Blind Reaction: The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 Episodes 1-3

[@CeliriaRose]

I’d just like to say a quick RIP to the wonderful actor Lance Reddick. The voice actor who played the lead dragon Thordak in this series among many other phenomenal roles.

[@jamesmccarthy962]

Do we know if he recorded any lines for series 3? Going to be sad to hear another voice knowing why

[@CeliriaRose]

@@jamesmccarthy962 Nothing definitive. I’ve seen people theorize that he might have already recorded his lines but nothing official has been stated.

[@JJ.blastboss]

The owl house season 3 finle season

[@Anthony54762]

I was just thinking how awesome Thordak's voice is and then I read this comment 😞

[@SilverScribe85]

This leads me to wonder...do they plan on bringing in a new voice for Thordak and if so, who would be the best replacement for Lance

[@PristineTX]

Matt Mercer, the GM of Critical Role, said he planned the fall of Emon by the Chroma Conclave for almost five years. He was literally like the guy on the beach who built the most beautiful, detailed sandcastle, knowing in the back of his mind that he was gonna smash it all before the tide came in.

[@carlotacosta9193]

the perfect analogy

[@mikebreaddelancey4755]

The conclave showing up hit the original cast like a brick to the face. They never thought Matt would consider destroying everything. Matt had published a book about his world so others could use it.Custom designed magic items, taverns with different floorplans, and NPCs with a unique backstories killed in minutes. There's another book out now set decades later. He killed almost everyone who ever gave them a quest, money, or support.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

He even admitted at the end of the session in the game that he didn't know how to feel.

[@tudeslildude]

Reminds me of playing with lego as a kid. Create a town, have characters live there and do stuff, until it gets blown up by baddies. Destroying your own creations for the sake of a story is both a terrifying prospect, but also an insanely satisfying experience. Point being: Dun fk with magic pirate skeletons, or you'll end up with robots from the future showing up and solving the problem for you with nukes.

[@greyscaleadaven]

This side of matt feels very relevant as of recently lmao

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

"Hey guys, how should we end episode 3?!" - "I know! Let's just roll credits while Liam O'Brien sobs wetly to hurt the audience as much as possible."

[@timemonkey]

Remember, Shark, this show is based on a DnD game so nobody has plot armour. Any character could die for real at anytime and if they fail to ressurect them then they're gone and get replaced. They almost lost Gilmore for real during the dragon attack, if they hadn't chosen searching for him over looting he would have died from his wounds. With Vex Percy set off the trap and then she got a critical fail on her save and was brought to 0 hp and since the trap was necrotic damage that meant no chances to roll death saves just instant death.

[@mikebreaddelancey4755]

She was also killed directly by power the goddess of death and Fate in her temple. She died in a place where Matron of Ravens can decide whether you live or die and there is nothing any other god or mortal can do about it. Her whim is all that matters.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

While you're mostly correct, there are specific details that you have wrong. There's no critical fail on a saving throw. While she did roll a 1, that's just a plain failure. The only critical failure option the table used at that point was on death saving throws. Secondly, the lack of death saving throw was not due to necrotic damage. Necrotic damage is just a damage type and it doesn't prevent death saving throws (otherwise Keyleth would have been in the same state last season as Vex is in this one). The trap itself had the condition of dying if you hit 0 HP.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

​@@mikebreaddelancey4755 She wasn't killed directly by the Matron. There was a magical trap on the inside of the sarcophagus. The trap killed her because she failed to dodge out of the way. And there are likely enchantments preventing resurrection in that tomb. The deities in Exandria are behind the Divine Gate and can't directly interact with the world, outside of a few situations (like the Divine Intervention ability).

[@timemonkey]

@@ShadowyFox_86 Necrotic damage means no death saving throws if you hot 0hp. And no, Keyleth getting hit was a show only thing, in the game the spell hit Vex, reduced her to 1 hp and she healed from it. In the show Keyleth was always just barely alive before they healed her.

[@noaa7010]

@@timemonkey Necrotic damage itself does NOT cause instant death at 0 hp. That's an effect specific to spells and abilities. Page 196 of the player's handbook (5e I'm assuming) goes into damage types, and nothing on it says there's no death saves for necrotic damage. Hunger of hadar, for example, does necrotic damage but will still allow death saves if it reduces to 0 hp. Finger of death, on the other hand, will instantly kill anyone it reduces to 0 hp, as per the spell's effect. In addition, any effect that does damage equal to the max hp of the character will also instantly kill them with no death saves allowed.

[@SebasTian58323]

Vex'ahlia is hot because her voice actress wanted her to be. When they first started streaming campaign 1, Laura's only note to the official artist about Vex was “make me hot."

[@thegrandwombat8797]

She reportedly returned character concept art a few times with notes to make her more hot (they all went through drafts intentionally, she wasn't being difficult, just focused on a particular goal). Unless I'm confusing this story with a similar one about a later character's revisions - which is definitely possible.

[@YouAnd_OnlyYou]

"Just make sure she's hot." ~ Beauregard Lionett.

[@liminalsoup]

@@thegrandwombat8797 reminds me of fearne in campaign 3, ashley reportedly had to send back her mini more than twice cause she wasn't satisfied with the bustiness

[@form2652]

@@thegrandwombat8797 This also made Laura have to send back early concept art for Jester because the artist made her too hot, and Laura wanted Jester to be cute. They remembered the notes on Vex lol

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

Laura pairs the look with a rather sexy voice too.

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

Shark wasn't prepared for D&D dragons. These aren't just animals, they're old, powerful, but more importantly smart and calculating!

[@enigmachaos4413]

and if they aren't shiny metal, they are ASSHOLES

[@PokeJoshNY]

playing D&D and specifically starting to DM turned dragons into my favorite fantasy trope

[@DoctorBright]

A favorite motto of dnd is “there are no wrong choices, only consequences”

[@passenthrualaska3293]

The Black Powder dealer at the end of episode two, also known as Victor, was a much beloved NPC of Matt's who made a few appearances through out the first campaign. Every once in a while Matt makes an NPC that is just over the top enough to be iconic. Many fans were really hoping to see him here. Matt even dressed up as him for Halloween one year, and I think they used that as the inspiration for his design in animation form.

[@troikas3353]

The death of Vex was such a shocking moment because it was just a sudden result of a careless mistake made by Percy’s player. It was at the end of an over 5 hour session, after a tough fight, all the players were tired and in the come down from the battle, Percy reached for the armor without thinking just before Vex checked it for Traps. He avoided the resulting spell blast, she didn’t and she was already injured from the recent fight so the spell the trap used killed her instantly. The entire campaigns trajectory, years of episodes after this happened, turned on this one small moment and the consequences of it. Can death be undone? Yes if you have the resources and roll well. Critical Roles DM has special rules in their game that makes death harder to reverse than the base game rules.

[@chipsalom]

And the death not only effects the campaign. it's consequences and choices surrounding it reverberate across the entire world and campaign setting beyond campaign one. It literally fundamentally shifts some of the powers that be in the world.

[@officiallyjan8596]

Did you notice in episode 1 how, during their first "fight" with the Chroma Conclave, Vox Machina tries doing all the things they did to beat Brimscythe in season 1 only for the Chroma dragons to completely shrug them off, showing they're in a totally different tier of power even individually compared to the first one? -Scanlan tries to trick them with illusions, which worked against Brimscythe but these are Ancient Dragons who can see through illusions and magic. -Grog rages up and strikes at their weak-spot at the base of the neck, which cut open Brimscythe but these ones have tough enough armor that his axe breaks instead. -Brimscythe was all force and these dragons are not only stronger but *also* masters of magic who know well what to expect from mages and how to deal with it, and are also fully capable of using spells themselves. -They fought Brimscythe inside a cave where his mobility was hindered and they could use the terrain to their advantage, but as Tordak illustrates with the *mountain* he melted, these ones are so powerful they could physically break out through a mountain even if you cornered them inside one. And for some fun trivia; The children survivors in episode 1 who "convince" Scanlan to give fighting the dragons a chance are actually voiced by Sam Riegel's (Scanlan's voice actor) real children. EDIT: Another Fun Fact: The reason Grog is so happy to have a beard is because during the original tabletop game, he was a Goliath, a race which inherently cannot grow facial hair and he's possibly one of the first members of his race to ever manage it. His race was changed for the animated show to avoid copyright issues with the people who own DnD so it doesn't seem to be the case in the show's continuity, but when the moment originally happened it was very much why he got so giddy. EDIT 2: ALSO also (I'm writing this as I watch, sue me!) regarding character deaths in DnD: One major component which makes this show so amazing is that it's based on a real tabletop campaign that the voice actors played, and in tabletop roleplaying *player characters really can die at any time* if the dice roll lands against them or they make a bad decision. It's not at all unusual for a player's character to die and for them to simply roll a new character to play as. The simple fact that this *is* someone's tabletop campaign means that it actually could happen to anyone at any time, even main characters, regardless of the narrative or the wishes of some "writer" wanting to keep a suspenseful narrative. No matter how many fakeouts there are, no matter how important a character is, no matter how much time passes without anyone important dying, *because this was just a tabletop campaign originally,* until you know the entire story after-the-fact, literally anything could happen and literally anyone could die at any time because that was simply what happened when they were playing and someone rolled poorly. You literally *cannot* predict the story because random dice rolls have such a massive influence on anything and everything!

[@ShadowyFox_86]

And the whole CR crew have said they're not above changing the story to tell a better narrative, meaning they could very well kill someone to make a better story.

[@chipsalom]

And as the campaigns roll on and the stories play out, new viewers will see character death demonstrated for real, permanently. It'll be interesting to see the reaction by blind viewers.

[@PristineTX]

The voice of Zahra is Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, a legend in the voice acting community. She also happens to be a longtime friend of the cast, and an actual "Critter" herself. The reason she is a legend in the business is for her voice directing, specifically her voice directing the English dub of Cowboy Bebop, which revolutionized the way English-language anime dubs were done and setting a new standard in realism and quality. She's also the voice director for this show, despite the fact that three of the Critical Role cast members are accomplished, award-winning voice directors in their own right. She is reprising her character of Zahra which she played on Critical Role, alongside Will Friedle (Kashaw)

[@chipsalom]

Ya, one of them, ol'Sam Rigel himself, being an Emmy winner, lol.

[@ForeverDegenerate]

@@chipsalom And it shows. SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 10 and 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All of the Scanlan/Kayleigh stuff in Episodes 10 and 11? All directed by Emmy Award Winning Director Sam Riegel. Yeah he directed himself for those scenes. As Sam recounted, he felt kinda bad because it was her first Voice Acting job. "Hi I'm Sam Riegel. I'll be directing you today. I'll also be your scene partner today because I play Scanlan Shorthalt, your character's Father, but he doesn't know it. And I'm going to be trying to sleep with you. Oh and uh... I wrote this. No pressure."

[@cuppa6319]

Something I absolutely love about episode 3 is that there's almost no background music until the very end. The quiet gives such an uneasy feeling that kinda subconsciously tells you something's off this episode. It's just ambient noise until the last few minutes when the music swells, making that scene hit even harder.

[@ForeverDegenerate]

The geniuses of Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Neal Acree.

[@roberthebert2826]

I think one of the best things about Vox Machina just as a fantasy show is it does an amazing job getting across how fucking terrifying and brutal a dragon truly is.

[@VJArt_]

TTrpg deaths depend on the system, dnd has ways to revive people but each gm goes about it differently and each dm can also change rules from the default game, Matt runs ressurections in a more limited way then the default game does, and there can be other cases too, but generally how Matt plays it, he asks the player in private whether they are satisfied with the death or if they wanna try to be ressurected, and if the player wants to continue, Matt provides the rest of the party with different opportunities to get their comrade back. Its never cheap and requires good storytelling

[@Ozgarthefighter]

The reason why the Chroma Conclave exists is because someone gifted Matt Mercer a BUNCH of dragon models for Christmas, and he was itching to use them in a game.

[@KingsBard]

The Kingdom/Continent is Taldorei, the City is Emon, the world is Exandria

[@PristineTX]

In the third episode, the director decided not to use much music. It gives the viewer a sense of unease to be absent the normal, excellent Neil Acree orchestration that accompanies this series. When the music does hit, it's especially emotive.

[@AutumnWoodham]

Lore dump Emon: The Capital City Tal'dorei : The Kingdom/Continent Exandria: The World The Chroma Conclave are comprised of 5 dragons of different colors/elements Thordak, the Cinder King (Red/Fire) Raishan, the Diseased Deceiver (Green/Poison) Umbrasyl, the Hope Devourer (Black/Acid) Vorugal, the Frigid Doom (White/Ice) Brimscythe, the Iron Storm (Blue/Lighting) [DEAD] And in D&D, dragons of different colorations working together is a very rare occurrence and typically means bad news. DM and GM are both used terms. And the Briarwood arc wasn't even the first arc in the campaign, it was the second live streamed, and the pre-stream game as one arc, it's the third overall, with The Croma Conclave being set up since near the end the pre-stream game. Zahra and Kashaw are guest characters from the live stream and both are voiced by their players, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Will Friedle Grog's belt is a Belt of Dwarvenkind, and the group chose Grog to have it not due to its stat benefits, but because it gave him a daily percentage chance of growing a beard, and Goliaths, especially males, primarily lack hair, facial or otherwise, and Grog really really REALLY wanted to grow a beard.

[@TheDonmayo]

I was waiting for this!! You're in for one hell of a ride this season! Also a sad note, the voiceactor who voices the red dragon unfortunately passed away, R.I.P. Lance Riddick.

[@canadian__ninja]

Osyssa breaking down Scanlan will hurt so much more when season 3 drops. Possibly season 4.

[@Klaciate]

Was expecting your reaction! Love your channel very much! 40:27 The correct answer is "Yes"

[@Lenny-ue8hk]

The credit images are colorscripts that they used in the production process

[@user-ck6tc3ci9q]

This season is so amazing and so much better than the first, this show is becoming one of my favorites so fast and there's more seasons coming

[@crimsonxero5924]

I like how Shark keeps thinking of food. Man's hungry lmao.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

In Episode 1 I get chills every time Scanlan mentions the tower. He and his wife were in NYC when the Trade Centers fell and her photos are some of the iconic ones people think of or reference. If anyone would be able to convey that shock of the tower falling, it would definitely be Scanlan's player. Everyone's going to get a lot of focus this season, not just the twins. Vasselheim is such an interesting city. They're the oldest one in existence. They date back to the time of the Calamity (the wars between the gods) and are the reason humanity still exists. As scary as the Chroma Conclave is, they're not the worst thing they've survived. If Vasselheim fights outside of their city, what happens if they fail? They're looking at long-term survival. What Osysa said to Keyleth is true but also horrifying. Druids age significantly slower once they reach a certain level. She'll live over a century, while even Pike and Scanlan won't be half as long lived. She will literally outlive every member of the team. Like others have said, there is no plot armor. No character is safe from death, including Vox Machina.

[@chipsalom]

Not only being a druid and eventual arch druid, but half elf... Although there are other half elves in the party, so ya, it's really the arch druid bit

[@SauceyRedHN]

1:47 I’m totally with dragons being such an overused thing. I've never really been interested in dragons, just as I've never been interested in zombies, vampires, skeletons, and all the other classic creatures. They're all overused and have never been able to interest me. When season 1 of TLoVM ended with the dragons arriving, I wasn't that thrilled to be honest. I was still convinced that I'd love the show, but I really wasn't interested in more dragon stuff. However, despite my lack of interest in most dragons, season 2 just slapped my face and said "You might not be interested in any dragons, but you *will* be interested in _these_ dragons." And so I did. It hasn't changed my opinion of dragons in general, but it _has_ gotten me hooked on _these_ dragons and _this_ plot, and there's a certain dragon which has a personality that I've fallen in love with. I like dragons far more if they're sentient, can talk, and have fun or interesting personalities. Also if they have other things going on for them besides fire breath. As for the dragons in The Dragon Prince, I like them. I don't _love_ them, but I like them. They're a core part of the show, it's in the name. I like them, but the most interesting parts of TDP to me are basically everything other than the dragons.

[@Celestia282]

I think it's somewhat ironic that D&D is, perhaps, the main reason why dragons are so popular in fantasy. Despite this, the way D&D handles dragons is actually a lot different from almost all other fantasy stories.

[@SauceyRedHN]

@@Celestia282 Yeah, D&D has a lot of variety with dragons, it's just that red fire-spitting dragons have become the norm in fantasy, when that's only one of many kinds of dragons in D&D.

[@joshuana5132]

Apparently, in normal D&D, death is an easily overcome thing. ...but due to this, Matt Mercer, the DM, intentionally made it harder but not impossible, but definitely a lot harder.

[@robertolanzone]

01:40:02 You got it when you said it depends on the game. D&D allows both for easy permadeaths and easy resurrections, and everything else in between. Like most things, it's up to the master

[@Anduril74871]

Fun fact about death in Dungeons & Dragons. Death can EASILY be permanent at early levels. Clerics at low levels wouldn't have access to the spells needed to resurrect and party members wouldn't have the funds available to do so as you need expensive as f[QUACK] diamonds that are consumed by the spell. And at low levels, the party may not even have the funds to pay to get the fallen comrade resurrected at a temple or something. At mid-to-high levels, death's consequences can become less severe depending on how your DM rolls. The book states a loss of experience points that is dang near insurmountable, for example. Fun fact about how Matt Mercer handles resurrections. For spells beyond Revivify(which works on a corpse that has been dead for a minute), he has them perform a ritual where three people have to contribute something to the spell and each thing adds or subtracts from a Difficulty Check he has in his head. That DC goes up every time a character dies. This prevents a mentality of "We're high enough level that if we die, it's no big deal" and adds a bit more of a personal touch to the resurrection rituals as they plea for the soul to return. And the spell can fail if the DC isn't met or if the soul is unwilling to return.

[@SauceyRedHN]

Man next episode is one of my favorites (for obvious reasons) and I just can't wait to watch the reaction to that AHHHH!

[@Lenny-ue8hk]

I love how unique they made all the dragons Vorugal (the white/ice dragon) is like a big buff Rhino, the big dumb brute Raishan (the green/poison dragon) is like a snake, the cunning sneaky one Umbrasyl (the black/acid dragon) was described by Matt Mercer as "the Florida dragon" and "a swamp dwelling weasel" and of course Throdak (the red/fire dragon) is the mighty king (with fire jets because that's just metal as fuck)

[@Lenny-ue8hk]

They did everything right, checking for traps everywhere, but at the very last hurdle they skipped that step

[@Surge-kk6ew]

I really liked season 1 but season 2 is so much better imo

[@Wuffskers]

Same, season 2 made this show jump from just a solid animated show for me, to one of my favorite shows in general. For me the writing was just on fire all of season 2.

[@theanyktos]

Nothing has me cackling 'just you wait' like watching reactors react to LoVM XD

[@carlotacosta9193]

Your reactions are always so good man. This season is definitely a step up for me, even though I loved S1 and had no real issues with it. I'm also glad you watch and release these by three, that way you can get an idea of the experience that was to end in episode 3 and have to wait a week for the rest lmao

[@chipsalom]

Ya, the show really is paced to be watched in three show bursts. The delivery of fake outs and cliffhangers meant to come at the end of every 3 episode mini arc really works best if watched that way, lol. It totally gives an adult version of the Saturday morning cartoon feels as a kid.

[@erick48104]

YES! I was waiting so much for this, love your reactions man!!

[@SauceyRedHN]

OH MY GOD YOU JUST SINGLE-HANDEDLY MADE MY ENTIRE WEEK BY UPLOADING THIS! I mean, today has been awesome already because of the new RWBY episode, but this just makes everything better! AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Also, if you thought the first season was great, this one's even better! The first one was _really_ good, but I think this one way better and far more interesting to me. EDIT: You're probably already done with the season, hope you liked it!

[@CritterPaladin]

The color and the dragons both got an upgrade from last season.

[@HameltheKamel]

Love the dragons in this, in terms of both unique designs AND being an actual threat. But I'm a big dragon stan, so maybe I'm easy to please :) I literally just binge watched the entire series today and I'm glad to see your reaction for Ep 3 was exactly the same as mine! Looking forward to more!

[@NocturnalNovelist]

I’ve been waiting for this, yooooo.

[@corybishop3084]

And that's the interesting thing about D&D as a storytelling medium. When you're playing the game, you know that any series of poor decisions, or even just some bad dice rolls, can turn a trivial situation deadly. It ups the tension that death is a real possibility that takes no notice of narrative tension that you find in classic storytelling. As to how death works in the game, it does vary from table to table, but as written death becomes quite trivialized at higher levels. I know Matt Mercer instituted some home rules to add some tension, making resurrection magic a challenge that had no guarantee of success, and each successive revival made subsequent ones more and more difficult. But even that doesn't translate well to an animated series, so how the studio chooses to handle those situations is a major change. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

[@darkestcarving8735]

Dragons in dnd are horrifying Age doesn't make them feeble It makes them hardened Smarter Larger Stronger Ect They gain power until they die of natural causes (rare), Killed, or ascend into pure elemental magic from their mortal coil.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

The first 4 episodes and the final 3 are the best. It slows down in the middle, but still cool.

[@danielledaniel1900]

The vex thing happen in campaign. It was rough.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

Matt: ".. and you see the light vanish from her eyes." Everyone's face: 😮

[@jonathonsirlord8251]

21:13 The name explains itself

[@ArtoriasB]

Plot armor is minimal in DND. A character can absolutely die if you don't roll high enough, and then they get replaced by someone new. There *are* ways to bring a character back from the dead, but again, it all depends on the rolls.

[@SauceyRedHN]

TL;DR: When a character reaches 0HP, they have to succeed 3 rolls to avoid death (but stay unconscious) or 1 really good roll to get back on their feet with 1HP. Healing before or during these rolls will also bring the character back, healing won't work after death. If a character fails those rolls, they die, that's it (unless a spell that revives them is cast). However, everything that happens is ultimately up to the DM, and if you ask a DM if you could continue playing the character, most will accept and try to come up with something that makes sense in-game. Now, for the longer and more detailed explanation. In D&D, how character death is handled varies by DM (Dungeon Master, you were correct). Most of the time, if a character dies, it dies. When you get to 0HP there is a mechanic called Death Saving Throws (Death Saves for short), where each turn (if in combat) or once a minute or so (out of combat, specific interval determined by DM), which means that you roll dice to determine whether your character actually dies or not. If you roll 3 successes (usually need to roll a 10 or above, but as with everything else, the DM decides), you remain unconscious with 0HP, but you're stabilized and won't die unless you get hurt again; if you roll 3 failures, you die, that's it. However, there are a couple additional rules. If you roll a natural 20 (or nat 20 for short), it means you critically succeed, you regain 1HP and you become conscious; but if you roll a nat 1, which in D&D means a critical failure, it counts as 2 failures. Also, if you regain HP by any means (e.g. a healing spell), you regain consciousness with the amount of HP you were healed by. Now, when it comes to death by magic items, anything could happen. I haven't watched Campaign 1 (the one this show is based on), so I don't know what happened mechanically. Matt designed the tomb, so he decided what touching the ward did. If he wanted it to instantly kill someone, skipping Death Saves, and negating healing, that's what would happen. I won't spoil what happens, but if Vex were to die, it could be because, in the actual campaign, she was brought to 0HP and failed all her Death Saves. Similarly, if she were to live, it could be because she succeeded her Death Saves, although in the show it would probably be portrayed as Pike healing her. Although, since we saw the light in her eyes fade, I suspect she's way beyond Death Saves and is unable to be healed back to life. In which case, there is still hope. In D&D there are several spells that achieve revival, though they are not low level spells and they each have different requirements that need to be met (e.g., time passed since death, materials required, time required to complete). However, everything that happens is ultimately up to the DM, and if you ask a DM if you could continue playing the character, most will accept and try to come up with something that makes sense in-game. Although, everyone knows going in that if their characters dies, that's it, and most people just accept it when it happens and create the character they'll play next in the campaign (you're not just suddenly out of the game if your first character dies). But, as I said, a player can always ask the DM to work something out, and usually they'll be reasonable and talk it through with them.

[@leviathan1082]

17:58 this scene is esentially what it looks like when the dm forgot a certian items existance in the area, and side to give a luck roll, and with a bad roll, destroy said item that would be very useful at this given time

[@dhamon45]

Emon looks like a volcano, because Thordak's mere presence is enough to start turning it into a volcano. Ancient dragon's magic actually morph their environment to suit their needs better.

[@joshuagideon7215]

Ahh the death that changed EVERYTHING

[@BiasFree]

YES FINALLY! Been waiting for you to get to this season!

[@rileyanthony]

This show is really good

[@chipsalom]

Every player at the Critical Role table keeps a rolled up back up character on hand because bad die rolls can lead to permadeath, and new viewers should be ready to see it happen. In CR, not every original character has made it through the finale of each campaign alive. When permadeath does happen with the way they're kinda teasing us with the fake outs that represent how things really played out around the table, it'll shock new viewers. Because... Wait, yep... It happens. I'm really curious how they'll handle voice acting of new characters that were played by the same player. In stream it was just what you expected. But in the show, having two characters that have voices too similar because they're voiced by the same person, will have to see what they do. Most of these guys can believably portray a different unrecognizable voice, though. Taliesin has already voiced multiple characters side by side without it being noticeable, lol

[@thaddeusr.3967]

The dragons are laying siege. Nice backstory on Vex and Vax.

[@TheMasterOfByGames]

Do not buy a death of a main character in a world with resurrection spells and magic. Not even once.

[@chipsalom]

Until you experience the permadeaths that rocked the critter community. Not every original character makes it to campaign finales alive in critical role. And the way they're teasing with fake outs of varying degrees will make the shock when death actually sticks delicious.

[@corybishop3084]

I enjoy this long form format. Other reactors employ all manner of tricks to keep their videos from getting copyright strikes, but you don't seem to do any of that. And you include pretty much all of the episodes, if I'm not mistaken. Any insight on how you keep the strikes at bay?

[@chipsalom]

It sorta seems like waiting a bit past the initial release period helps, as well as some distributors recognizing now that for many shows, ppl watching reactions are watching them after already watching the show on their own, so it's not costing any Amazon prime subs, but rather just continuing the hype of the show and increasing it's reach.

[@dhamon45]

Matt knows how far he can take stuff. Emon razed to the ground, fine, but the players would have revolted if he killed off Gilmore. Also, the Dragonlance was a nice reference in season 1, but that Mcguffin needed to go.

[@chipsalom]

Oh, he was completely prepared to kill Gilmore, though. He gave the players the choice to run to check on Gilmore or retrieve a huge hoard of loot, first l. Matt had Gilmore bleeding out in his timeline outside the player's knowledge. Had they been greedy and gone to find Gilmore second, he was going to have them discover him dead. They luckily seemed to intuitively recognize they needed to prioritize their friend. In Talks Machina when Matt told them what coulda happened, it shifted a lot of their perspective in how they prioritized for the rest of the campaign.

[@dejaypage1575]

They spent all of episode 3 showing flash backs to end on THAT

[@dmgoficial5551]

character death in dnd is a normal thing. A character can be resurected with a scroll of resurection (you need a powerfull enough spellcaster to cast it). And I think there are other ways too, but if the party wants to ressurect you, they have ways to do so. I played dnd since 2019 and is fun as f*ck. There are a lot of rules, but you don't need a lot to start playin

[@BuzryHaproMandalorianHunter]

Kratos: I got a beard!

[@Ssecave]

This show is so fun to watch. Nice to see him enjoying it. Wonder if He's gonna watch RWBY volume 9 in 1 go. It's almost over.

[@LukasLLM]

So normally, in D&D, when you hit 0 hit points you go Unconscious and enter a mode of Death Saves, with 3 Successes to stabilize and 3 Failures to 'permanently'\* die. On your turn, you roll a 20 sided dice (d20) with no modifiers. Roll 2-9, you get 1 Failure. Get 10-19, you get 1 Success. A 1, or Nat One/Critical Failure gives you 2 Failures, and a 20, or Nat 20/Critical Success returns you to 1 hitpoint and therefor not unconscious anymore. You can also be healed out from 0 hitpoints and out of unconscious and Death Saves. The tomb was trapped with Necrotic energy, and because Vex failed to partially avoid it (failing her Dexterity Saving Throw - the fact that she rolled a Nat 1/Crit Fail doesn't actually matter on those), she took the full damage rather than half of it. Because of how this particular trap works, if its Necrotic damage reduces you to 0 hitpoints, you do *not* go Unconscious and into Death Saves mode, you just straight up die. (Not a mechanic of Necrotic damage in general). So right now, Vex is dead dead. She was not allowed Death Saves due to how the trap worked. * There are spells and rituals to bring dead people back, but they are costly and depending on DM (Dungeon Master) can be really difficult , or impossible to pull off.

[@DudeHunder]

Wait you're 25? Dam time flies by. You were 19 when I subscribed 😂

[@AAAndrew]

Mess around with the tomb of the favorite of the Goddess of Death, you may run into some traps that are more deadly than your normal ones. In DnD you can have total death, especially in lower levels or when you don't have a cleric who has revivify. I played in a game and we were level 1 characters. The rest of my party made a stupid decision to take on a group of skeletons. My character was a barbarian, so I went up to the front lines and was taken out and failed my death saves. My character died-died. I had to make a new character. It happens.

[@stevencavanagh7990]

I think the reason Dragons feel overrated in shows is that they are nearly always dipicted as dumb animals that simply follow orders. the Irony is they should have listened to Scanlan and gone to Marquet. I have a very bad feeling about that Card Deck they took from Gilmores if it's what I think it is. When they anounced the name of Episode 3 every Critters heart Sank we knew what was coming.

[@Krash2o]

When a character dies but you've seen too much Fairy Tail:

[@passenthrualaska3293]

GM or DM, depending on what they prefer, Game Master or Dudgeon Master... in the Critical Role stream they tend to go with GM, but not always exclusively.

[@robertolanzone]

Yeah I think Game Master is the general term for that type of role in RPGs, while Dungeon Master is more of a D&D specific term. I might be wrong on that, but anyways hope Shark reads this and understands Dungeon Master was right

[@killezio3killezio342]

Shark would appreciate so much S2 of Vinland Saga

[@johnyshadow]

Yes! Let´s go!

[@vedji1857]

Can’t wait for his reaction to 2-6 and grogs infamous bouncy pecs

[@the_enderslayer]

LETS FUCKING GO

[@dormishaeli]

LETS GO!!!

[@melissanotthewebsbusiness7272]

I don't think he reads the comments? Has someone dropped the game play vs. animated link? Really hope he sees it, if it's the only one

[@TheMusicalBoy93]

Are dragons *really* overused when it’s in the context of the progenitor of their modern pop culture relevancy? This is a series based on a campaign of Dungeons and *DRAGONS* afterall. The clue’s kinda in the name

[@princeofmars444]

ahhhh the owl house finale is out i can’t wait to see you watch it

[@a.mseymour180]

1:15:40 kratos looking mf

[@TheMasterOfByGames]

Honestly, I feel Vampires are more overused rather than Dragons.

[@danielledaniel1900]

Vampire,dragons, werewolves and zombies are overused.

[@spinzo5]

will you cover season 6 of my hero academia soon?

[@dehro]

the older they get, the more powerful dragons get.... these are ancient dragons, the most powerful... dragons like that have a lair, and the lair usually responds to the nature of its dragon.. Thordak being a fire dragon, it stands to reason that it would be all about lava. in DnD it is not uncommon for the presence of a powerful dragon in a region to affect the entire ecosystem of that entire region Dungeon Master is the proper name for that role in DnD... in other roleplaying games, the generic Game Master, GM, is used... I believe that people at some point tried using DM in other games as well and Wizards of the coast, the company owning and making the game, sent some nasty lawyery letters their way... so everybody just settled on GM.... however GM can also be used in DnD.. If you want to be pedantic, every DM is a GM, but not every GM is a DM.. that said, I doubt anybody would make a fuss about it (Well.. except WotC). Viktor the black powder dealer is an improvised character by the DM Matt Mercer and became an instant hit in the show... to the point that for their halloween episode, that was Matt's costume of choice.

[@a.mseymour180]

3:00 your weird

[@Stayin67]

Let’s gooo

[@mariaalicetavaresmoreiraal91]

🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@SadieSmiles47]

YES

[@Ozgarthefighter]

Also as an FYI, the dragons will be the main focus of season 2 AND the already confirmed season 3. But don't worry, they don't figure as prominently in later arcs or other Mighty Nein.

[@britishronin1958]

Any one know when the next Scooby doo vid will be ?

[@JJ.blastboss]

Nj

[@JJ.blastboss]

The owl house season 3!l finle

[@rafaekamran9172]

When we getting our scooby doo reactions back? :(

[@SailorDee]

You should join his Discord server to get updates and access his schedule

[@MonkeyDLuffy-te4ky]

Bro please make a video on "Josee the tiger and the fish"

[@bogdancalin101]

Come on with Owl House man!!!

[@yousuf1131]

What happened to haikyuu?

[@Darkerlet]

Final ep for owl house is out

[@AbdulElah77]

Are we getting Haikyuu soon?

[@So_Viet8032]

God, this guy's second name is "yapping" cause he never shuts up. Like really, shut the freak up for five freaking seconds, dude. Everything else is great tho

[@izzypzy8716]

First!