Episode 85: A Bard's Lament''' to '''Episode 99: Masquerade''' serve as Taryon's own arc as he learns more about the world and becoming a much more experienced and mature adventurer. |
| 163 | ** '''Episode 100: Unfinished Business''' to '''Episode 115: The Chapter Closes''' marks the final arc of Vox Machina's story, consisting of the party's struggles against [[spoiler:a resurrected Delilah Briarwood, the Remnants of the Cult of Vecna, and Vecna's own ascension to godhood.]] |
| 164 | ** Overall, the entire campaign has been one for Keyleth herself, as she left her home of Zephrah an inexperienced and sheltered person at level 1, but by the end of the campaign she becomes a weathered, seasoned, and confident leader of her people at level 20. |
| 165 | * Canonically, there have been over 40 kisses (and several more that are implied) over the course of the show. Most of them are played for laughs, however. |
| 166 | ** '''Episode 1: Arrival at Kraghammer:''' When Scanlan and Grog talk about their wonderful night at the Stone's Pillow and the bard mentions that he got hickies, Vex'ahlia remarks, "Crazy, I have some hickies too, actually", implying that she and Thompson the Carver shared a few kisses. Cue a total of 4 [[FlatWhat "What"s]] from the group. |
| 167 | ** '''Episode 3: Strange Bedfellows:''' A catatonic Grog receiving a kiss "from female lips" (Vex) in the hopes it would restore his mind. (You could argue that Laura kissed Travis more than Vex kissed Grog, but hey, it happened.) |
| 168 | ** '''Episode 6: Breaching the Emberhold:''' Scanlan kissing a [=Nat1=]-stealthing Percy, after his premonition about receiving a kiss from Pike (to prevent his own [=Nat1=] stealth earlier) resulted in a diss. |
| 169 | ** '''Episode 13: Escape from the Underdark:''' Pike kissing Scanlan while they attempted to escape Yug'voril. This one was a whammy, and definitely worth the granted inspiration. |
| 170 | ** '''Episode 13: Escape from the Underdark:''' Vax kissing Percy. Less romantic, more humorous attempt at metagame. "It's the start of something new." |
| 171 | ** '''Episode 15: Skyward:''' Vex kissing Percy after he creates a set of arrows for her. As he points out, "I'm getting to kiss everyone in this game! I've already made my way through siblings." |
| 172 | ** '''Episode 19: Trial of the Take, Part 2:''' Scanlan's appearance as Aldor results in Lyra being "just, in him." |
| 173 | ** '''Episode 21: Trial of the Take, Part 4:''' Keyleth and Kashaw. 'Nuff said. |
| 174 | ** '''Episode 22: Aramente to Pyrah:''' Grog's complaints that both Keyleth and Scanlan got kissed during the course of their respective Trials results in a frustrated Vex laying one on Grog to shut him up, much to the confusion of... well, everyone. Particularly of note as the first ''actual'' kiss on the stream, and it's not even weird because Laura (Vex) and Travis (Grog) are married. |
| 175 | ** '''Episode 24: The Feast:''' Vax greets Gilmore with a "European-style" kiss on the cheek. Probably would have been a semi-innocuous gesture had he not followed it up with "where can we be alone?" |
| 176 | ** '''Episode 30: Stoke the Flames:''' Vex kisses Percy on the cheek after he asks to be knocked out, reassuring him that they won't abandon him in Whitestone. [[MomentKiller Scanlan ruins the moment, of course.]] |
| 177 | ** '''Episode 33: Reunions Part 2:''' As Keyleth is chastising him for taking off and finding trouble on his own again, Vax immediately declares his love for her and kisses her, much to the shock and surprise of everyone in the room, including the DM. Marisha was totally blushing just as the break was announced. And the shippers cheered! |
| 178 | ** '''Episode 35: Denouement:''' After being healed by Scanlan's Healing Word for 8 HP, Pike blows him a kiss out of appreciation. |
| 179 | ** '''Episode 35: Denouement Part 2:''' Vex gives Percy another kiss on the cheek to calm him down [[spoiler:after Scanlan throws the broken pepperbox into an acid pit in an attempt to save Percy's soul, which worked!]] |
| 180 | ** '''Episode 38: Echoes from the Past:''' Gilmore kisses Vax in greeting when he arrives on the scene. |
| 181 | ** '''Episode 38: Echoes from the Past:''' Vax gives Gilmore a last kiss right smack on the lips after explaining he's in love with Keyleth. Gilmore takes it well (and calls him a tease). |
| 182 | ** '''Episode 43: Return to Vasselheim:''' After the battle with [[spoiler:Earthbreaker Groon]], Keyleth runs to Vax, hugs him, and gives him a peck on the mouth. And hugs him again for good measure. Important note: this is the first time Keyleth has ever kissed anyone of her own volition. She even holds his hair back when he throws up due to repeatedly being pummeled in the gut and due to his earlier drunkenness. |
| 183 | ** '''Episode 45: Those Who Walk Away...:''' Vex kisses Percy on the cheek after he gives her the siege arrow [[spoiler:to apologize for nearly killing her by accident in the previous episode.]] |
| 184 | ** '''Episode 53: At Dawn, We Plan!:''' Pike gives Theodore (the child they saved during the battle against [[spoiler:Kevdak]]) a small wooden statue which he names Pike, and he thanks her with a kiss to the forehead. |
| 185 | ** '''Episode 53: At Dawn, We Plan!:''' Pike gives Wilhand a kiss on his forehead to calm him down before he gets brought to Scanlan's mansion. |
| 186 | ** '''Episode 53: At Dawn, We Plan!:''' After a very heartfelt and awkward talk taking place after Scanlan proposed to Pike and she confessed about reading his letter (as well as mixed signals out the wazoo), Pike hugs Scanlan and kisses him on the cheek before turning in for the night. |
| 187 | ** '''Episode 54: In the Belly of the Beast:''' After the Heroes’ Feast but just before going to sleep, Vax approaches Keyleth and, whether it was due to the food or the fact that they might die tomorrow, wants to kiss her, which he acts on. For a while, even. |
| 188 | ** '''Episode 56: Hope:''' After a rather heartwarming conversation in Kymal, Kaylie gives Scanlan a kiss on the forehead before he departs for Westruun. |
| 189 | ** '''Episode 57: Duskmeadow:''' A two-for-one, as before Vax goes into the communion pool inside the [[spoiler:Raven's Crest temple in Vasselheim]], Vax gives a kiss on the cheek to both Keyleth and Pike. |
| 190 | ** '''Episode 57: Duskmeadow:''' [[spoiler:As the Raven Queen finishes her conversation with Vax regarding his new role as her champion, she kisses him on the forehead.]] |
| 191 | ** '''Episode 57: Duskmeadow:''' Vex kisses Percy on the cheek after he decides to build a shrine to the Raven Queen in Whitestone for Vax. |
| 192 | ** '''Episode 58: A Cycle of Vengeance:''' The day they journey to the Feywild, Vex runs out of the shower and hugs and kisses Pike on the cheek. |
| 193 | ** '''Episode 58: A Cycle of Vengeance:''' Gilmore tells Vax to "Fly high, my bird" and gives him a goodbye kiss on the cheek. |
| 194 | ** '''Episode 60: Heredity and Hats (LIVE):''' Vex kisses Percy after he [[spoiler:makes her a Baroness]]. |
| 195 | ** '''Episode 62: Uninviting Waters:''' To ensure whether or not Pike (who is astral projecting to the party) is the real deal, Scanlan does what he thinks is the best way... and kisses her. |
| 196 | ** '''Episode 62: Uninviting Waters:''' Vex kisses Garmelie on the forehead just before they part ways. |
| 197 | ** '''Episode 65: The Streets of Ank'Harel:''' Although not described, it's implied that after [[spoiler:Keyleth confessed to Vax and the two of them high-fived and ended up in a tackle-hug onto Vax's bed]], there was much kissing. |
| 198 | ** '''Episode 67: The Chase to Glintshore:''' As Vax drops Keyleth so that she can [[DeathFromAbove plummet as a "Keyteor"]] towards [[spoiler:Dr. Ripley's boat]], she blows a kiss to him. |
| 199 | ** '''Episode 69: Passed Through Fire:''' [[spoiler:During Percy's resurrection ritual, [[TrueLovesKiss Vex'ahlia confesses that she is in love with him and seals it with a kiss as part of the ritual.]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments With a Natural 20, no less.]] In fact, it's most likely the thing that convinced Percy to return.]] |
| 200 | ** '''Episode 72: The Elephant in the Room:''' [[spoiler: Percy kisses Vex in the forest above Draconia]], walking away with the words "So, we'll talk later." |
| 201 | ** '''Episode 76: Brawl in the Arches:''' In the midst of their battle with the [[spoiler:pit fiend and the erinyes]], Vax goes into a dive and lands next to Keyleth, grabs her, and kisses her on the mouth while at the same time he casts ''Heroism'' '''''through the kiss'''''. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments This moment ends up being utterly hilarious since]] ''[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Seeming]]'' [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments was still in effect, and Keyleth looked like Vex at the time.]] But the best part? Vax wasn't fazed. (Note: this episode marks the one-year anniversary of the very first kiss between them.) |
| 202 | ** '''Episode 76: Brawl in the Arches:''' As they celebrate Scanlan and Keyleth for being the heroes of the battle, Vax picks up Scanlan, hangs him upside down, and kisses him. Scanlan remarks that it was not the first time he was kissed by an "elf-man" upside-down, but it was in the top three. |
| 203 | ** '''Episode 76: Brawl in the Arches:''' As they leave the mansion to grab the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, Vex kisses Percy on the cheek as a thank you for him risking his life to save her. |
| 204 | ** '''Episode 77: Clash at Daxio:''' [[spoiler:After having her mind restored from a ''Feeblemind'' spell that was cast on her, Allura is fiercely embraced by Lady Kima. Allura apologizes for letting her guard down, but Kima asks her to shut up as she kisses the arcanist]]. |
| 205 | ** '''Episode 78: The Siege of Emon:''' [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that when Percy and Vex spent the night together before marching to meet their army, they did quite a lot of kissing]]. |
| 206 | ** '''Episode 78: The Siege of Emon:''' Zahra kisses Trinket on the nose as the party moves through the sewers of Emon towards [[spoiler:Thordak]]. |
| 207 | ** '''Episode 78: The Siege of Emon:''' As the party leaves Kashaw and Zahra behind to fend off two fire giants guarding [[spoiler:Thordak]], Keyleth gives Kash a quick peck on the cheek. Kash says that it's a little late for that. |
| 208 | ** '''Episode 81: What Lies Beneath the Surface:''' Vax gives Keyleth a trim to cut away the burnt ends of her hair and after a long, heartfelt talk where she eventually starts babbling, Vax shuts her up with a kiss. |
| 209 | ** '''Episode 82: Deadly Echoes:''' Percy kisses the Sun Tree before the party uses it to travel to where [[spoiler:Raishan]] may be hiding. |
| 210 | ** '''Episode 82: Deadly Echoes:''' After Vex and Pike are rescued from [[spoiler:a reverse-gravity trap where corpses kept falling upward]], Percy grabs Vex and kisses her. |
| 211 | ** '''Episode 83: The Deceiver's Stand:''' [[spoiler:After Percy is resurrected following the deadly battle with Raishan, Vex smothers him with kisses]]. |
| 212 | ** '''Episode 83: The Deceiver's Stand:''' Vex kisses Gilmore on the cheek during the time where they are planning to [[spoiler:send Vex to Kymal in order to bring Kaylie to Whitestone so she can aid in Scanlan's resurrection ritual]]. |
| 213 | ** '''Episode 84: Loose Ends:''' Vex kisses Percy on the hair after she returns from [[spoiler:Kymal]]. |
| 214 | ** '''Episode 86: Daring Days:''' It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:during their "tour of the treasury", Vex and Percy kissed a lot.]] |
| 215 | ** '''Episode 88: Tangled Depths:''' It's heavily implied that [[spoiler:during the "fade to feathers". Vax and Keyleth kissed a lot.]] |
| 216 | ** '''Episode 89: Curious Tides:''' Pike kisses Vax on the forehead after [[spoiler:he thanks her for resurrecting him.]] |
| 217 | ** '''Episode 89: Curious Tides:''' [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that both Vax and Keyleth as well as Percy and Vex had plenty of kisses while they were in bed the night before they left Vesrah.]] |
| 218 | ** '''Episode 89: Curious Tides:''' Percy gives Vex a quick kiss before she [[spoiler:reads from Opash's evil book, telling her that even if she turns evil, it's still cool.]] |
| 219 | ** '''Episode 93: Bats Out of Hell:''' Vex gives Percy a quick smooch after the battle with Ghurrix. "Nice shooting, stud!" |
| 220 | ** '''Episode 94: Jugs and Rods:''' Vex kisses and hugs Percy at the Sun Tree before she [[spoiler:prepares for the Grey Hunt, and they share their first vocal "I love yous" ever since becoming a couple.]] |
| 221 | ** '''Episode 96: Family Matters:''' Vax smooches Keyleth before they go to the Whitestone tour and Westruun, respectively. |
| 222 | ** '''Episode 97: Taryon, My Wayward Son:''' Vax kisses Keyleth all over her face [[spoiler:after her fatal swan dive and subsequent resurrection.]] |
| 223 | ** '''Episode 100: Unfinished Business:''' Keyleth casts ''Greater Restoration'' to cure Pike of being afflicted with a ''Feeblemind'' spell cast by [[spoiler:a resurrected Delilah Briarwood.]] Pike thanks her by kissing her. |
| 224 | ** '''Episode 105: The Fear of Isolation:''' Vex gives Percy a kiss as they look on in awe being in [[spoiler:Ioun's library]]. |
| 225 | ** '''Episode 106: The Endless Atheneeum:''' [[spoiler:Vex gives Sprigg a kiss on the forehead as part of the party's farewell to him before leaving the library.]] |
| 226 | ** '''Episode 106: The Endless Atheneeum:''' [[spoiler:Before communing with the Raven Queen, Vax kisses Keyleth on the mouth, telling her that he and his patron need to talk.]] |
| 227 | ** '''Episode 106: The Endless Atheneeum:''' [[spoiler:When Vax returns from his communion, clutching the seed of power from the Raven Queen and looking at the love of his life, Keyleth kisses ''him'' on the mouth despite him dripping with blood.]] |
| 228 | ** '''Episode 107: Scaldseat:''' Vex and Percy kiss (at Scanlan's joking request) during the argument of who gets to have a Death Ward cast on them. |
| 229 | ** '''Episode 109: The Ominous March (LIVE):''' Vax and Keyleth after he hits her with Whisper to catch each other from falling during [[spoiler:the approach to the primordial titan carrying Thar Amphala.]] |
| 230 | ** '''Episode 110: The Climb Within:''' Vax kisses Earth Elemental Keyleth after she prevents an entire tunnel from collapsing. |
| 231 | ** '''Episode 111: Shadows of Thomara:''' Vex kisses Percy before they go towards the temple. |
| 232 | ** '''Episode 111: Shadows of Thomara:''' Vex kisses Scanlan before they go towards the temple. |
| 233 | ** '''Episode 111: Shadows of Thomara:''' Vax kisses Keyleth before they go towards the temple. |
| 234 | ** '''Episode 112: Dark Dealings:''' Keyleth kisses Vax before [[spoiler:Artagan has his way with Vax.]] |
| 235 | ** '''Episode 114: Vecna, The Ascended:''' Vax kisses Keyleth before [[spoiler: the final battle with Vecna.]] |
| 236 | ** '''Episode 114: Vecna, The Ascended:''' Vax kisses Keyletar on the cheek as he gives her a healing potion. |
| 237 | ** '''Episode 114: Vecna, The Ascended:''' Vax kisses Keyletar [[spoiler: before Vecna is sealed.]] |
| 238 | ** '''Episode 114: Vecna, The Ascended:''' Vax kisses Keyletar on the cheek [[spoiler:as Vecna is sealed.]] |
| 239 | ** '''Episode 115: The Chapter Closes:''' [[spoiler:Vax and Keyleth share their last kiss before he goes to meet his mother in the afterlife.]] |
| 240 | ** In total, Vex has given out the most kisses (17), Percy has received the most (15), and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the two characters who have shared the most kisses are... Vex and Percy with 14 in addition to many ''unknown'' ones since they [[spoiler: spent the night together]]. |
| 241 | *** Vex has also kissed the largest number of people out of the party: Grog, Pike, Garmelie, Percy, Gilmore, and [[spoiler:Sprigg]] as well as receiving at least three from [[spoiler:Percy.]] |
| 242 | * Barring DM Matt Mercer, Marisha Ray has appeared in every ''canonical'' episode of Critical Role that features the members of Vox Machina whether as Keyleth or in person. In terms of non-canon episodes, she's appeared in both Vox Moronica appearances, the first as an outside observer (not playing) and the second as Edna, the elderly mage. In addition, she appeared in Matt's goblin one-shot as Snizzler the alchemist. She has also appeared as Keyleth in all four Battle Royale one-off episodes. Additionally, she and Matt have appeared in the first "Critical O'Brien" episode [[spoiler:as [=NPCs=]]] and both returned as actual players for the second. |
| 243 | ** The first episode with only one of Matt or Marisha present was part 1 of the Shadow of War one-shot, where Matt was the DM and Marisha didn't appear at all. |
| 244 | * "The Screw Job", the game where the players were [[spoiler:members of the Clasp, marks the first time a [[TotalPartyKill TPK]] has occurred on the show.]] |
| 245 | ** Unless confirmed by Matt, this TPK is considered non-canonical. |
| 246 | * There have been [[spoiler:eighteen]] deaths among the members of Vox Machina: |
| 247 | ** Pike died in the sessions prior to the campaign being streamed due to a glabrezu bisecting Pike. |
| 248 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 11, Grog's soul is sucked out by K'varn the Mad, making him the first member of Vox Machina to die on stream, though he's revived by Pike through ''Revivify''.]] |
| 249 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 44, Vex ends up becoming the first to die outside of combat when Percy triggers a trap within the tomb of the Raven Queen's champion. Fortunately, Kashaw was present to resurrect her, also with ''Revivify''.]] |
| 250 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 50, Grog dies from having his soul consumed once again, this time by Craven Edge, but once again Pike revives him.]] |
| 251 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 64, Tiberius' frozen corpse is discovered, the dragonborn himself having died fighting Vorugal in defense of Draconia. His death marks the first time a member of Vox Machina permanently dies.]] |
| 252 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 68, Percy is shot to death twice. The first time is due to a sniper working for Dr. Ripley, but Pike's necklace revives him. However, it doesn't prevent his second death, which is caused by Ripley herself. Unlike the previous deaths in the party, Percy's death wasn't resolved until the following episode, during which they returned to Whitestone and brought him to Pike who was able to cast ''Resurrection''. What also makes his resurrection ritual different is that he had to be ''convinced'' to return.]] |
| 253 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 80, both Vex and Scanlan die during the battle with Raishan, Vex due to failing her last save and Scanlan due to being frozen solid while unconscious. Fortunately, Pike had just enough magic left from before to cast ''Revivify'' on both of them.]] |
| 254 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 83, Scanlan and Percy die during the final battle with Raishan, Scanlan failing his final save and Percy being eviscerated by the then-feral dragon's claws. But while Pike's attempt to cast ''Revivify'' on Percy ''barely'' succeeds, Scanlan's does not and, like Percy before him, his death remains unresolved until the next episode with a casting of ''Resurrection'' and a Natural 20 for the final roll]]. |
| 255 | ** [[spoiler:In episode 88, Vax is knocked unconscious and swallowed by the kraken in one strike, and slowly proceeds to automatically fail two of his death saving throws while inside the kraken, and then fail the roll on his last saving throw after being spit back up. He is resurrected the following episode by Pike.]] |
| 256 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 97, Keyleth swan-dives off a cliff to attempt to retrieve the diamond that Odgen Trickfoot lost in the ocean. Unfortunately, she ends up impacting the rocks and dies instantly. Fortunately, she is resurrected thanks to a ''Revivify'' coin given to Vex by Taryon.]] |
| 257 | ** [[spoiler:In Episode 102, Vecna kills Vex with a Power Word and Vax with a Disintegrate. Pike is able to Revivify Vex, but there's nothing left of Vax to revive. He only returns because he accepts a deal with the Raven Queen.]] |
| 258 | ** [[spoiler:Episode 112 has Artagan strangle Vax to death for the morbid curiosity of the experience (with full permission granted in advance). He's back a few hours later, just as planned.]] |
| 259 | ** [[spoiler:Episode 115 marks the fourth and final time Vax dies, and this time he stays dead due to fulfilling his pact with his patron.]] |
| 260 | ** [[spoiler:In the Dalen's Closet Reunion one-shot, Sylas Briarwood throws a chained Vex'ahlia off a cliff into the ocean, and she drowns to death. Moments later, Keyleth pulls her from the water and Pike is able to Revivify her.]] |
| 261 | * Episode 65 marks the first time a pairing between party members becomes official. In this case, [[spoiler:Vax'ildan and Keyleth with the druid finally confessing to the rogue]]. |
| 262 | ** Episode 77, by comparison, marks the first time a pairing of [=NPCs=] who are allies of Vox Machina becomes official when [[spoiler:Lady Kima kisses Allura Vysoren, the latter having recovered from a ''Feeblemind'' and apologizing to the halfling paladin]]. |
| 263 | * Technically, the episode number of Critical Role will always be one more than the actual number of canonical episodes. This is because '''Episode 12''' is really just a One-Shot that introduces us to Vox Moronica. And was more like a tutorial of how to D&D than it was anything else. None of the actual characters from Critical Role appeared. This was before Critical Role evolved into the format that we know today. |
| 264 | * Times a single die roll probably changed the direction of the story (may contain spoilers to not only the referenced but later episodes): |
| 265 | ** Episode 21: Hotis, the second team's Rakshasa quarry, [[VillainExitStageLeft attempts to flee the battle via a 7th Level Plane Shift]]. Tiberius uses a 6th Level Counterspell to try and stop it, which requires a roll-off. He rolls a 19, and he needed a 17 or higher to succeed. If this roll had been lower, the second team would've failed their Slayer's Take contract, which might have left Vax, Tiberius and Keyleth branded as criminals for killing the Hydra, which could have had several repercussions for the story. (Would they be barred entry to Vasselheim? Would there be a CourtroomEpisode?) This also would've affected Kashaw's role as a guest in future episodes, as he wouldn't have been inducted into the Slayer's Take. (Which might mean he also wouldn't have [[spoiler:been present to revive Vex]] or [[spoiler:had a baby with Zahra.]]) |
| 266 | ** Episode 25: [[spoiler: Vax has been taken by Sylas Briarwood and is just barely clinging to life. Sylas goes for an attack, but Scanlan rolls high enough on Cutting Words to distract him. If Vax had been brought down to 0 HP by a vampire bite, he would've become a vampire, which probably would've had major effects on the story. Scanlan's goofy distraction song saved him from a terrible fate.]] |
| 267 | ** Episode 34: [[InnocuouslyImportantEpisode The repercussions of this one don't become apparent until much later.]] [[spoiler:Keyleth touches the ziggurat's siphon, but rolls a Natural 20 on the saving throw and manages to pull her hand away. We later find out the siphons are portals to the Shadowfell, and heavily damage anyone going through them who isn't wearing a special necklace. Had Keyleth failed this save, she could have either died outright or gone unconscious and bled out... with her body on another plane, making her nearly impossible to resurrect. Had she survived, she would have been trapped on another plane with no Plane Shift, either putting her out of the game or forcing Vox Machina to drop everything and rescue her, which would have started the Shadowfell arc early. Worse, Matt confirmed in the Campaign Wrap-Up that if Keyleth had died this way, ''the party would've had to fight an undead Keyleth in the Shadowfell Arc''.]] |
| 268 | ** Episode 38: [[spoiler:Kaylie tries to stab Scanlan to death; Scanlan, in his guilt, decides to let her. Kaylie rolls a 1 on her attack roll. Matt plays it as her will to attack collapsing at the last moment. What might have been a minor recurring antagonist becomes a story of slow reconciliation.]] |
| 269 | ** Episode 40: [[spoiler:A probably-dangerous being is trapped within a skull, but promises Grog a wish if freed. Desperate to defeat the Chroma Conclave in as quickly a manner as possible, Grog seizes the skull and attempts to smash it on the floor... and rolls a Natural 1 on the strength check. Matt rules that he fumbled the skull at the last second, and it rolls off undamaged. The rest of the team manages to talk him down from there (and keep the skull away until Allura shows up), removing what was probably going to be yet another crisis to resolve.]] |
| 270 | ** Episode 44: [[spoiler:Vex joins Percy in searching the sarcophagus holding Purvan Suul's corpse. Percy reaches for the Deathwalker's Ward (while Vex is still checking for traps) and it triggers a trap that Percy manages to dodge. Vex, however, rolls a Natural 1 for her Dexterity save [[OneHitKill and takes enough damage to die instantly]]. That one critical failure ends up changing a lot of things, namely Vax becoming a paladin of the Raven Queen instead of Sarenrae by offering his life for Vex (and even then, his intent to sacrifice himself so Vex could live was dashed by Matt himself, who ensured that Vax would continue to live on but now as the Queen's champion), Percy and Vax's relationship becoming a lot more tense and cold, Keyleth's fear of losing Vax intensifying to the point of her being unable to allow herself to love him, thus putting a hold on them becoming an OfficialCouple until 20 episodes later, and Vex herself becoming much more bold and reckless with her life, as she no longer fears death.]] |
| 271 | ** Episode 50: [[spoiler:After Craven Edge becomes "full", Grog has to make a Constitution saving throw to avoid it consuming his soul. He rolls a Natural 20... but 5 minutes later, Travis realizes that since Grog is currently fatigued, that roll should've been at disadvantage. He rolls again to be fair... and it's a Natural 1. The resurrection ritual for Grog succeeds, but the real impact of this event is it ''finally'' convinces Grog that Craven Edge is most certainly an EvilWeapon and carrying it is a very bad idea (and the rest of the party finds out about it. Previously he'd only told Scanlan and he told Pike), and the party banishes it to another plane. Had Grog passed his saving throw, he would have continued using the sword.]] |
| 272 | ** Episode 52: [[spoiler:Technically two rolls: Scanlan hits both Kevdak and Greenbeard with a Hold Person spell. Kevdak rolls an 8 (thanks to disadvantage), Greenbeard a natural 1. The two most dangerous opponents are both removed for nearly the duration of the fight (Kevdak never even gets to attack ''once''), probably preventing multiple PC deaths. In addition, Grog getting the killing blow on Kevdak caused his army to stop fighting and respect Grog as a WorthyOpponent. Had someone else killed him, not only would the Herd of Storms have likely remained enemies of Vox Machina, but several PC could have very easily died beyond hope of resurrection, as Matt reveals he planned to have Kevdak's men "keep hacking away until their enemies were in pieces".]] |
| 273 | ** Episode 69: [[spoiler: During Percy's resurrection ritual, what was only known to Matt and Taliesin at the time was that Percy was allowed to refuse an otherwise-successful resurrection based on how the ritual was conducted. Vex, Pike, and Keyleth all contributed to the ritual, with Pike attempting a Divine Intervention. She failed, but a success would ironically have likely caused Percy to refuse, as Taliesin wished for Percy's resurrection to be through friendship rather than through divine favor. Without Percy around, things would have gone very differently...]] |
| 274 | ** Episode 83: [[spoiler:Keyleth, knowing from her scrying spell that Kima and Allura have been teleported into the ocean somewhere, looks out from the beach in desperation, and rolls a Natural 20 on perception. Matt ''still'' has to ask for the total with the bonus (31) before he lets her know that she's spotted something on the horizon; Vex then flies out and rescues the couple. Given that the two were swimming in the wrong direction and already exhausted by the time Vex caught up to them, Keyleth's roll almost certainly kept both from drowning and their bodies being lost to the sea. Allura herself followed with a Natural 20 on a strength check as she held onto both Vex and Kima as they were pulled from the water.]] |
| 275 | ** Episode 88: [[spoiler:Taryon's Natural 1 stealth roll during Keyleth's Water Ashari trial (with Sam forgetting to use Lucky to reroll it). That one roll ends up attracting the nearby kraken and leads to an extremely difficult battle, made even harder due to the stipulation that the party is not supposed to kill the kraken, which nearly leads to a [[TotalPartyKill TPK]], and does lead to the death of Vax. In the following episode, Vex offers to challenge Orcus in return for the Raven Queen reviving Vax; whether that offer will be accepted remains to be seen, but with the Conclave defeated they ''did'' need a new story hook...]] |
| 276 | *** [[spoiler:Related to this, the kraken itself ends up rolling a natural 1 with a tentacle attack on a severely damaged Keyleth. In addition, the kraken fails to roll enough on its Constitution save to resist ejecting Grog out of its body for the final time. Consider what would've happened if the kraken accomplished either of these things. Keyleth would have been knocked unconscious and subsequently swallowed, not to mention she would have failed to be able to ''Plane Shift'' herself and the twins out of the water plane. Also, Grog would've failed to escape with the final lodestone. Both outcomes could've easily led to a [[TotalPartyKill TPK]].]] |
| 277 | ** Episode 93: [[spoiler:While hunting Hotis in the Nine Hells, Keyleth's ability to cast ''Plane Shift'' was essentially the party's only way out. After fighting a pit demon, the party failed to heal properly before searching for Hotis in a prison and were surrounded by the guards. With more guards approaching and potentially about to swarm them, Keyleth fell unconscious and immediately got struck again, auto-failing two death saving throws. She was next in the initiative order, meaning she had to ''immediately'' roll another death saving throw and if she failed, she would be dead. Pike wasn't with them, meaning there would be no way to resurrect her. She succeeded with a roll of 12 - ''after initially accidentally rolling another success but being ordered to reroll'' - but if she had failed, Vox Machina would have been swarmed by devils in hell with no possible escape route. Even Matt was obviously shaken and said if Keyleth had died there, [[TotalPartyKill the campaign would have been over]].]] |
| 278 | ** Matt reveals in the Campaign Wrap-Up that if Taryon had rolled badly when dealing with his father (which would've happened, had Sam not used his Fate Die from winning Battle Royal 3), it would've meant the destruction of the Darrington family unit: Tary would've been cast out of the family and his mother would've had to choose between Tary and his father. Ironically, this might have made it more likely for Taryon to have ''stayed'' with Vox Machina, as he would have had no other place to go. |
| 279 | ** Episode 112: [[spoiler:On their second trip to Thar Amphala, the team accidentally let Vecna know where they were hiding, and Delilah Briarwood destroyed their Magnificent Mansion with Dispel Magic. They were quite low on spells, so Keyleth prepared an emergency Plane Shift with one of her two highest slots (most likely her 9th). Delilah had a Counterspell ready, though, and rolled very high - yet still managed to fail. Had she succeeded, they would have been forced to battle Delilah, Sylas, and a necrodragon all at once, and a TPK would have been likely (if not from the Briarwoods, almost certainly from Vecna).]] |
| 280 | ** Episode 114: [[spoiler:Given how the battle turned out in the end, almost every roll qualifies for this! All missed attacks, all successful trammel insertions, all successful Counterspell rolls, all of Vecna's failed saves, and Matt's final roll combined to have the battle end victoriously. A single change in almost any of those could have led to a dead character, a regenerating Vecna, or a TPK, as the battle ended with 10 health left on Vecna and the titan's fist half a turn away from squishing everyone.]] |
| 281 | * Liam, Laura and Travis, the players who multiclassed their characters, all sit at the same table. When Ashley is not present (since Pike didn't multiclass) this means that the players who multiclassed and those who didn't sit at two different tables. |
| 282 | [[/folder]] |
| 283 | |
| 284 | [[folder:Campaign 2 and One-Shots (2018-2021)]] |
| 285 | * ActingInTheDark: Both Taliesin (as Molly) and Ashley are as in the dark about their [[AmnesiacHero forgotten pasts]] as their characters: they both simply told Matt "I'm missing this part of my memory" and left it up to him to fill in the gaps. So when aspects of their backstories are revealed, their surprise is genuine. |
| 286 | * ActorSharedBackground: |
| 287 | ** Creator/LiamOBrien is of Irish lineage, which is most certainly why [[spoiler:Septimus Goodfellow]] is depicted as ''incredibly'' Irish once he's outed. |
| 288 | ** Both Creator/TravisWillingham and Fjord are allergic to cats. This is probably why Captain Bentley Badger named the cat he lured in ''Shadow of the Crystal Palace'' "Achoo" (as in, the sound of sneezing). |
| 289 | ** Orly Skiffback's stutter is based on one Creator/MatthewMercer had as a child. |
| 290 | * ColbertBump: |
| 291 | ** In the [[https://youtu.be/cak3ojSuJaM August 2018 Dev Update]] for D&D Beyond, the upswing in Tiefling & Firbolg player characters being created was credited to specific characters in the second campaign. |
| 292 | ** Done literally for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3658C2y4LlA Red Nose Day 2019.]] |
| 293 | * HideYourPregnancy: Laura for the first seven episodes of the campaign. After revealing her pregnancy in episode 8 she thanks Sam for helping block the camera's view of her belly when getting up from the table in previous episodes. |
| 294 | * MemeAcknowledgment: People have been saying that Beau is a "disaster lesbian" since the first episode. In the Talks Machina for episode 29, Marisha answered a question about that, saying that "it's the most two accurate words" to describe Beau. |
| 295 | * MissingEpisode: The ''Feast of Legends'' one-shot quickly ran into issues with critters. An apology was issued and proceeds were donated. Afterwards, the VOD was removed from Twitch and it has never seen an official {{Website/Youtube}} release. |
| 296 | * OfficialFanSubmittedContent: As in the first campaign, fans helped build an NPC for the show as a fundraiser reward through a series of social media surveys and a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QhqUCB4rPI special livestream]]. The result? [[spoiler:A one-eyed middle-aged male Tortle Bard with the Folk Hero background who has a stutter and a Cajun accent and works as an enchanted tattooist.]] |
| 297 | * ProductionPosse: The gag from "The Favor" of Sam being endorsed by his celebrity co-workers include Creator/AimeeCarrero, Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown, and Creator/GreyGriffin (''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor''), Creator/BobbyMoynihan, Creator/BenSchwartz (''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017''), and Creator/TonyHale (''WesternAnimation/ArchibaldsNextBigThing''). And completion's sake, Sam's connection to Creator/DaveHewlett is through Dave's close friend Creator/AndrewMiller (whose wife is Creator/EdenRiegel, Sam's sister), and the reason behind his association with Creator/TimothySimons isn't known yet. |
| 298 | * QueerCharacterQueerActor: |
| 299 | ** Creator/TaliesinJaffe, who is bisexual, plays two queer characters -- the genderfluid bisexual Mollymauk, and the aromantic asexual Caduceus. |
| 300 | ** [[spoiler:Mica Burton and her aasimar druid Reani are also both bi.]] |
| 301 | ** AF Flowers from the ''Monsterhearts'' oneshot and their player Ally Beardsley are both nonbinary. |
| 302 | * RealitySubtext: It was revealed on [[WordOfGod Talks Machina]] that Jester's crush/attempted romance with Fjord has happened because Laura is trying to prove a point to Travis, who has said he never wants to participate in a romantic subplot in their D&D games because all he cares about while playing are "killing things and getting money." So anytime Fjord is oblivious to Jester's flirting, it's mainly Travis trying to ignore his wife [[{{Troll}} trolling]] him. Fjord's subsequent romantic subplot with Avantika is thus some crazy combination of trolling, irony, and karma. |
| 303 | * RoleReprise: |
| 304 | ** In a truly bizarre example, Episode 95 has Creator/MatthewLillard reprising his role as Cereal Killer from ''{{Film/Hackers}}'' in that week's [=NordVPN=] spot. |
| 305 | ** A more conventional example with Darin de Paul voicing Dr Samuel Hayden for the ''Doom Eternal'' one-shot game. |
| 306 | * ThrowItIn: |
| 307 | ** As revealed on Talks Machina, Caleb's [[ThePigPen smell]] wasn't originally planned to be part of his character, but once Laura, as Jester, told him he reeked, Liam ran with it. |
| 308 | ** Likewise, Jester's [[TrademarkFavoriteFood love of pastries]] didn't come until Beau's commenting offhandedly at the beginning of Episode 1 that she'd never seen Jester eat anything else. |
| 309 | ** Marisha made a joke about Keg not having object permanence after she kept freaking when Caleb was invisible, and Ashly immediately decided that was canon. |
| 310 | ** When Sam originally wrote Nott's backstory, he hadn’t decided how [[spoiler:she was killed as Veth.]] It was only several episodes into the campaign, when the idea of Nott fearing water came to him, that he decided that [[spoiler:Veth was drowned.]] |
| 311 | ** "The Night Before Critmas" leads to a WhamShot of sorts when all the players come across a grove with just five trees - all of which have doorways to other holiday dimensions, like St Patrick's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Halloween. SpecialGuest Creator/JulieNathanson points out that Liam forgot to designate one for the last tree, and suggests Valentine's Day, which they end up going with. |
| 312 | ** "Feast of Legends" has Sam somehow misreading "snacksmith" into "snakesmith" which Ify Nwadiwe just goes with, by going to the "snakesmith" and getting a TeamPet in the form of a bacon-colored snake. |
| 313 | * WordOfGod: In July 2018, Liam O'Brien [[https://twitter.com/VoiceOfOBrien/status/1017495710382600192 tweeted]] in regards to [[invoked]] CharacterAlignment that "Caleb used to be LawfulEvil, currently TrueNeutral. Who knows where the dial will end". Later in August 2019, Laura confirmed on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w60aPm7oM4o&t=00h031m012s Talks Machina]] that Jester's alignment is ChaoticNeutral. Travis has also repeatedly claimed Fjord is LawfulGood, but no one seems to believe him. No other canon character alignments are currently known; however, back in January 2018 a [[https://twitter.com/Marisha_Ray/status/956821299732426752 tweet]] from Marisha Ray hinted that Beauregard's alignment is some type of Neutral. |
| 314 | * WordOfSaintPaul: The ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' one-shot ends with Darin de [[IncrediblyLamePun Paul (yeah... we went there)]], the voice of Dr Samuel Hayden, pointing out how the completely dice-driven ending of the game lines up to how ''Doom Eternal'' begins, basically having a valid place in ''Doom'' canon. |
| 315 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: |
| 316 | ** Taliesin confirmed on Talks Machina what many had suspected: Mollymauk was originally planned to be his backup character in Campaign 1 had Percy died. Full details can be found in the Campaign 1 section. |
| 317 | ** Taliesin created the carnival as part of Mollymauk's backstory, and extended an open invitation for the other players to join in his Session Zero. Marisha originally considered having Beauregard join, meaning Beau and Molly's backstories would have been integrated like Molly and Yasha's are. Instead, Beau ended up meeting Jester and Fjord. |
| 318 | ** Taliesin had originally intended for Molly to be a sorcerer before deciding to try Matt's blood hunter class. [[spoiler:Which possibly could have saved him in episode 26.]] |
| 319 | ** An interview with D&D Beyond revealed that, in choosing what character to play for Campaign 2, Travis indecisively cycled through a range of different character classes, including Cleric and Fighter, before finally settling on a Hexblade Warlock after being explained the mechanics of the class by Laura, which provided the perfect blend of familiar melee combat and new spellcasting. In addition, Travis initially used his normal voice for Fjord during the introductory session, but admitted to hating it for how boring it was, leading him to switch to a Texan accent for the actual campaign after doing a Texan accent for a video game. |
| 320 | ** Said interview also revealed that Laura almost made Jester a warlock, as Travis was initially going to take her idea of being a cleric, but instead went warlock after Laura gave him ideas on making a warlock, with her explanation being what ended up convincing Travis to take it up. A later Talks Machina went into more detail: Laura originally intended to be a Pact of the Tome warlock with [[spoiler: Artagan]] as her patron, and when Travis decided to go Hexblade, she talked to Matt about instead being a cleric [[spoiler:with Artagan as her god.]] |
| 321 | ** Matt has confirmed that he prepared several possible story threads for the players to follow in Zadash, not just the Knights of Requital, and that those storylines were still going on regardless of whether or not they were known to the players. Due to the Mighty Nein deciding to just leave Zadash though, pretty much all the plotlines had to be dropped save what few Matt could naturally extend from the city. |
| 322 | ** Taliesin revealed on the episode of Talks Machina for Episode 14 that Mollymauk's last name was originally going to be ''Trickfoot''--as a member of the Trickfoot Circus, owned by a distant relative of Pike's. |
| 323 | ** Orly Skiffback was originally, as far as Matt has shown, to be introduced for a short time as a nod to the fans for creating him. His reaction to the group hiring him to be a navigator implies he had not intended for them to do so, as they had only dropped by Nicodranas to hire a few sailors for the trip only to remember him and use Sending to contact him. |
| 324 | ** After Episode 69, Matt revealed on Talk Machina that Yasha could have passed her Wisdom saving throw to resist Obann's control, and he had a different [[PutOnABus exit]] planned for Yasha in case she did. (Which would have revealed another aspect of her backstory.) |
| 325 | ** Given that the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount gave the character's alignment as Neutral Evil and their actions kickstarting the war, [[spoiler:Essek Thelysspp was probably planned as a villain. Instead, [[spoiler:the Nein befriended Essek, and gradually set him on the path to a HeelFaceTurn.]] The Campaign 2 Wrap-Up episode later confirmed that this is exactly what happened, [[spoiler:with Essek's turn to goodness happening first out of curiosity, then genuine attachment.]] |
| 326 | ** On Talks Machina, Caleb stated that had Caleb met Trent Ikithon earlier in the campaign, before [[MoralityChain the Nein begun to rub off on him]], things would have gone very differently, possibly leading to a "Percy-style revenge story". Had the Nein not been such an influence, he mentioned Caleb could have [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope gone down a dark path]], and had this happened, Liam would have made a new character and left Caleb as a potential antagonist for the Nein to deal with later. |
| 327 | ** Matt revealed on Talks Machina that [[spoiler:Lucien]] was always meant to be a recurring antagonist, but [[spoiler:had Mollymauk not died, he would have been trying to take his body back.]] Matt later elaborated on this in the Campaign Wrap-Up. However, due to [[spoiler:Molly's early death, this plot-point was abandoned in favor of Lucien pursuing Threshold Crests in Eiselcross after having already gotten the body back.]] |
| 328 | ** From the Campaign 2 Wrap-Up: |
| 329 | *** Creator/MattColville was slated to appear on the show as a major guest player, the leader of the Augen Trust, had the Nein aligned more with the Empire early on. Matt still had plans to bring him on for a while, but eventually realized this plot thread was incompatible with the direction the players had taken the story. Had things happened this way, the Nein would've become involved with the politics of Rexxentrum and the Cerberus Assembly much earlier. |
| 330 | *** If [[spoiler:Lorenzo or any of the other Iron Shepherds had survived, it would have led to the Jagentoth crime family]] becoming enemies of the Nein. |
| 331 | *** The goblin who was [[spoiler:accidentally incinerated in the giant's fortress had been living there for some time and witnessed Vence placing the abyssal anchor, and could have given the Nein a description of him.]] They ended up needing to discover this plot thread by other means. |
| 332 | *** If the Nein had succeeded in [[spoiler:convincing Essek to work with Trent, he, Astrid and Eodwulf would have accompanied the Nein to Aeor, with Trent only agreeing to keep tabs on them, use them to study Aeor, and ambush them once they had [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived their usefulness.]]]] |
| 333 | *** If Nott [[spoiler:couldn't be restored to her true form, she may have [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody become more and more goblin-like and eventually forgotten her family.]]]] |
| 334 | *** If Fjord had succeeded in his Intimidation checks on [[spoiler:Uk'otoa, the EldritchAbomination wouldn't have been intimidated by Fjord, so much as thoroughly impressed by the sheer moxie it took to make demands of such a creature.]] |
| 335 | *** If a player character had [[spoiler:gained nine eye tattoos, they would've gained Lucien's antimagic cone ability but also would've become an NPC under Matt's control. Related, all the players besides Liam and Marisha had a plan to kill Caleb and Beau if they ever turned.]] |
| 336 | ** "Vox Machina vs. Mighty Nein" is a non-canon one-shot [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny team deathmatch between the two teams of heroes]]. The battle had Mollymauk join the Nein as a level 15 Blood Hunter, well beyond what he ended up taking within Campaign 2 proper. It showed how much power Molly could have wielded had he stuck with the Nein for longer than he did. |
| 337 | ** Creator/AimeeCarrero was slated to be a guest character, but the pandemic unfortunately put a wrench in those plans. As such, she appeared on the limited series ''[[WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited Exandria Unlimited]]'' instead. |
| 338 | * WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: Matt is supremely patient with fans, and usually restrains himself to politely asking them to tone it down when they cross a line with him or the rest of the cast. However, after receiving a barrage of criticism from [[DieForOurShip disgruntled shippers]] in the aftermath of Episode 118, he aired his frustrations on Twitter: |
| 339 | -->Seeing some VERY weird conversation about planned "aging" of characters and the like... which is very much not the case? [[{{Improv}} A randomly rolled encounter combined with unexpected player choices makes for unexpected outcomes.]] I'm seeing some really toxic discussions, based in (surprise) shipping spaces. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for shipping. I think, when engaged with in a HEALTHY way, [it] can be a great way to enjoy media and engage with it. However, the misinterpretation of a story (especially improvised) [[ShipToShipCombat wielded as a weapon against others who disagree with your ship]], or [[DieForOurShip anger against not seeing YOUR ship realized and turning into hate for a fandom and/or it's creators]] is toxic beyond belief. Sometimes the mental gymnastics I read when folks try to justify a perceived personal slight by creators and storytellers who both made no promises to you, or did nothing but continue to follow an organic, honest path with care, makes me not want to create. [[ArtistDisillusionment Scenarios like this continue to push me away from engaging online, for my own mental health.]] I don't want to pull away, but man... sometimes you all try my patience. The conspiracies, the assumptions, the untrue, unwarranted statements... *sigh* |
| 340 | ---- |
| 341 | !!Misc. Stats for Campaign 2: |
| 342 | * Times a single die roll probably changed the direction of the story: |
| 343 | ** Episode 3 has an early one. At the end of the episode, Beau rolled a Deception check to commit mail fraud against the Baumbachs that had greatly annoyed her in Session Zero. She was successful, and opened the mail in a further episode. The mail mentioned The Gentleman, who became a major player in the group's story - and though Matt would have left the opportunity for The Gentleman to still be mentioned and introduced later, the group made an early decision to follow up on that lead based on the mail. [[spoiler:This rippled to affect the story significantly with episode 33, which contained TheReveal that The Gentleman is Jester's missing father. According to Matt, while that detail was planned from the beginning, the timing of the reveal was intended to be a "late-game" thing]]. |
| 344 | ** Matt revealed at the end of Episode 12 that several party members had the opportunity to notice something with Perception Checks, but none of them rolled high enough. Because the Mighty Nein didn't notice, [[spoiler:the High Richter returning home went unseen by the Mighty Nein. As a result, Ulog ended up pulling a TakingYouWithMe, [[ShaggyDogStory essentially rendering the entire frame-up pointless.]] Had any of them noticed, they could have fled the scene before she arrived, possibly avoiding any bloodshed and allowing the Knights of Requital's plot to be successful. Also in relation, had Ulog not rolled well on grabbing the High Richter, she likely would have escaped.]] |
| 345 | ** In Matt's DM notes for Episode 17, it revealed a dramatic change that could've occurred ''and'' possibly led to a Molly arc early on, had the Gentleman felt he was being lied to. A fight would've broken out and, if the group was defeated, they would've been captured and sent off to be slaves. However, Cree would've helped break them out and encouraged them to go to the Tombtakers old stomping grounds and get the old Tombtakers back together. If the group had followed up on that, one of the Tombtakers could've helped get Molly's memories back. Not only would of this [[spoiler:might have lead to Molly living, it also would have had massive repercussions for Jester, considering that she would have to deal with her father selling her and her friends to slavery.]] |
| 346 | ** Episode 21. [[spoiler:Beau falls unconscious due to the swamp troll's poison, and it grabs her and starts running. Guest character Cali tries to cast Levitate on her and Matt has her roll an Arcana Check as a contested roll to break the troll's grapple. She only rolls a 10, but the troll thankfully rolls a 2. Had the troll's roll beaten Cali's, it's almost certain Beau would have been KilledOffForReal, as the troll was faster and could easily have escaped, at which point Beau would have been likely killed by the time the players found the troll's hideout.]] |
| 347 | ** Episode 26. Matt noted after the episode that the events that transpired were mainly due to a flurry of poor luck with dice. Had Matt not rolled so well to resist Stunning Strike, had Matt rolled lower on his attack rolls, had Taliesin rolled lower on his self-harm rolls... |
| 348 | ** In episode 29, during the fight with [[spoiler:Lorenzo, who had killed Mollymauk]], Matt had planned for the enemy to escape when he got down to the last few portions of his HP. However, Marisha rolled a success on her Stunning Strike, costing her opponent a turn that he would have used to flee. Following that, had Caleb not landed his final Firebolt attack, the enemy would have had enough health still to escape. According to Matt, this was because he made a mistake when attacking the party, as Matt had forgotten to have him fly back off the ground, which allowed Beau and Keg to land the hits needed to allow Caleb to finish the job. |
| 349 | ** In episode 30, the party, helmed by Beau, rolls a 15 Investigation Check to loot the Iron Shepherds' stronghold, which according to Matt's notes was ''just'' enough to discover a Bag of Holding. Not only is this a game-changing item, it also contained a plot hook ([[spoiler:a letter linking Lorenzo to a greater conspiracy involving Port Damali and the eye-like gemstone currently inside Fjord]]) that would have gone unnoticed had they rolled lower. |
| 350 | ** Episode 35's ending is another torrent of these, starting from Fjord's poor Stealth roll and escalating from there, but the crucial one that allowed the story to take the utterly unexpected turn that it did was when Caleb cast Fireball and specified that he also hit the ship. There was a roll to see if the ship's sails would catch fire, and they did not. Had they caught fire, well, the Nein's narrow escape would have become impossible to perform in that specific way. |
| 351 | ** Another relating to Episode 35 that rolls into Episode 36. Had Jester not landed her Charm Person on three of the guards that came during the groups combat encounter, one of which being the leader of the guards for that group, the guards would have been able to see the group clearer and would have recognized the name of the ship the group sailed out on. This, alongside Jester using Invoke Duplicity to create a copy of herself that she had "commit suicide" and thus distract the guards even more, meant that the guards were not able to fully see who the group was that caused the combat situation, allowing the group to get away scott free when they returned shortly to Nicodranas. If not for that, and Beau's natural 20 on her "Whisper Campaign" to help ease the situation, the group would have effectively been unable to return to Nicodranas for a long time, cutting off Jester from seeing her mother again. |
| 352 | ** Episode 40. [[spoiler:Despite her head start, Fjord rolls well enough on his swimming checks to arrive at the bottom of the well at the same time Avantika does, and rolls a high enough Perception Check to notice a fist-sized opening. Unfortunately, by the time he figures out what to do with it, Avantika has also noticed and is getting ready to shove her Cloven Crystal into the opening. There's an Initiative roll-off to see who gets to it first... and Fjord rolls low, allowing Avantika to claim the temple's blessing and gain control of water.]] |
| 353 | ** Episode 42, [[spoiler:Liam rolled a natural 20, allowing him to meet the DC he'd need to create a cipher for Avantika's diary. If he'd failed, the group wouldn't have been able to prove to the Plank King that Avantika was planning on conquering Darktow and the seas and they likely wouldn't have been able to avoid breaking Darktow's laws unscathed. However, his high roll also meant that, because he stayed up all night finishing the cipher, the book was on his person and not hidden elsewhere or in a divination-proof lead case, meaning the events of the following morning, and, consequently, the rest of the arc, would probably be very, very different.]] |
| 354 | ** Episode 56: [[spoiler:After being rattled out in front of the Royal Court Of Xhorhas for aiding the Muck Men against the Kryn soldiers when they first arrived in Xhorhas, Caleb asks if he can retrieve something from Jester's Handysack to return to the Dynasty. He rolls a 16 Persuasion check, allowing him to pull the Dodecahedron from the bag and show it. This one action completely reversed their fortunes, turning the Nein from soon-to-be jailbirds accused of being Imperial spies into, in Queen Leylas Kryn's own words, "the heroes of Xhorhas".]] |
| 355 | ** As mentioned above, Yasha's failed Wisdom saving throw during Episode 69's fight dramatically altered both the fight itself and Yasha's story going forward. |
| 356 | ** Episode 80: While the party is investigating the map Yussa made for the Happy Fun Ball, Beau ends up rolling a natural 20. [[spoiler:This allows her to instantly connect a room called the "Permaheart Chamber" to the heart of the Laughing Hand; which the Nein immediately track down and destroy. This allows them the ability to kill the Laughing Hand for good - which Episode 86 delivers on spectacularly.]] |
| 357 | ** Episode 93: While attempting to remove the curse on Nott, each of the party members is given the chance to sacrifice whatever would cause them the most misery to lose. [[spoiler:Laura unexpectedly pulls out a cupcake and the Dust of Deliciousness that were acquired ''dozens'' of episodes ago and gets an extremely lucky set of rolls to cast Modify Memory on Isharnai, which tricks into letting them all go without any sacrifice. Even ''Matt'' didn't expect it, saying that it was simultaneously making him angry and proud that a player had outsmarted him like that.]] |
| 358 | ** Episode 105: [[spoiler:Had Vokodo made his saving throw against Caleb's Disintegrate; it would've been reflected onto another member of the party, killing them if they didn't make the save themselves, with the exception of Yasha, Caduceus and Fjord (who had the hit points to survive it) and Vilya (who was wild shaping). It was eventually revealed that the target would have been Caleb himself, and that he would have survived the blow because his Ring of Evasion would have made him automatically succeed the saving throw. Caduceus' Divine Intervention from the previous episode was also revealed to be one, as the information he gained from it allowed the Nein to exploit Vokodo's fears to make him waste his turns trying to escape from the illusions they summoned instead of attacking them.]] |
| 359 | ** Episode 131: [[spoiler:[[GodzillaThreshold The Nein are considering allying with Trent Ikithon and the Cerberus Assembly to stop the Tomb Takers.]] Essek, who they have already recruited, staunchly refuses to work with Ikithon. The Nein make a persuasion roll to try and talk him around and roll a [[EpicFail Natural 1]]. This and a subsequent Sending conversation with Astrid convince them to abandon the idea.]] |
| 360 | ** Episode 138: [[spoiler:In Cognouza, Essek and Caleb use a mini-Beacon from Aeor to manipulate time and give the party an instantaneous long rest. They meet the combined DC of 40...but in the Campaign 2 wrap-up, Matt revealed that if they'd attempted it in Aeor and failed, the party would instead have been shunted forward a day in time, during which Cree and Lucien would have successfully brought Cognouza into the Material Plane. Though failing it in Cognouza after killing Cree and sending away the Threshold Crest wouldn't have had repercussions anywhere near as dire, it would've put Lucien and the Somnovem a day ahead of them, and they most likely would've discovered the Nein had gotten rid of one of the Threshold Crests that they needed.]] |
| 361 | ** Episode 140: [[spoiler:The difference between a DownerEnding and a roaring triumph is a 2 on a d100 roll, as Caduceus uses Divine Intervention. Matt rolled Molly's resurrection with a DC 10 on a [=d20=], but rolled a Nat 1. With the Divine Intervention, it allowed a reroll with a lower DC of 5, and that time, Matt rolled a 12. Had Taliesin not elected to "just see what happens," the Nein would have come so far only to fail at the final hurdle of bringing back their friend.]] |
| 362 | |
| 363 | * Campaign 2 has its own "firsts": |
| 364 | ** In the "Session Zero" pre-stream games, Liam and Laura were both knocked out (and revived with Sam and Travis's healing potions). In the streamed campaign, Taliesin takes the [[MedalOfDishonor honor]] of being the campaign's first [=KO=] on camera in Episode 3, during the fight with the zombified guards at the beginning of the episode. |
| 365 | ** Travis has the first roll, which is also the first Natural 20 of the campaign. |
| 366 | ** Marisha gets the first Natural 1. |
| 367 | ** Laura has the first combat move, casting Guiding Bolt on an undead. |
| 368 | ** Ashley gets the first kill. |
| 369 | ** Marisha scores the first "[[FinishHim How do you want to do this]]?" |
| 370 | ** In Episode 2, Marisha receives the first whisper with a Natural 20 Insight check on the halfling twins. |
| 371 | ** Episode 3 gives the first piece of paper, when Caleb buys a book with some crucial information. |
| 372 | ** Episode 3 also gives us the first kiss, where Nott gave Caleb mouth-to-mouth (complete with a Natural 20). |
| 373 | ** Episode 4 marks the first time the other players were sent out of the room for a solo adventure, as Beauregard is cloistered away for a sparring session that quickly becomes a cathartic training session. |
| 374 | ** Episode 4 is the first episode without any Natural 1s rolled. |
| 375 | ** Episode 14 is the first episode without any Natural 20s rolled. |
| 376 | ** Episode 14 is the first episode where one of the core players, excluding Ashley/Yasha, was not present. Said player was Laura/Jester, who was sick. |
| 377 | ** Episode 18 is the first partial group session, where Liam had Sam and Marisha stay with him while sending out Taliesin, Travis, Ashley, and Laura. |
| 378 | ** Episode [[spoiler:26]] has the first player character death, as [[spoiler:Mollymauk is killed by Lorenzo.]] |
| 379 | *** The first character death that sticks, causing their player to have to debut a new character unexpectedly, was [[spoiler:actually the same one as above - Mollymauk died, and Taliesin had to create a new character to replace him.]] |
| 380 | *** This is also the first time in Critical Role history that a player's character has died permanently in the middle of a campaign. [[spoiler:Not counting Tiberius' death once Orion was no longer a player, or Vax'ildan's death at the very end of Campaign 1.]] |
| 381 | ** Episode 27 has the first fade-to-black scene, given that [[spoiler:Beauregard]] hires a companion for the night, following [[spoiler:Mollymauk's death in the previous episode.]] |
| 382 | ** Episode 29 has the first confirmed romantic fling between two [=PC=]s, as Beau and Keg have a one-night stand. |
| 383 | ** Episode 33 is the first episode without either a Natural 1 or a Natural 20 rolled. |
| 384 | ** Episode 34 gives us the first character that appears in both Campaign 1 and 2: [[spoiler:Captain Adella, from the Marquet]]. |
| 385 | ** The first guest player was Creator/KharyPayton in Episode 7. [[spoiler:He's also the first guest of the campaign to earn a HDYWTDT, as well as the first guest player to have a second encounter with the Nein, showing up again in Episode 29.]] |
| 386 | ** Chris Perkins was the first guest player to appear in both campaigns, playing Shale in Campaign 1 and Spurt in Campaign 2. |
| 387 | ** Episode 50 has the first [[spoiler:guest character death on the show, as Spurt gets one-shotted by a fire giant and turned into a bloody pile of mush.]] |
| 388 | ** Episode 55 features the first death from friendly fire, as Nott’s explosive arrow causes [[spoiler: Caduceus to fail his third death save.]] |
| 389 | ** Episode 59 features the first [=NPC=] [=HDYWTDT=] of either campaign, as Matt asks himself "Landspeaker Soorna, how do you want to do this?". |
| 390 | * The most damage done in one attack to one target is 106, from [[spoiler:Jester’s critical 6th level Inflict Wounds spell]] in Episode 119 |
| 391 | * The most-cast spells are Alarm (273 castings), Disguise Self (183 castings), and Cure Wounds (118 castings). The most-cast Cantrips are Eldritch Blast (136 castings), Message (127 castings), and Guidance (125 castings). |
| 392 | * The most Natural 20s rolled by the players in one episode is 18, in Episode 123. |
| 393 | * The most Natural 20s rolled by one player in one episode is 5, by Ashley in both Episode 17 and 123. |
| 394 | * The most Natural 1s rolled by the players in one episode is 13, in Episode 17. |
| 395 | * The most Natural 1s rolled by one player in one episode is 4, by Sam in Episode 3, Travis in Episode 17, and Marisha in episode 123, and Ashley in episode 131. |
| 396 | * The most Natural 1s rolled by one player in a row is 3 (in four rolls, but he had disadvantage so it still counts), by Travis in Episode 17. |
| 397 | * The longest streak of episodes where a player rolled at least one Natural 20 in each is 7, by Marisha in Episodes 1-7. |
| 398 | * The longest streak of episodes where a player rolled at least one Natural 1 in each is 5, by Liam in Episodes 9-13. |
| 399 | * '''Episode 141: Fond Farewells''' is the longest episode of Campaign 2, as well as all of Critical Role so far, clocking in at a whopping 7 hours, 2 minutes, and 56 seconds. On the other end of the spectrum, '''Episode 56: The Favor''' is the shortest episode of the campaign at 3 hours, 1 minute, and 17 seconds. |
| 400 | * As of Episode 99, there have been a total of 27 kisses over the course of the Campaign. |
| 401 | ** Episode 7: Molly kisses Caleb on the forehead after he disassociates. |
| 402 | ** Episode 9: Molly kisses Yasha on the head, and Yasha returns the gesture. |
| 403 | ** Episode 13: Caleb kisses Nott on the forehead. |
| 404 | ** Episode 20: Nott kisses Kiri because she’s cute. |
| 405 | ** Episode 23: Fjord kisses Uma Cole’s hands. |
| 406 | ** Episode 24: Jester kisses Caleb’s cheek after he tips her piano playing. |
| 407 | ** Episode 29: Nott kisses Caleb, and gets his ear (as he’s invisible at the moment) |
| 408 | ** Episode 33: Fjord kisses Marion’s hands in greeting. [[LesYay So does Beau.]] |
| 409 | ** Episode 40: Fjord kisses Jester underwater to give her his remaining air, and also later kisses Avantika. |
| 410 | ** Episode 45: Twiggy kisses Caleb on the cheek after he lets her play with Frumpkin. Nott also kisses Caleb on the nose. |
| 411 | ** Episode 46: Nott kisses Caleb’s cheek. |
| 412 | ** Episode 56: Fjord kisses Lady Zethriss Olios’ hands. |
| 413 | ** Episode 62: Nott and Yeza [[HappilyMarried kiss when they reunite]]. |
| 414 | ** Episode 64: Fjord kisses Jester on the cheek after she Guiding Bolts the monster that was grappling him. |
| 415 | ** Episode 72: Caleb kisses Nott’s forehead-first in bird form. |
| 416 | ** Episode 76: Beau kisses Reani. |
| 417 | ** Episode 91: Nott kisses Caleb on the lips before his attempt to turn her back into a Halfling. |
| 418 | ** Episode 97: Jester kisses Nott on the nose [[spoiler:before Caleb turns her back into Veth for real. Veth and Yeza then share two passionate kisses themselves. In the second half, Lord Sharp kisses Yasha’s hand, and Caleb kisses Essek’s forehead during his interrogation.]] |
| 419 | ** Episode 99: Jester kisses [[spoiler:Fjord on the forehead after Caduceus resurrects him.]] |
| 420 | ** Overall, Nott[[spoiler:/Veth]] had given the most kisses (7) while Caleb has received the most (also 7). The pair that have kissed the most are Nott and Caleb, for a total of 6. |
| 421 | * With Ashley Johnson running "The Nautilus Ark: A Johnson Company Odyssey" oneshot, every member of the main cast has DM'd for a game at least once. The oneshot was the $8.8 million stretch goal reward for The Legend of Vox Machina Kickstarter. |
| 422 | [[/folder]] |
| 423 | |
| 424 | [[folder:Campaign 3 and One-Shots (2021-present)]] |
| 425 | * ActingForTwo: Taken up to eleven when the party infiltrates a classy ball - Matt as the host and a couple of protesting voices is one thing, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u0zS-0iQTo the rest of the players end up doubling up as the outraged crowd's hubbub.]] |
| 426 | * ActorSharedBackground: Erika Ishii is a LGBT Japanese-American, and [[spoiler:Yu is a gender-neutral Japanese name, befitting a ShapeShifter that could simply BE either gender.]] |
| 427 | * RealLifeRelative: Episode 82 involves Sam bringing his son in to do the ad reading as his own TimeShiftedActor. Thanks to some false teeth, the StrongFamilyResemblance is uncanny. |
| 428 | * RoleReprise: To the [[UnexpectedCharacter shock]] of the fanbase, Liam, Ashley, and Robbie's characters from ''[[WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited Exandria Unlimited]]'', as well as Travis's from ''[[WebVideo/CriticalRoleCampaignOne The Search for Grog]]'', of all things, all return as part of the third campaign's party. |
| 429 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: |
| 430 | ** Matt stated on [[https://twitter.com/matthewmercer/status/1451599713619169287?s=21 Twitter]] that Orym and Fearne started out as ideas that Liam and Ashley were toying with for Campaign 3, and chose to flesh out in ''[[WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited Exandria Unlimited]]''. Had they felt so inclined, they were both free to switch to different characters for Campaign 3. |
| 431 | ** Emily had a number of possible characters for the Issylra arc. One was a woman who was teleported away in the middle of her wedding ceremony, another was a paladin of Lady Vesh ([[Characters/CriticalRoleGuestPartyMembers Kashaw's]] first "wife"/goddess from Campaign 1), and a third was that the three guests would play triplets, but only two were identical. |
| 432 | ---- |
| 433 | !!Misc. Stats for Campaign 3: |
| 434 | * Campaign 3 has its own "firsts": |
| 435 | ** Laura makes the first die roll. |
| 436 | ** Taliesin lands the first HDYWTDT. |
| 437 | ** Robbie has the honor of getting both the first [=Nat 20=] roll and the first [=Nat 1=] roll. |
| 438 | ** Liam scores the first whisper in Episode 2. |
| 439 | ** The first player character death comes in [[spoiler:Episode 3, where the final scene sees Bertrand stabbed in an alleyway in the middle of the night]]. This is the earliest any player character has died in ''Critical Role'' history, and the first time a party member's death was planned as part of the campaign's narrative. |
| 440 | ** Episode 1 was the first time that an episode of ''Critical Role'' was shown in movie theaters, timed simultaneously with the episode's streaming date. Episode 17, which celebrated the show's seventh anniversary, was also shown in theaters. |
| 441 | ** Episode 31 featured the first time Matt played a previous campaign PC, as he voices Keyleth for a Sending spell. Vex'ahlia made a cameo in the form of a letter in an earlier episode of Campaign 3, but it was read by Laura, who played as Vex in Campaign 1. |
| 442 | ** Episode 63 has [[spoiler:the first PC intentionally killed by another PC outside of a battle royale, as Bor'Dor revealed himself as a member of the Ruby Vanguard and was killed by Laudna.]] |
| 443 | * '''Episode 49: The Aurora Grows''' is the longest episode of Campaign 3, clocking in at 5 hours and 1 minute. '''Episode 10: Ghosts, Dates, and Darker Fates''' is the shortest episode, clocking in at 3 hours, 16 minutes, and 30 seconds. |
| 444 | * Robbie Daymond currently holds records for the most episodes as a guest star in ''Critical Role'' history, both in sheer number and for consecutive appearances, at fourteen. Second place for both total and consecutive episodes is shared by Aabria Iyengar and Christian Navarro, at eight and seven episodes respectively. Robbie's appearance as a GuestStarPartyMember is also the first time where such a party member began the campaign with the rest of the core cast. |
| 445 | * Laudna is the first core party member to start multiclassed (Warlock/Sorcerer). It's also the campaign with the earliest multiclass level dips, with the aforementioned Laudna from the beginning and a Rogue dip from Chetney and Fearne at level 6, beating out Fjord who multiclassed at level 10. |
| 446 | * Times a single die roll probably changed the direction of the story: |
| 447 | ** Episode 33 sees Bell's Hells battling against Otohan Thull, a powerful fighter with Echo Knight abilities. The whole time, Imogen is trying to [[ResistTheBeast not give into her Ruidus-born powers]]. As the final roll of the evening, [[spoiler:Imogen rolls a Nat 1 on the Wisdom save to resist it, which causes everything to go white. Had Imogen succeeded, it's likely that the battle could have dragged on even longer, which could have gotten more of the Hells killed, since Orym and Fearne were already dead by that point]]. |
| 448 | ** Episode 34 picks up just after Imogen's roll from Episode 33. [[spoiler:Laudna is next in the initiative order, and has to roll a death save. It's another Nat 1, and she dies. Had she succeeded, F.C.G. and Fearne wouldn't have had to make a SadisticChoice as to which two of the Hells to save from death, as Orym and Fearne were brought back, but they didn't have enough spell slots or spell components to bring three people back to life. It also made Bell's Hells focus more on bringing Laudna back than dealing with Fearne's parents or investigating the strange occurrences around Ruidus, which would have probably clued Bell's Hells into the Ruby Vanguard's plans much earlier.]] |
| 449 | ** Also from Episode 34 [[spoiler: F.C.G ''barely'' makes the DC for Revivify on Fearne with a 10. If he had failed, not only would Fearne have stayed dead, but so would Orym, since Fearne had the other Revivify necessary for bringing him back. That one roll took the party death toll from three people to only one.]] |
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