When you ruin the DM's CR17 monster encounter | Critical Role Highlight

[@EyebrowsGaming]

"If you see a turtle in a snowstorm lying on its back, don't help it." - Taliesin Jaffe

[@EyebrowsGaming]

Also, cherish the image of Yasha stood in the snow giving a turtle a belly rub while shouting "WHAT ARE WE DOING???"

[@tannerarmstrong1496]

he actually was making a blade runner reference I believe.

[@michaelmcgee8189]

@@tannerarmstrong1496 true, the end of Tal's quote is "you don't help it. why?" asking why someone isn't helping the turtle on its back is part of the Voight-Kampff test

[@EyebrowsGaming]

@@tannerarmstrong1496 I missed it completely! Good spot 😁

[@johnr797]

Speaking from experience

[@gcollins1992]

I love how every once in a while, other PROFESSIONAL VOICE ACTORS are like... "What the fuck is THAT sound?" about Matt's ridiculous vocal skills.

[@OriginalCreatorSama]

Marisha had a look of recognition. like "Oh THAT'S what that sound was for last week!!"

[@toddalexander5015]

​@OriginalCreatorSama Just imagine that noise piercing the air out of nowhere when you're in the kitchen, making breakfast

[@jaksenlane839]

id shit myself LOL @@toddalexander5015

[@jaredpierce8477]

Marisha "Dammit, he was trying out new monster noises in the bedroom again!"

[@Dylan-qj8gj]

my farts sounds better than him

[@Draconightfury]

Poor Matt sounds so sad everytime he says “it’s, the turtles turn…”

[@ivandankob7112]

He stunned them all for a whole freaking minute, it was a well deserved retaliation 😂

[@crazyrandomsquid7732]

The absolute terror on Laura's face as they all hear "everyone fails... except you" is _priceless_

[@philmcbride3424]

But she still clutched so hard! Laura is a God

[@TheOriginalElkstone]

4:28 Ye

[@iitstre_4550]

@@philmcbride3424Dude between this and the cupcake, Laura might be the greatest D&D player I’ve ever seen.

[@iitstre_4550]

Matt heard “I’m gonna flip him over” and you know his enthusiasm levels fell through the floor. As a DM, you know he had to have been HURTING during this fight 😂.

[@kevinwheeler7427]

That trilling sound though. Matt's vocal chords aren't human.

[@operative2136]

Man, you know he's amazing when even other voice actors have a reaction along the lines of "holy crap!".

[@TieflingKumasi]

I dare say he could even give Dee Bradley Baker a run for his money

[@hrodga]

@@operative2136 Everyone but Taliesin; he just looked over like "What's that, Cthulhu? Oh, it's just Matt."

[@jacoboblanco1555]

I love to practice making random creepy noises, always have. Matt is my idol.

[@PrinnyBlack]

As the description for Beast Roar in Bloodborne says, "(...) The indescribable sound is broadcast with the caster's own vocal cords, which begs the question, what terrible things lurk deep within the frames of men?"

[@iDongu]

campaign 3 better be all the enemies they polymorphed banding together to share their grievances

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

they already took it out on Fjord.

[@afrosamurai3847]

Nope just really boring tbh can't even get through the first episode, just 4 hours of meh.

[@gracehuang8571]

@@afrosamurai3847 campaign 3 hasn’t even been announced what are you talking about

[@marcusalm7350]

All monks with polymorph, somehow

[@afrosamurai3847]

@@gracehuang8571 Thought this exandria junk was campaign 3

[@bamcki991]

Matt was so fucking defeated during this fight. You can tell that he was excited to hit them with that monster and create an epic and dangerous battle, he spent a lot of time making the miniature to make this even more terrifying, but then it turned in to a turtle and a fucking single piece of glitter on the table after like 2 turns and everyone's just starts fucking playing with it.

[@TieflingKumasi]

Well don’t forget everybody but Jester got whammied the way they did. What choice did they have?

[@Phiro00]

Everyone had fun tho.

[@TieflingKumasi]

@@Phiro00 Isn’t that the biggest point? I think if I were a DM, I’d be happy with my campaign going off the rails as long as my party enjoyed themselves

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

@@TieflingKumasi precisely.

[@ProfX501]

@@TieflingKumasi You’d be at least a little disappointed about the hours you spent

[@skracha2]

other dms: noOo you caN't turn my boSs into a tuRTLeE matt: *provides a blanket for the mini of the tortoise* "and... is now covered"

[@TieflingKumasi]

“Whoever rolled the highest was gonna be the target.” Travis: 😐

[@seanmetts7341]

I have taken your natural twenty and have turned its fury back on you, Travis!

[@judgedredd2039]

I don't know a small part of me feels whatever Travis rolled the bunny was coming for him because Matt knew star razer was up and could get this fight back on track.

[@uselessmitten7836]

"Did it succeed? Now it's a regular fucking turtle." - Liam

[@nixord54]

All around me are familiar faaacess...

[@fitzchivalry728]

"i pull my ankle back" "... yep!" "Riveting. "

[@Nhahuhsbbjf]

This really shows how good of a dm Matt is, they completely screwed up his epic encounter and he rolled with the punches and made it really funny

[@sammy431]

“Hard hitting turtle violence” - I love D&D so much.

[@Quadraxis]

Matt: "You take a point of damage! :D" Travis: "Pfft okay." Matt: *grins maniacally* "... You have Star Razor up, don't you." Travis: ".... oh no..." Matt: "Oh yes."

[@JD-wu5pf]

Gotta respect the hustle Matt put in trying to salvage his encounter lmao. But sometimes you fail two consecutive Wisdom saves

[@SarahDiSalvo]

🤣🤣 love it

[@HeroHearth]

Can I get a time stamp?

[@asherandai2633]

@@JD-wu5pf he couldn’t pass them anyway. -3 to wisdom saves is killer at high levels. It’s a bit of a gripe I have with the save system actually. Once you get to higher levels it’s basically impossible to make any of your saves unless it’s the type you’re proficient in. Another reason why monks are OP.

[@JD-wu5pf]

@@asherandai2633 Yeah, 5e is a pretty trash system.

[@Kalenz1234]

"I just watch the turtle spin. " Epic high level dnd shit right there.

[@SleepStarvedNerd]

I love how Taliesin wasn't fazed at all by Matt's creature noise and only reacted to the others reacting to the noise. Lol

[@C33Fernandez]

Idk, kinda looks like he's just checking his spells for this encounter...? And Matt grabs his attention with the trill for like 2 seconds and he goes back to prep xD

[@TheJim9191]

Because Tal has seen far worse in the Far Realm, where he was born 20,000 years ago.

[@beaug.2326]

Just another day for that eldrich being

[@anderzdraconian1276]

@@beaug.2326 He only looked up because he was thinking it sounded similar to one of the eldritch beings he used to hang out with in the ancient times.

[@cjvs1604]

You ever try to intimidate a sentient pyramid?

[@TheOffkilter]

As a DM there are fewer high level spells more freaking annoying than polymorph. I feel Matts pain intimately lol.

[@pbentle1990]

We have a few spells around our table like that: fly, polymorph, and fucking color spray.

[@e4Bc4Qf3Qf7]

This is why you always give your big single target monsters legendary resistances

[@eksentrysyti]

It's why I'll always pick up polymorph as a caster... it's so strong and is one of the few spells that can bail the party out of certain doom.

[@e4Bc4Qf3Qf7]

@@sirhamalot8651 or just give your big bad guy a legendary resistance. Or don’t use only one bad guy, like you should be doing anyways.

[@e4Bc4Qf3Qf7]

@@sirhamalot8651 Mat had one creature as his bad guy with no legendary resistances and, as you saw, it got ruined by a polymorph. This isn't a story that says ban polymorph, its a story that says to change your encounter design to account for save or suck abilities.

[@brianhalligan9268]

the fact that everyone was stunned for so long honestly there was a reasonable belief that a TPK could have happened after all those failed saves if not for the polymorph. yes the polymorph was a clutch way to stop the encounter a very funny but in game that one spell by Jester likely saved every single member of the Nein from potentially certain death.

[@sha2143]

It sounded like they were rolling saves every round though, so not that rough unless you get really bad luck.

[@csarmii]

@@sha2143 they were. A 20+ DC con save is not a joke.

[@choochoobob123]

@@sha2143 This monster was in EGtW, and it's got some nasty stuff we didnt get to see. Sure, they get to repeat the DC20 save at the end of every turn and when they get hit. But it's multiattack versus stunned creatures is devious. +15 to hit, so nearly guaranteed for Caleb and Fjord, and for Beau at an AC of 21 it's a 80% chance to hit. 3d8+9 piercing, 3d6 cold isn't that much, but a DC 20 dex save or be swallowed. A kraken is grapple, THEN swallow, but this worm is a straight swallow. Stunned creatures insta-fail this save. It does this to two creatures a turn. Swallowed creatures take 6d6 at the start of their turns. We didn't see this, but when it gets reduced to 0 hp it explodes in a 60ft radius, DC 20 dex or take 8d6 cold damage. Swallowed creatures instafail. I genuinely thought it would TPK until she said "polymorph", then I wasnt worried at all.

[@phillipsmith3423]

@@choochoobob123 Dang that sounds like a TPK waiting to happen even WITHOUT the stun effect. Especially when the melee characters also getting hit with cold damage when they manage to hit it.

[@adrianrandom3448]

@@phillipsmith3423 I haven't played DnD before just watched tons of content for it, but I really think Stun effects are cheap and shouldn't exist, and I say this for both Players and enemies. Like, what if your whole team just gets fucked by an illithid mind blast or something else that you could potentially never recover from?, Also same for a DM you design something only for it to get stunned for ages by a monk. But what do I know about game balance tbh

[@BowChickaHonkHonk1]

It's sad that they had to end the campaign because they didn't have higher level turtles to face. They should add some in the next book.

[@Drekromancer]

For real! I mean... the Tarrasque is kinda like a turtle... 👀

[@Drekromancer]

Also: you have the most concerningly evocative name I've ever seen 😅

[@nathanrex8037]

What about,,, the zaratan?

[@sharkcerer]

They did!

[@jw__11]

I mean, there is the Horizonback in the Explorers Guide... But they never had an opportunity to fight those

[@shimmyking4]

Favorite Parts: Fjord: Natural 20! Matt: Whoever rolled the highest was gonna be the target Fjord: -_- Matt: That's a 17? Fjord: To hit?! Matt: Yeah Fjord: That's my AC!

[@mitchellsheridan5252]

Lmao at the AC

[@kodeyhoneter1403]

@@mitchellsheridan5252 17 is a pretty good AC.

[@toddelmsworth640]

Matt: “Wait!… you have Star Razer up, don’t you?” Travis: “I do. OH!😱”

[@parker2121]

The day Fjord decided he's never going to the zoo again

[@nathanieltremblay1495]

The screech he made was probably the most realistic sound I have heard anyone make for a creature ever

[@Dramatic_Gaming]

"You are all stunned..." The party's stun dispenser: "FUCK!"

[@Jchmcom]

8:18 "Its still gonna attack as a bunny?!" *Laughs in Holy Hand Grenade*

[@jessdickensvo]

So I tried something like this once in my game. I turned a lightning elemental into a kitten. I could not catch it (we were on a sky ship and I was gonna throw him off) and it scratched me. I then failed my concentration check on 1 point of damage, and it turned back and by that point the rest of the party had moved to deal with the other elemental so I was by myself with the one that hadn’t taken any damage (I was the bard) and I was in trouble.

[@uncleasmo657]

Always go for frog, lowest chance for getting out with only +1 acrobatics and 0 effective attacks to break concentration, can also breathe air and water so can be used in multiple scenarios. Hard to think of on the fly, kitten was a good one!

[@theadultdemon]

This is why we turn them into turtles

[@arancourt5623]

Fjord getting jumped by small fluffy animals is karma for Chutney igniting the flames of the Great Elf Rebellion.

[@Kadel___]

II just realized that you wrote this waaay before Travis's new character for campaign 3 was reviled.

[@arancourt5623]

@@Kadel___ lol. I'm still waiting for grog to pop up somewhere down the line as a crochety old Goliath with severe anger issues

[@arancourt5623]

@@Kadel___ also, that's chetney pockapee? Pockapy?. Not chutney chocolatecane.

[@TheBlarggle]

@@arancourt5623 Pock O'pea

[@panagiotisarkomanis]

​@@arancourt5623 what do you want you dork

[@maormeltzer4969]

One of the best encounters for C2 IMO. The tension and panic when all but Jester failed was sick. It's a good lesson for D&D players as well. Be creative and you can get yourself out of very sticky situations. You don't have to beat the monster to death in order to win, other ways can be faster and more economic (Less resources used).

[@jasonreed7522]

Also, remember when the banished an interdimensional monster winning the fight, then took like 9 rounds of environmental damage (boiling water), just to bring it back because it was covered in loot. That was hilarious.

[@maormeltzer4969]

@@jasonreed7522 Yeah the Vokodo fight was great, also with Caleb's final move.

[@LHColliderX]

We are trained with video games that we have to get a kill to get the reward. Thankfully DnD dosent have to follow that.

[@Awes0m3n3s5]

Honestly, it's not that creative. They'd been casting polymorph for around 60 sessions now. This enemy had no way to deal with high level casters, other than the aoe stun effect. So it was just an obvious choice for Laura

[@atelalafford4794]

matt needs to invest more in non polymorphable monsters STAT

[@belindaluna2067]

To be fair it wasn't that long after this they started running into constructs that couldn't be polymorphed.

[@Flowerbandit7]

This is why I give certain boss monsters immutable form, so that they can't be polymorphed if I see it being abused constantly.

[@TieflingKumasi]

Or make creatures who get adversely affected by Polymorph

[@harrisonjones7420]

@@TieflingKumasi that is an interesting thought. What kinds of monsters? Any thoughts?

[@TieflingKumasi]

@@harrisonjones7420 thoughts on monsters or thoughts on creating a monster?

[@bendystrawz2832]

DM: We have a giant purple worm today. Player: We'll take the turtle. Other Player: OOH, a turtle? I pet it!

[@lucianrhagos7124]

See, you can totally see the pain that crossed Matt's face when the worm failed the second polymorph.

[@TragerM]

16:39 Matt's look................. "I'm being all serious and descriptive................. for a fucking turtle.......... they should be doing RESURRECTIONS by now............. but... they're petting it..... dear.. gawd..."

[@carocabrera7225]

It lacked the part when Liam says “Yasha went puff⬆️ puff⬇️. And the worm went puff⬇️PUFF⬆️”

[@Reepicheep-1]

"I'm going to pet his belly." And in a year or so, you can rub a gator belly too, Ashley!

[@Monkeespankr]

Travis' nat 20 making him the target was hilarious 😂😂😂 need to use that method in my games for picking targets

[@augustkruck6061]

I know it's a small thing, but as someone who rarely has enough down-time to be Up To Date (currently on ep 119) on CR, I'm really thankful that you listed the episode in your description. .....Not everyone does, and I've had a few things spoiled for me in the past. Not something I take crazy-serious, and I often prefer spoilers in some context, but I just wanted to appreciate you for it all the same. Thanks for giving me that option.

[@bearhall4919]

Wasn't there a blue dragon that got polymorphed in season 2 too?

[@nicksmith2033]

I have not had a genuine belly laugh in quite a while but when he flipped the turtle upside down i lost it... im talking a head tilted back belly laugh. As much as i feel for Mercer i loved this way to much!

[@guyperson7487]

I remember watching this live and it’s sound made me open my mouth in awe

[@datmanydocris]

Did something similar in one of my campaigns. DM sicked an enemy on us that was way to high level for us to beat at the time, a fire giant dreadnought when we were a level 7 party, likely expecting for us to run away. Instead, my wizard cast polymorph on it to turn it into a cat. Our Sorcerer then cast fly on himself, picked up the cat and flew upwards for 5 minutes. He then dropped the cat. Our DM did not have a limit on fall damage in our campaign. In 5 minutes, our sorcerer flew 3000 ft. into the air. That poor cat took 300d6 bludgeoning damage. A cat only has 2 hp, meaning all but 2 of that 300d6 damage transferred over to the fire giant when it poofed back. We reduced that poor fire giant to a puddle. IIRC, it took over 1000 damage.

[@nuru666]

Nicely done, you Kifished the giant :D

[@coreyparker1544]

Ummm I know dnd doesn’t use actual physics but technically terminal velocity for a cat can barely kill a cat that’s why you don’t hear of them falling to death

[@coreyparker1544]

Still cool

[@lovelyyolk9066]

@@coreyparker1544 Given that it was a dragon turned into a cat, it probably didn't know that a cat has to stretch it's body to not die due to the fall, so it was probably just flailing it's limbs into the air

[@shaggyplays5210]

@@lovelyyolk9066 Is a Fire Giant considered a Dragon? Actually curious cause I don't play D&D

[@markbishop675]

This is my favorite encounter from a comedic stand point, the bitterness Matt has in not being able to do anything, playing it "cool," while this epic confrontation turns into a big joke.

[@alekzanderor5489]

Matt can do anything starting with killing the turtle at anytime due to it being a reptile in an arctice snowstorm and ending with making up any scenario he wants to.

[@arwo1143]

You’re really happy as a DM, whenever this happens It’s amazing because it’s not just another fight, but a cool story you’ll remember I a DM of 1300h….

[@cobifennell8488]

Let's just take a moment to appreciate the talent behind Matt's impersonation of the winter wyrm that sounds like it should come from a soundboard

[@mb2001]

Whoa

[@LednacekZ]

Took me a couple of re-watches to hear Taliesin say , One-eyes purple people eater. That is some great hidden pun, man. Amazing .

[@brennangray8712]

That’s a pegboard nerds reference right? Or something else?

[@LednacekZ]

@@brennangray8712 i think it should be a reference to the Sheb Wooley 1958 song Purple people eater. There have been countless covers and even movies about it.

[@odinholmes3713]

I literally had this super sweet Mummy Lord planned out and I introduced the players to him early just to let them catch a glimpse of the bbeg and they snuck behind him with two bags of holding and sent him to the astral plane they were all around level seven and I've never been more proud of them

[@Ryan-qr3xg]

how did it go to the astral sea with two bags of holding?

[@odinholmes3713]

When two extra dimensional openings meet they create a sort of small black whole that traps things in the astral plane

[@odinholmes3713]

You can read it under the bag of holding in the DMG

[@Ryan-qr3xg]

@@odinholmes3713 im just imagining that one person is throwing the bag over it's head while the other is putting it over it's legs.

[@odinholmes3713]

@@Ryan-qr3xg technically it would suck them in too since it's a 10 ft radius so they used mage hand I also realize that bags of holding are too heavy for that but it was more fun to just allow it

[@jackmyers8687]

4:44 Matts face! It's the classic "have killed the party?" face that every DM knows

[@SwordofPsalms]

The way Matt says "Once again... Imagination!" at 18:47. Love it.

[@thepurpleperp4564]

This was the second time Laura tried to cast Guidance while having Polymorph up on a massive creature (both concentration spells). However in this case Matt said she didn't have an action. The first was while waterskiing in front of a polymorphed Dragon Turtle...

[@maormeltzer4969]

Yeah, Guidance is such a casual cantrip that you forget it's concentration. Happened to them quite often. Jester's duplicate is concentration and she dropped a couple of spells for that too (To be fair, it sucks that your Channel Divinity isn't that great and requires concentration).

[@damobeck1]

You forget these things in the heat of the moment.

[@Badusername2000]

the croc fight in EXU reminded me of this, just taking a thing that supposed to be super deadly and turning it on its back, or in this case, turning it into a turtle then turning it on its back

[@DanielPak831]

was looking for this

[@IceStormGale]

Probably the nicest way to deal with enemy creatures tbh

[@ErinBookNut]

I swear Matt had flashbacks to this when that happened.

[@naturalone6529]

You gotta feel for Matt as a DM. He planned out this awesome encounter and a sweet new noise, only for his players to Polymorph and screw around with it. Salt in an open wound.

[@kylebeardsley6200]

To be fair, CR 17 is less serious for a group of 7 PCs who are level 13ish. But yeah, Polymorph is a good trick.

[@CallistoTheWarriorQueen]

It could have been serious though with everyone failing their saving throws except Jester. Definitely the best move in the circumstances 😂

[@kylebeardsley6200]

@@CallistoTheWarriorQueen Definitely a good move on the players part; I'm not arguing that. But I've also been in Matt's shoes here with "well, my cool dangerous combat encounter just got reduced to bullying a turtle without hurting it. At least it's funny."

[@jasonreed7522]

Polymorph has a few common uses: Transportation (fly as eagles) Stealth (cat, sparrow, ect) Escape (Dragon --> painted turtle, PC's -> birds to gtfo from either a crumbling dungeon or a hostile party) Of course you can do anything your DM allows with a spell its definitely most obvious that if the dragon wasn't a dragon this encounter would be less deadly. Also consider more weaker enemies, so that if the party has 3 concentration slots hit them with 4 juveniles instead so that way at least one must die before polymorph is viable. But sometimes you just want a big scary monster.

[@ryancronwell6368]

@@jasonreed7522 look at it this way, they could have used fly or another polymorph and had a party member fly high into the air then drop it from 600+ feet up. But they didn't.

[@Bancheis]

Polymorph was much better for handling BBEGs back in the 2nd Edition days. It was always fun to polymorph your DMs boss monster only to have it fail its system shock roll and die instantly. Any spell that made you age, changed your body size or shape, and generally anything other than healing that physically altered you triggered a system shock roll.

[@MrDjshifty]

If that polymorph didn't hit people would've died for sure

[@Rembanspellsong]

with a minute long stun, it probably would have been a party wipe as the worm would of just swallowed them all one by one while they were still stunned. In combat, a min is 10 rounds, which would have been more then enough.

[@ienzio7795]

It honestly would have been close to a tpk, I wouldn't be surprised if only Jester survived if the polymorph didn't land

[@damobeck1]

Fortunately that worm had like a 10% chance to resist the spell.

[@Rembanspellsong]

@@ienzio7795 without help, Jester would have never made it back to civilization and probably would have died from exposure/wild animal attack while she was exhausted or if she had tried to teleport out possibly been killed by the wonkiness of magic in the area

[@agilemind6241]

@@Rembanspellsong But they got to repeat the save after each turn so as we saw 6/7 were fine by round 3. Each person swallowed would probably trigger the Con save vs regurgitation on their turn. It would have been a Deadly encounter and maybe one would die before they manage to force the regurgitation but they would have won.

[@Ashtor1337]

The excitement on mats face when they all fail except Laura was great. To bad mat should have remembered cold damage. Put any reptile in that cold a place and it will take damage.

[@bopqw1055]

technically yes and no reptiles are coldblooded which means itll fall asleep/hibernation before it actually freezes to the point itll be hurt they would still have enough time to just leave before it reverted back due to spell running out or actual dmg

[@CorvusCorone68]

Polymorph isn't instantly disrupted by any damage whatsoever, it's just that the first form was a snow bunny that had 1 HP

[@steffanaarts-greven1352]

@@bopqw1055 not true. Reptiles don't go into a coma before feeling pain from the cold. It is just as agonising to them as it is to us. It was commonly used as a euthanasia method for cold blooded animals but not anymore as is turned out to be torture. That turtle should have taken cold damage.

[@bopqw1055]

@@steffanaarts-greven1352 i meant in terms of 5e not irl

[@Awes0m3n3s5]

@@bopqw1055 Where in the books does it talk about cold damage putting reptiles to sleep?! lmao

[@brianhalligan9268]

when the party of professional voice actors are in shock by the trill sound effect of the monster you know you are an absolute legend in all things

[@Matisyahuwu]

I LOVE that sound more and more every time I hear it.

[@jonshellmusic]

"Dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made you out of turtle…"

[@queen_nat4586]

The depression on matt's face when they just played with the turtle

[@LeBigsou]

It would be funny to have a meme league of baddies that got polymorphed by the M9 and now they hunt every Polymorph user in Exandria, relentlessly and of course they AREN'T immune to polymorph so they keep getting polymorphed anyway

[@x0Vinny0x]

I played around with Matt's Purple Wyrm sound. It's an inhale through a restricted airway (Top back of mouth) with the letters LELELELELE. Give it a try! :)

[@lornbaker1083]

A fellow expert in insect language I see. Where did you learn your dialect? The zerg, or perhaps Tyranids? I learned mine from the Arachnids of the planet klendathu, They have a bit of a country "southern America" accent Unlike the boston accents of zerg, Or the posh british accent of the tyranids.

[@AuntLoopy123]

THIS is why I love TABLE TOP D&D soooooooo much! I love Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II and Planescape Torment and Icewind Dale I and II, but let's fact it, you CANNOT DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS! The spontaneity and sheer WTFery you get at the table is unbeatable!

[@xDMrGarrison]

This is why legendary resistance is a thing.

[@Awes0m3n3s5]

Honestly, against a full party of 7, plus a potentially high-ish level fighter companion, Id give em this plus legendary or villain actions.

[@chrisvillanueva8662]

It’s like that snail meme but instead of a snail constantly approaching the group it is a tiny version of a turtle

[@hopefullyhopless]

The power of polymorph.

[@Sinful_Badger]

The happiness in Matt's eyes when the entire party feels genuine fear for their characters

[@eddiekeeble]

Our dm added this into our game the weekend it happened and none of us knew not to attempt to pick up, dropped through failed athletics check, caused 1 damage and lost our barbarian too it 😂😂

[@Explosive_Pineapple4124]

Watching this makes me excited for the shenanigans that are going to happen in campaign 3! I love this moment.

[@KainErrow]

Honestly love Sam and Travis the most in this group, they just seem the most into the game and have the best reactions.

[@crookeddesk]

pFFFF the moment she said "guidance" I was screaming "THAT'S CONCENTRATION NOOOOO" I was so relieved when that didn't happen LOL

[@MrNumWalrus]

Campaign 1 they hated the elderly Campaign 2 is turtle hate

[@severalightning6350]

1:12 Marisha looks like "He's been practicing that noise in the mirror all week, now I know why"

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

My first reaction to this: IT'S AN ALASKAN *BULL WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRM.*

[@drizzo4669]

Can we take a moment to appreciate that EPIC FROST WORM VOCALIZATION @0:58 👏👏👏

[@Comicsluvr]

CR 17 Creature...'I cast Fairy Fire' and the party goes 'Fuck yeah!' because Advantage versus the BBEG is always good.

[@trentl3492]

Marisha and Taliesin are both chill about the trill sound. She has heard it around the house and he probably tested it along with others against Taliesin

[@Welter87]

8:25 it's so holy grail ... if you didn't get the reference: "Monty Python-Killer bunny Holy Hand-grenade" kzbin.info/www/bejne/h36cc6ykn81lgs0

[@ArcienPlaysGames]

21:41 "I actually lost sight of it a little bit-" "It's in my hand" "OH" So fucking good. This entire encounter is legendary and I really hope that more-than-averagely-miffed-glitter-tortoise-stuck-in-a-snowstorm-trying-to-walk-on-ice returns in C3.

[@beawolfe]

Yeah we turned the bbeg into a caterpillar and then dropped the spell after shoving it into a small hole in the wall.. There was a great deal of force damage involved. The bbeg ended up having a secret evil compatriot who was immune to polymorph... Good times

[@TheKingKornflakes]

I can just see Matt practicing that trill in the mirror every night before bed

[@peterrojahn4230]

I won't lie, i saw this title and thought of a homegame with me and some friends. DM brought out a Dragonturtle. I booped him on the snoot and cast plane shift. fight over.

[@pheonixfire9517]

Oh wow, that hylarious.. Buuut i bet the DM wasnt happy

[@xXTheVigilantXx]

Laura/Jester has came up with a number of clever saves ( *cough* cupcake), but I have to say this was one of the funniest

[@jordanplanas176]

stuff like this is what makes me want to get into playing D&D

[@marlinisgreat]

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to Matt make that sound

[@aowens40601]

I'm trying to imagine how any other martial class would have handled this without some party deaths.

[@Regiwulf]

Polymorph is just the right spell for making Godzilla's into cute little baby turtles of utter chaos 😂

[@flounder2760]

Suddenly the frost worm wheels around and seems to be looking at you quite intently... you feel like this creature recognizes you... and it's not good that it does. Party: Raphael is that you? Hey there....buddy?

[@DavidGonzalez-zl3dz]

This worm should've been part of the fight with that white dragon.

[@armistice9122]

Matt looked so frustrated so many times, lol

[@gamo_1992]

18:25 The face of a defeated man

[@VoodooGMusic]

Lemme just say... an ability that can just stun the entire party for ONE MINUTE! JUST LIKE THAT! that's a TPK generator, if Jester hadn't saved that would have been a TPK.

[@Aeropunk08]

12:05 I know EXACTLY which video Travis has seen

[@ShtikMahn]

I feel so bad for matt in these moments. But they're also the best moments.

[@ICommentCuzILike]

the look of betrayal in matt's eyes when he hears the word' polymorph'. "ON it?" 6:56

[@Spectralyzed]

"It's usually the opposite! This is great for me!" Oh, Matthew... Poor, poor Matthew. If only you knew.

[@MrNumWalrus]

"I'm super happy rn" -matt *I'm about to ruin this man's life* -Laura

[@bminturn]

I watched all of campaign 2 and I'm up to date on campaign 3. This is hands-down my favorite encounter. I still dying laughing while watching it for the 2nd time.

[@ryanpratt6993]

There was so much hilariousness with Polymorph in that campaign

[@redskin122004]

"I'm super happy right now." Famous last words there before his creature got fucked over by a polymorph

[@Mantorok12]

I love how half the time they polymorph an enemy, it ends up turning back due to autodamage on attacking someone

[@FoxItAll]

Hunter out looking for food: oh look, a snow bunny. *polymorph wears off* Hunter: 😱💀

[@theinsanegamer1024]

So what did we learn here? CR 17 isn't enough for a group of insane weirdos with access to transformation magic.

[@ienzio7795]

Honestly CR in 5e is a joke, some CR 1/4 or 1 creatures would be scarier to face than some CR 10 creatures

[@acespades5722]

@@ienzio7795 looks angrily at intellect devoured

[@heikesiegl2640]

No lesson is: let the tutrle take cold dmg

[@deffdefying4803]

@@heikesiegl2640 turtles, being reptiles, wouldnt be immediately sideswiped by cold temperatures.

[@sharkcerer]

@@heikesiegl2640 except it wouldn’t be cold damage, it would be continuous rapid onset exhaustion

[@MatthewBrown-bf5lz]

It's 2023 now, can you imagine when they do this scene in the mighty nein animated series! 😂

[@PsychoNinjaFlea]

That worm mastered legs faster than I mastered crying

[@jamesperez988]

I remember watching this live. By far some of the funniest DnD I have ever seen

[@mrbeans2425]

I just imagine matt practicing the noises in front of a mirror.