High Rollers: Aerois

[@RicochetD11]

1:04:00 "We don't want to hurt you" Aila, frozen in time on the floor: Speak for yourself

[@SnakeManH155]

“We humiliated you in your own domain, Grazz’t, we’ll have no trouble destroying you here.” This is why quill is my favourite character.

[@phaerlax]

Mark Hulmes, what a goddamn amazing roleplay encounter. The thing with the constantly changing rules? Genius. Knocking it out of the park. Well done.

[@animewarrior3]

I don't like it because it doesn't make sense. Since she could have easily kept them from doing anything.

[@suntiger745]

@@animewarrior3 Theoretically, yes, but not in practice. Or, well, she did initially. But they found a way around that, which panicked Mesmera. Mark mentioned that all the rules were based in Mesmera's fears, losses and things she didn't want to face. That in turn affected things when she started to change them to confront the Stormchasers' actions. She was not making thought-through and clear changes, just throwing out something in fear/pain and desperation. Which in the meta sense is the DM's way to make the encounter tricky and non-conventional, but not unwinnable. :)

[@phaerlax]

@@animewarrior3 She's irrational

[@Adrian_Lee6113]

This was absolutely fantastic. Such a great encounter!

[@animewarrior3]

@@suntiger745 I've made my case in other comments, suffice to say that I think the encounter was a great idea, with sub optimal execution. If you ignore the fact she could make a rule to render the entire group incapacitated, save perhaps Nova, or speed up time to 1 second is 1 day. Then it was a fun encounter. I'm just nitpicky because I really like high rollers and I have had issues with power mad GMs that like trains which is what this whole place felt like.

[@angriestjoker]

I don’t care what some people say, the Mesmera fight was an awesome way to do an encounter in a game where combat and killing the enemy is almost always the choice because everything is geared towards it. That fight required outside the box thinking and understanding of the emotional weight of the enemy to ultimately save her, not kill her. And it seems like everyone had a great time too, so that’s all that matters. Plus it makes sense narratively, that Mesmera wouldn’t want to kill people that she believes is being manipulated by Thalia just like she was.

[@gigrim54495]

Lucius! You have Elemental Adept (Cold)! You ignore cold resistance! (Seriously high level game play does make it super hard to track everything you can do)

[@animewarrior3]

*laughs in pathfinder and 3.5* but no. 5e has alot. But coming from the older editions its really not THAT much. But just hopping into 5e I could see it.

[@gigrim54495]

High level game play in any edition of D&D or it's derivatives is hard to track, because you have multiple different things to keep track of. Older editions were definitely special though. And 3.5 was...it's own thing. Still better than AD&D or 2e though.

[@Saintvallen]

and counterspell is 60 feet, not 30. Don't know how often he has it wrong and neither he nor mark calls it out.

[@kyleweir689]

in my opinion, the things you need to track aren't that bad... because most things you have from lower levels and should become second nature. he's had elemental adept for a long time, he should know immediately that he ignores resistance

[@kyleweir689]

You also get to choose which creatures are affected by slow you don't need to negotiate it around your allies

[@yaboitortellini6136]

Rosemeadow the minute Graatz appeared: "His vibes are absolutely rancid I'm out."

[@maxboot2115]

1:58:18 "...I have a Dinosaur..." Oh Rhiannon, you absolute sweetheart. I love your Dinosaur.

[@furrdazzler]

That multiclass combo reveal by Kim and Mark was amazing

[@definitelyarealperson248]

Especially since we didn’t know the exact class she was at the time so it kept us guessing

[@quinnsinclair7028]

@@definitelyarealperson248 I guessed Echo Knight Fighter based on how it was described.

[@definitelyarealperson248]

@@quinnsinclair7028 well i only watch dnd. Haven’t played yet. So i had never heard of the subclass before now.

[@N3kr0n15]

>3:30am, night shift security guard. >doing my roves and falling asleep as I walk. Tom "we made you look like a bitch in you your own house, in front of all of your friends" All of the heat from that burn woke me up

[@ducttapemaster1408]

D&D Podcasts are such a godsend to security officers speaking from experience lmao

[@arcticbanana66]

Mesmera: [freezes everyone in place] Nova: "Behold the power of my Stand."

[@tl_88]

Mark this encounter was TREMENDOUS. Incredible. 25/10.

[@Jopsyduck]

Divine smite, when a fiend or undead absolutely, positively MUST die.

[@RobAllenB]

I'm pretty sure that Tiamat roar Mark made at the beginning was the same metal dragon sound he couldn't recreate before.

[@salamanda550]

You know, during the "you can't speak" bit, I was hoping people would remember Quill can lip-read, and they don't actually need to make sounds to let him understand stuff.

[@stumbling_]

He dropped the observant feat a while back

[@salamanda550]

@@stumbling_ oh shoot, I didn't notice. Guess I could use it, eh? XD

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

@@stumbling_ I didnt know that you could drop feats.

[@slendertataGames]

​@@Blasted2Oblivion just like you can change classes at level 16: if the dm allows it, its fine

[@skeletalarkeus5728]

@@stumbling_ pretty sure he used it a few episodes ago whatcha mean

[@hannahbeingdumb]

Wow. just wow. The way you guys just keep pumping out banger episodes like this! I am shocked this hasn't been picked up for a full netflix series

[@travisboothe5670]

These episodes keep getting better and better!!!

[@debuyarou7463]

Warlock plus Echo Knight sounds really nice. Plus Action Surge.

[@TonytheTono]

Just popping in to say even though I'm like 70 episodes behind (it's been hard for me to keep up with series since the pandemic), I love high rollers and I can't wait to catch up! I hope you're all doing well!

[@newtondood]

Wow, so you're getting to the arc that makes this episode happen, lol. No spoilers, but 60-90 is where it gets good. Happy watching!

[@jaco-bean1286]

Watch one episode a day

[@mr-boo]

Kim! Love this play :D. It's so Nova to be intelligent enough to be busy with, and finally overcoming, the fly limitations of the place. Only to find out that it isn't entirely wise to do so, then again finding an intelligent way to make it work nonetheless. Great times.

[@thatlycantomboy]

Mark and Kim work together to give me several heart attacks; just another day watching High Rollers

[@mme.veronica735]

2:38:28 You do get a contested ability check. "If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to *try* to shove a creature with your shield" (pg. 170 of the PHB) Sheild Master let's you make a shove attack as a bonus action if you are wielding a sheild and use your action to attack. A shove is your strength athletics versus the target's strength athletics or dexterity Acrobatics. A shove, while able to move an opponent 5ft, can also be used to knock an opponent prone (pg. 195) giving melee allies advantage on attacks and giving the target disadvantage on attacks, until the target can move and stand up (pg. 292, Prone Condition)

[@gothmissstress]

Seeing Grazz't was just WOW. This entire encounter is WOW Edit: Quill with that healing spell was AMAZING. Good job tom

[@dylankristensen3709]

Owe, failing a save on a nat 20 feels awful

[@RossMKitson]

What a solid episode: so much to think about... **Spoilers*** I was in two minds about the first half and it's 'rules.' it was a great idea, and I think Mark got away with that constant alteration in player agency because his players are so invested in the narrative. I think there's tweaks and development he could have made to make it feel less controlling: perhaps high DC saves, or quirky use of skills. But I like the clever use of 'points' to convince Mesmera. And the mirrors were cool. The Graazt scrap brought it back to me how single opponents, even CR23 ones need to be really really hard to offer challenge. Mark' s avoidance of altering stats is admirable, but not one I'd share. Even Demon Princes struggle against Level 16 characters with their busted action economy, and crazy paladin bonuses. So I suppose it's tweak, or minions (I thought Mark would use the latter TBH). Finally, Nova. Now that was just superb from Kim and Mark. Top DM and player moment there, allowing flavoured re-design. Really leading into the campaign end-game, and I'm hoping for Nova vs. Starbane.

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

I have to disagree about player agency here. Controlling the playing field doesn't impact that. It's basically just a different kind of skill challenge. Everytime they scored a point they were exercising their agency. It's just a creative puzzle.

[@fdragon77fk]

I know this is way late and not a huge thing but unleash incarnation is part of the attack action, not a separate bonus action thing. It's limited by uses not action economy

[@lloydpetersen2]

Quill Enters the Gate and disintegrates. A little side note won't have kairi known something was off before entering the portal since she would have remembered how to fly suddenly.

[@ShadeWolf09]

Holy shit, this episode. Mark knocking it out with that RP encounter, Nova's incredible scenes with Tiangong, that fucking fight at the end! This is some of the best DnD I've seen. Hurrah to you, High Rollers. Good luck topping this one, Mark.

[@JacobODell_]

That portent was such a great play by Tom

[@yuzik01]

That was incredibly epic! I don't know how I'm still alive because I was holding my breath since the moment of entering the throne room, and it only kept getting thicker from there! I LOVED IT so much. And you made me so happy with the Quill plushie coming back! I'm a loser and want one too :3

[@angelicboy6]

SPOILER WARNING: . . . . . I cried when Kim described humanoid Tiangong.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I took a BIG risk clicking that "read more" button. Luckily I already got that far and I agree. It was awesome.

[@emmanuelacosta5371]

Party: *walks into tavern* "Can we order food?" Barkeep: "Meat or beet?" 2:19:02

[@AntlersAreCool]

Such an amazing encounter. How great to have a high level DnD encounter not dependent on combat but on the players creativity.

[@o.d.d.4080]

HA! Both Trott and Lucius attempted something in this episode and failed in similar circumstances. First Trott attempted to charm person DM Mark but Mark was immuned to his charmed effects and Lucius attempted dominate monster on Mezmera and also failed because she is immune to charmed effects. Lucius needs an encyclopedia on creatures immune to charmed spells after this. Failing dominate monster attempts 3 times in a row.

[@CVRDnBLOOD290]

Or just understand that fey beings are very difficult (even in the best circumstances) to charm

[@Zoonay]

"He is Lighning to resistance" - 2:07:26 I had to replay that moment a couple of times to make sure I'm not hearing things wrong. Mark had a lot of things to keep track it seems XD

[@michaellorsi6467]

Kirin is also on monster hunter world :) I like that one more. I tried taming one. Nope. Got impaled through the heart. x.x "et tu, kirin.. BLEGH!" A quill is a pen made from a bird's feather. She dipped a quill in ink, then began to write. 2. countable noun. A bird's quills are large, stiff feathers on its wings and tail.

[@GoddamitJmie]

Dont you ever dare make Kiyree cry ever again , you leave my little innocent harpy alone !

[@MystLunarabne]

3:05:35 A King and a great Ruler at only 12 inches?! Well that's quite the feat.

[@ElijahForLong]

More like, that's quite the foot! I'll see myself out

[@CJ-hh3gx]

Kim and I have similar feelings about Warlock. I have a Hexblade who will also be going Echo Knight.

[@GoddamitJmie]

I dont know why but this section with Nova in wibbily space talking to TienGong make me tear up like a little baby

[@27jools]

Second half is a yassss Tom segment

[@BetterKnownAsMalice]

They always forget about sentry’s aura that halves magic damage 😭

[@5hadow5talker]

This encounter should be written down in the patreon as a possible encounter for high level players!!!

[@DisappointedDragon]

Really love the fact theres a quill plushie can we get all the other toy storm chasers now

[@dylankristensen3709]

Yes please

[@violeth2255]

Lego and the other construction brick toy producers may make brick master nova a legally difficult toy to commission (particularly if you wanted to include rocket ship tiangong with her). Also, we've seen a bunch of KZbinrs commission orders of custom plushies from companies relatively recently, but nothing as far as I'm aware when it comes to custom action figures, dolls, knock off lego, or metal robot toys. So I suspect designing and producing the others as per their holiday special toy forms might be more logistically difficult than a plush.

[@stumbling_]

@@violeth2255 Yeah, I think they could do a He-Man inspire action figure for Aila and a Barbie doll-esque Lucious but those would be costly. I don’t think they’d ever do Lego Nova or Transformer Sentry.

[@DisappointedDragon]

@@violeth2255 oh I realize it's pretty much impossible I still want it XD

[@sarahc4004]

I was on edge through the whole episode! This was amazing! Tiangong had me weeping.

[@Adrian_Lee6113]

I finished this 15 minutes before the next episode goes live. 😄 ordered my Quil Plush and ready for more High Rollers! Awesome episode!

[@joshuachapman247]

Echo Knight, very cool.

[@Mewhunter5]

Just realized this today, but I have an Aarakocra Ranger/Rogue with the same Perception as Quill. Literal eyes of a hawk.

[@LevyTheHobbit]

I have finally caught up!!!! So happy!!!!

[@ErikBPG]

I straight up screamed when luscious tried dominate monster

[@Ozisl]

Epic. So epic. And Aila finally got to smack. Love y'all.

[@soulswiper5076]

I want to say thanks to the high roller crew! I stumbled upon some of their videos last year and have been watching ever since and have started playing D&D for the first time. You guys are great! Keep up with the amazing stories and roleplay!

[@jembru]

Great episode. I waited all week for the podcast that didn't show up, then remembered there's a video version every Thursday. Glad I didn't have to miss this one!

[@kellygingrich4302]

Brilliant encounter Mark, and on the spot thinking from everyone! spoilers THAT TIANGONG MOMEN, chills Amazing to see the rp side of Kim changing things up - I'm excited to see where Fighter Nova goes, very interesting. Not the direction I thought Kim would go when she said she wanted to multiclass at some point, but I hope she enjoys it! It works really well with Tiangong.

[@aramere3650]

and to think that 20 years ago, Jessie didn't think Andy would want a one-armed cowboy doll... Also i can see the Quill monologue now: "Years of guild training wasted!"

[@catswithlasers]

I just saw that Quill was back in the store.... three months ago. RIP being on the VOD Squad Edit: Uh, apparently Quill is back up today!?

[@travisboothe5670]

There were some very clutch moves in this episode!!!

[@JosiahIronclad]

lol Kim straight up saying she loves Tiangon more than Thalia! FOR SHAME!

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

Some people would definitely say that about their children or God if they happen to be Christian. It's not usually a problem or something their partner would have much of a problem with. Still I did find it shocking to a degree myself.

[@alex16cole]

Really fab episode. Well done all. Good stuff. Great combat with Mesmera, Mark, too mwa

[@GothicKitty1313]

* cuddles quill plush * I have a feeling I'll need this for this episode :')

[@teelehansen4995]

Worst part of being a week behind on VOD Squad, you miss important things like the Quill plushie! Gone again already. 😭

[@GratziePlays]

Is Marks Graz'zt voice giving anyone else serious Jareth from Labyrinth vibes?

[@violeth2255]

In Kim's defense for wanting to put her breastplate back on, doffing armor takes time as well. Since she only used 1 round to start doffing the armor before the situation changed and donning medium armor takes 5 times as long to fully don as it does to fully doff, I'd say it would be fair to allow her to undo 1 round of doffing with 5 rounds of donning the armor using her action and bonus action to do so rather than the full 5 minute time needed to usually don a breastplate from scratch. Notedly my call weirdly punishes medium armor users the most for re-donning partially doffed armor. Light armor and shields both have a 1:1 doff:don ratio, while heavy armor has a 1:2 ratio.

[@chuckallerston9997]

Kill the bird. Quill opens magic cape and a flock of pigeons flys out

[@crim-yd6cq]

I took a d4 of psychic damage every time mark said unleash incarnation is a bonus action 🤣

[@falcon10649]

So anyone else get the stardust crusaders or golden wind themes in the head when nova and tian'gong merged? Or Number One from bleach because that's some bankai level stuff

[@btoneking]

Hey Mark. The Echo is considered an object not a creature. Crawford confirmed it.

[@Stormrider1138]

True, but it can easily be retconned for lore reasons because it's Tiangong manifestation.

[@ElijahForLong]

​@@Stormrider1138 I ran a campaign with a player whose pc was this cyborg possessed by a spirit. His echo was flavored as a ghost.

[@GeneTay07]

Welp, this was just pretty freaking cool

[@scavengerjedi16yup37]

A nat 20 is always a success, doesn’t matter if it’s in combat or not

[@little_lilac3262]

54:00 description of human form Tiangong, noting this for myself 👍

[@violeth2255]

I'm guessing Mark is a Dragon Ball fan. That whirlwind of glass shards move description is straight up one of Janemba's attacks.

[@stevenlannon1020]

Or Harry Potter lol

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

Still remember Johan on the flying nimbus. Though technically you could attribute the DB flavour more to Ravs than Mark. Until this of course.

[@sharpshot014]

Gotta love OP Echo Knights (what Nova is in the Tiangong form), give em Great Weapon Master and watch everything fly

[@travisboothe5670]

What a fun way to solve the reverse gravity problem!

[@dangerens]

Hey, when are you planning on uploading the two most recent episodes in podcasts? I love listening to them while driving, for that purpose podcasts are perfect :)

[@kamaljohnson2200]

Shoutout to that one guy who watches Stupendium

[@clara931]

Is anyone else missing the vod for this episode? Or has there been any information as to why it is not on Spotify yet?

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

What? VOD stands for Video On Demand. I don't quite understand why you'd call a sound file that.

[@WAZAM7]

one hell of an episode holy crap

[@kingche3288]

!!SPOILERS!! Lucius: Fine just take my soul *as a joke* Grazzt: *teleports behind you*

[@travisboothe5670]

Roll for emotional growth!

[@Greenfire714]

love every episode

[@ducttapemaster1408]

Spoilers for MUCH later in the campaign and the episode:. . . . . . . . . . . . 56:29 this scene hits different after Nova saves her people..."Absolutely necessary" 😢

[@skyfire_swe8520]

Amazing and creative encounter with Mezmera, but Mark should indeed have buffed Graz from the original, because once again the combat session is barely exciting and too easy for the party. No other enemy has felt more intimidating than him throughout this campaign, so having him be this weak kind of ruins it.

[@Ryquard1]

i think this is not the last time we see him, im guessing he will be appearing in a team tag battle with Sarkira

[@mme.veronica735]

That was a CR24 monster? It is unbelievable that Graz wouldn't even be dealing 40 damage a strike, He is a demon prince, an utter ruler of a plane of existence and Wizards of the Coast thought that was enough for him? At least give him two actions on his turn. Aila was more of a threat to the party than him.

[@skyfire_swe8520]

@@mme.veronica735 I am not sure, but Mark mentioned in the episode that Graz is a named character, and that he therefore didn't want to alter his character sheet. I think he should have altered it, he barely scratched the party as a whole and it ruined Graz as a character. At least bring in 3 demons to fight with him. All combat encounters for quite some time has been completely lacking any challenge. Please Mark, buff the enemies! :)

[@arcticwiz2249]

Thing about demon princes? They never fight alone, definitely should've had a Balgura or Erineyes or something appear to help him

[@skyfire_swe8520]

@@arcticwiz2249 Definitely

[@sheevanevahdunrong1874]

Beautiful as always

[@frankyich1812]

can someone cut out the quill plush commercial, we need it as a extra video for reasons

[@frankyich1812]

Quill plush!

[@Killerwolf3241]

Man I think trott just needs to give up on using dominate monster in combat. Everything is either immune to charm or too weak to be worth it. He's better just using it out of combat or leaving it all together

[@quinnsinclair7028]

Is there a mirror missing or am I just thinking that cause I have OCD and there's three in a space built around six? Maybe that's one she's suppressing?

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

I actually thought that Mark was going to have the personifications move because there are six on the map. More likely he had the idea but this is the best map he could find.

[@Dracoswizard]

Whats the point of these all powerful rules if they can be changed in an instant. They seem very arbitrary

[@moonwalker1654]

It wouldn’t have halted the second time due to elemental adapt

[@BigCheddarMC]

Sick episode

[@Spiceodog]

I know I’m way to late, but technically the echo is a object according to Jeremy Crawford

[@stevenlannon1020]

Is there a reason that the Podcast's are suddenly a week behind?

[@lessonsinfailing]

Nice specs Katie.

[@t2wave]

Haven't finished the episode yet. If 1 second = 1 hour then do nothing for two rounds and you have a long rest.

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

Not much benefit to it since the encounter is more a skill challenge and puzzle combo than an actual fight. Not to mention ignoring the consequences for half the time Thalia has left to live.

[@timvanderlaan5444]

Love the show

[@mikolajkropinski276]

3:01:36 holy molly tom and mark new face boy ship it

[@dethmin173]

Amazing

[@chuckallerston9997]

What no unicorn charge to inpale the devil

[@multi-class-rules5962]

For the algorithms

[@madjax6613]

So mesmeria is basically star and stripes from my hero

[@AoAD]

Kinda, though all archfey have this ability in their domains.

[@heccmcgee4352]

Ok DC 23 on dominate monster is fucking cracked demon Prince or not