High Rollers: Aerois

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

Does anyone else remember in C1 when they had a horde of undead to keep back for 1 minute and the popped an anti-undead bubble that totally eliminated the challenge? I think Mark remembered and decided to redo it.

[@cleverly9575]

I dont remember that where was it?

[@brandonfinney7126]

I don't actually remember that when in the campaign was it?

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

@@brandonfinney7126 Episode 28. Two and a half hours in.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

@@cleverly9575 Episode 28. Two and a half hours in.

[@cleverly9575]

@@Blasted2Oblivion omg thanks :D

[@travisboothe5670]

I love how kim yells out here special abilities like Yu-Gi-Oh trap cards! lol

[@BDTMack]

Me too! Haven't seen the episode yet but Tomb of Levistus is like one of her signature moves at this point. And rightly so. I can think of a few times it's been used to great effect and has saved Nova's life.

[@rentaspoon219]

Mark want to thank you for everything you've done, finally watched or listened all of the episodes, took me about a year. Finally started my first dungeons and dragons campaign, as DM (never played before) channeled my inner Mark. So thank you, this series has helped me so much.

[@rextitan]

I’m 9minutes in. The intro is running. I scrolled down to read comments and realised there were none. I clicked on this 37 seconds after it was uploaded. Unexpectedly early hype?

[@BDTMack]

Love the Thumbnail of Mark with his skelemans. So pumped for this Episode! Hope Katie gets well soon too.

[@travisboothe5670]

I can't believe how goofy they were being while so much danger was going on! lol

[@gothmissstress]

Amazing encounter, whatever everyone says. It's hard to get players endangered on their level and he managed to do it, and not enough to kill them, which is perfect.

[@laurenwoods3609]

Dude that round 9 was INTENSE. Props to Mark for pitch perfect balance, one more turn would have been a TPK.

[@EverlastingEclipse]

I'm sure after this Mark realized the grief rot was a bit much and needed reworking It punishes characters that are already weak, and strong characters are basically unaffected.

[@ARMouser]

I think some of his rulings/mechanics of the flower also made it a bit harder than it needed to be. Hoard encounters are cool because of wrecking the hoard and them respawning- it felt like he didn’t want them to burn through them even though they had plenty of replenishment and punishing death mechanics

[@SherlockHulmesDM]

Not really. Quill just got unlucky and got too many stacks before he could fly away, and he got those stacks by AOEing around himself *after* knowing what happened when they died. XD With a party like this, I literally cannot make any mechanic completely fair for every character. We have two immensely tanky HP sponges with amazing saves, and two squishy magic boys. Most mechanics will duff one group whilst being a breeze for the others. *shrug*

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

@@ARMouser They are also level 17, saying balancing an encounter for a level 17 party is very difficult would be an understatement.

[@T3hIluvatar]

@@SherlockHulmesDM TBH for some reason they didn't move around very much in this encounter, even though it was stated multiple times that moving away doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. Quill mostly just stood in the center (even tho he can fly at will) and not only took massive damage every turn from being overwhelmed, but AOEd around him so the grief stacked up quickly. I think the encounter was very cool, interesting and engaging even for a 17th level party, but not very hard if the players were more tactical about it :D

[@arcticbanana66]

12:18 - For those who want to use this rule in your own games, you can find it in the Dungeon Master's Guide on page 272, "Cleaving Through Creatures".

[@BlackShadow1991]

I didn't comment much before so I am changing that now: thank you for the 150 episodes, lore-rich, encounter-intense, great campaign :D Congratulations on another milestone and also delayed congrats for passing the 100K subs mark on KZbin ^_^ I wish the High Rollers crew all the best.

[@sheevanevahdunrong1874]

Seeing this video has completely changed the mood of my day.

[@leslierobinson8724]

A (maybe more?) upcast Spirit Guardians by Quill would be wrecking this encounter I think. May be too close to the encounter/situation to realize this option (I've certainly done that in game), or perhaps he didn't prepare it on his spell list today? Anyway, this is a grind, and I'm here for it. Take care all.

[@B0nd07]

Let me preface this by saying it is, as always, your game, so as long as you're all having fun, that's all that really matters. This is just my two cents. I don't normally mind combat episodes, but honestly this one was a slog. I know it's hard to challenge high level characters, but I don't think this was quite it, at least from a viewer's perspective with hindsight. Especially since most of the cool stuff they could do to cull the hoard was ruled as too loud and/or bright, which would just seemingly double the hoard instead. I think removing the minions' reach would have helped, given the shear number of them. I also think removing one stack of "grief rot" *per heal* was a bit much when there's a chance to gain a stack each time one minion died nearby. I would have done maybe one stack per 10 or so HP healed (with no overflow, so no "well, I had 3 left from the previous heal so add that..."). There was also a weird "they're basically one entity, but also still individuals" element to the minions. For example, I think Sentry's Protection should have applied to the minion group, not just one member, halving the damage from all against Quill (4xM instead of 8x(M-1)+4).

[@bryan__m]

The only part that really bothered me was healing the grief rot. It felt weird that Quillek would have healed the same amount of rot with a 1st level Cure Wounds rolling minimum damage as a 9th level Power Word Heal.

[@secristwood1344]

As soon as Mark said High Rollers is on TikTok I followed! Can't wait to see the hilarious moments that were posted

[@KuragariOkami]

Since Create Bonfire is a Conjuration spell it is a real bonfire so it would at the very least provide 20ft bright light.

[@bcoussens13]

Exactly. It just comes off as Mark wanting to keep light out so that the ship couldn’t assist (see his changing the rules on sunbeam for summoning a barrage between this episode & the last, even though it could still summon monsters).

[@Christopher_Pug]

Mark never misses an opportunity to mention he’s friends with MCDM 😂

[@Meehuuu]

The love about Dragons Dogma is so genuine I can't contain it.

[@TheoMcAllister]

Wow, it's been months now since I last watched Highrollers, and I missed you guys so much.

[@adamyoung976]

I would like to preface this by saying that I enjoyed the homebrew rules for that encounter. For the kind of encounter it was the rules were quite interesting and the battle intense. The part I did not enjoy as much was the reason they had to fight that encounter in the first place. When the guardian told them to hold that clearing I thought they were trying to escape with skeletons on their heels. When I found out they had a secondary base location and weren’t even in immediate danger my first thought was why the heck would you tell them to stay in the same place and hold off a horde of zombies when you could have simply told them to run in the direction of the base and try to lose the zombies like the first two guardians who briefed them were advising them to do. If I were in that party I would be extremely annoyed at the guardians for this reason. Was I the only one who was thinking that the party was holding the escape route open for the guardians, and now feel a little annoyed that there was literally no reason to hold that clearing other than so they could find them which they could have done at a different time with less danger.

[@alexsander471]

I think this is the closest Ayla has been to 0 HP since the Meteor Swarm on their way out of the Valley of Storms (which was like, 50 episodes ago? so, more than an entire year probably). Yikes that was ROUGH

[@alexsander471]

Actually it was ep 95 around Christmas 2020 bc of their hiatus. Good God Ayla is a fucking MACHINE

[@blackh9604]

Just some timestamps \o/ Part 1: 20:04 PACKTIVATE 28:07 IRL Mimic 31:59 Sentry aura clutch + Mournful wail 39:59 Up with the sickness 48:28 Need the red pen for this 52:43 Aila vision: KILL!! 59:36 Quill and Sentry's graceful falls 1:02:16 Can't be bothered 1:03:00 Can't be bothered (at 8th level) 1:06:35 Timber company enters the fight Part 2: 1:33:06 Rhi's gone 1:44:48 Bottom table is trying to keep it together 1:49:11 Now thats a terrifying visual 1:53:53 Quill having a bad time + Do we HAVE to get Kelara? 1:56:14 Tom Tom's himself 2:01:24 The beginning of the bonfire meme 2:02:53 DRIVEN TO PURPOSE 2:07:25 Lucius goin through it (And Tom ruins it) 2:08:43 We almost thought the impossible happened 2:14:47 Incomprehensible in-joke 2:21:02 YOU GOT THIS, HEALER! 2:22:08 Misinterpreting Sentry's speech from last arc

[@panthersnbraves]

Would it have been better to focus on the dead roots, and then let Quill Turn Undead?

[@travisboothe5670]

That zoom in is so nice!

[@salamanda550]

"Lilac, and has wheels in her feet" Ah, hello Arcee

[@danjames9920]

They mention in the episode that Aila has only gone down once. Anyone remember when that was?

[@Barkeep014]

I think it was Cali's rest when she fought the orc shaman?? But it's been 100+ episodes since then lol

[@cheat200]

I think she went down to the chain guy in the very beginning of the campaign.

[@GothicKitty1313]

I mean, I can see the comments all saying this combat drags, I would suggest whacking it on at double speed playback; so you manage to watch in half the time AND the fast speaking is most amusing, on top of the usual chaos such as the oscillating japes lol 😂 Also sad no one said "flossing is a free action" missed opportunity lol

[@cellitha4906]

Wow, I’ve never had a harder time to get trough an episode… Can’t put my finger on why though, I usually enjoy a good battle episode, but welp.

[@danbuckingham5077]

Feels like the players are starting to get bored of this campaign now

[@cellitha4906]

@@danbuckingham5077 Definetly. Even Mark. =(

[@bryan__m]

@@danbuckingham5077 nah, I think it was just the second half of an unexpected slog. Plus they were missing a character and Kim was half asleep. Not every session is going to hit on all cylinders.

[@LokeJosh]

If they just need to survive, couldn't Lucius just wall of ice a dome over their heads and quill pop spirit guardians?

[@j-mc2144]

1:01 The comedic timing on that cut lmao. 5:54 What a happy lad 9:00 laughs

[@GinkoHanga]

1:09:58 nice reframing, nobody laughed but you got me!

[@KKBash]

The create bonfire spell would definitely make light. That's such a dumb ruling.

[@locobo580]

Funny that most of the party can fly and none of the undead had a way to deal with flight, yet it wasn’t used at all. A turn of set up at the beginning of the combat could have trivialized it. I mean I understand not always seeing your options but after I realized they don’t take attacks of opportunity I would have 100% taken off and just blasted from above

[@LordKorgyab]

Please put the twitchcon game on KZbin for us Please!

[@mikolajkropinski276]

Pretty Please

[@mme.veronica735]

I think they said they would, but don't quote me on that

[@CosmiccNova]

@@mme.veronica735 I remember them saying they will too for everyone who couldn’t make it

[@wyattfrye8262]

Idk man if Nova casted teleport to get everyone back on the ship and quill casts light on some rocks and flys around only to land on the ground to grab rocks and flying up so our ship keeps hitting them from orbit with each blast. We would still be in combat and those rounds would go by faster and when our crew arrives that’s when our team gets back on the ground and leaves with them to their second outpost.

[@gyrrakavian]

As Quill goes down, a really sad version of _Kimi Wo Nosete_ (from 'Castle in the Sky') starts playing as he falls in slow motion.

[@GothicKitty1313]

@1:03:06 Quill channelling teen Lucius vibes with the mood 😂😂😂

[@kuraltus13]

Is grief rot just weaponized depression? But like so bad you're actually physically sick 🤯🤯🤯

[@TheLegoLord100]

Really wish I could go to the show considering it isn't often that stuff is actually in the netherlands, but I have a family weekend during that time

[@Markcrazeer]

Drag family to convention.

[@CallumCotterill]

Is the Amsterdam stream gonna be uploaded as a vod?

[@Superkoolperson15]

Ngl, I love high rollers but they will have been fighting the same fight for over 3 hours and its just getting to be a bit much

[@joshangrian]

Especially for such a random fight, this isn’t one of the Titans, or Zarkira (? I don’t know the spelling), or any other kind of important boss. It’s just an endless grind of a combat against a meaningless horde of enemies. I really like Mark’s home rules for this whole encounter, but with every round lasting half an hour, does it really have to run for 10 full rounds? It’s just a bit too grindy at that point for my tastes

[@rozu7772]

I think Mark had the two gaurdians give them big hints on what to expect and do when they first gave their reports and the group just forgot. The guadians who were in the jungle had to kill one group as quickly as possible and run before they got overwhelmed because there were thousands of undead in the area. If they stayed in one place too long, more would come. If the group remember this, then that should make escaping easier next time.

[@adamyoung976]

@@rozu7772 the problem is mark, through a guardian, told them to stay and hold that clearing.

[@rozu7772]

@@adamyoung976 Oh yeah, I forgot. 😂 They could probably still use the previous information to split up the hordes and make things a bit easier, like have one or two cause distractions elsewhere while the rest hold the clearing (maybe even have the ship do the distractions if they can't risk separating the group). Them being there making a ruckus would just attract more to their position since the undead are all connected. That might cause problems for the gaurdians coming to them if a bunch of undead are in the way.

[@travisboothe5670]

Will you post the TikToks as KZbin shorts?

[@nyanwizard2735]

After each turn… I guess you could say the zombies packtivate 😅

[@SpiralLegend]

So once again, mark the poisoned condition clearly states that they have disadvantages on ability check and attack rolls. Nothing about saving throws..

[@Markcrazeer]

um actually fire in general provides light. meaning any spell that ignites things provides light.

[@christopherbrown9188]

Ah, radius vs diameter again. If it is 30' radius, it would be a 60' diameter (circle). I do wish the books/rules would just give the diameter. Is there an in-game mechanical reason? Now I'm curious.

[@jayphillips4167]

My best guess is so it's easier to pin point the center of an AOE spell, especially when it's a sphere or when casting against a surface.

[@HuNtOziO]

Oh man I don't know why trott is casting chromatic orb at 9th level when he has wish. He can cast disintegrate at 8th level and do way more damage! Or something else insanely dope. Oh well super fun episode as usual even though I'm still catching up 👌😁👍

[@dethmin173]

Amazing

[@Brunhaam]

Dragons dogma dark arisen was the best rpg ever

[@azguarder]

Not my favorite episode ngl I think that mark kinda overdid it with this encounter I don’t really see the point of just having them endlessly take damage :(

[@rozu7772]

I remember Mark giving them big hints on what would happen via the two gaurdians when they first reported what was happening in the jungle: They had said there were thousands of undead in the jungle and the gaurdians had to run around a lot because if they stayed in one place too long more undead would come. Everyone just forgot I guess. I hope they do remember those hints next episode. They have plenty of ways to avoid getting overwhelmed.

[@danielkozlowski1485]

@@rozu7772 I agree Mark gave them lots of hints about the undead constantly coming. And it did seem pretty clear to the players that they would need to avoid combat and keep moving, and if I recall they even told Katie that last episode because she had missed that explanation because she wasn’t present for it. But it does feel a little off that Mark gave them a ton of hints to run and avoid combat, and then put them into a scenario where an NPC, seemingly in need of aide, told them to stay put in one place. So even if the players did want to take Marks original hint and run to avoid combat, they’d be doing the opposite of what an ally asked them to do, and from their perspective they’d potentially be abandoning that NPC. So while Mark did a good job at making a combat where they had to fight off/survive a horde of enemies. To me it did kinda feel like the players didn’t have the option to avoid the combat even if they wanted to.

[@22157009858]

@@danielkozlowski1485 im not sure if they can but i think they could all fly in the air and just hang out there no? put the guardian in sentrys mount.

[@omabep]

I am pulling my hairs why Lucius didn’t use wall of ice in order to hold back a lot of skeletons.. and also I am really biting my nails as to whyyyyy the players don’t use AOE spells, but keep on attaching single enemies with melee😫😫😫 they didn’t really make use of the storm chaser as much as they could either😒😒 I am really disappointed by this episode/players…

[@micahcary9418]

Why the F$&@$ does Lucius not use Armor of Agathys or his bracer to absorb damage.

[@thecrownaaron]

Ngl this has been my least favorite encounter so far, it's taken me a full week just to get through the episode. I even started watching it when it was live but had to stop. Got an hour left to go, hope it turns for the better!

[@danielbutler6823]

boring battle. Weak boys go down summon mobs try not to summon mobs mobs come anyways. ... just skip to the last 10 minutes.

[@Badgerstaff]

please bring back reading the donos at the end of the episode, I really miss the end of session goofies

[@travisboothe5670]

Off to twitch to hear those fun donos.

[@AmzzNotFound]

what game are they talking about, dragon something!

[@nyanwizard2735]

Look at the bottom left of the screen at 2:13:33

[@travisboothe5670]

Cross eyes lol or the tattoo?

[@nyanwizard2735]

@@travisboothe5670 the EYES

[@cam-the-bassist]

To those complaining about nearly 3 hours of combat, remember this is their game which we are being invited to witness - we as the viewers aren't owed 3 hours of entertainment each week, its just a happy byproduct of the game Mark runs.

[@ZedCactus]

Well... yes and no; this isn't just some personal game that they happen to be streaming, this is their full-time job: To stream for people's entertainment (well, some of them aren't FULL time youtubers/streamers, but they are streaming adjacent). They rely heavily on donations, patreon and ad revenue for their salary... so it IS in their interest to be entertaining or they will lose their audience. I don't personally think there's a risk that a 3 hour combat episode will cause them to lose all of their audience. 😂 Also, personally, if an episode isn't interesting to me I would just have it in the background or skip it (hasn't happened so far). But my point is that constructive criticism from their viewers IS something that they should take into account, because it is a business. Not to follow blindly, and obviously they should not be doing stuff that they don't enjoy. But hopefully you get my point.

[@bcoussens13]

It started out that way, but when you are actively making money off of it, it is no longer a personal game. They wouldn’t be filming where they are now if it weren’t for their audience. There’s a certain point at which the “it’s their personal game” argument falls flat.

[@T3hIluvatar]

ARGH why do Trott and Tom keep casting stuff like chromatic orb and guiding bolt at 9th level xD It physically hurts the optimizer in me. Lucius could literally cast wish to restore everyone's hp to full and remove all stacks (I assume greater restoration would be able to do that), or give everyone resistance to damage, or duplicate one of a number of spells that could easily wipe the entire board. Also, with Quill and his 2 level wizard multiclass - I feel like Arcana Cleric already is a half-wizard half-cleric, especially since at 17th level he could choose spells from wizard spellist and have 9-th level wizard spells.

[@bryan__m]

I do think it's funny hearing "9th level chromatic orb", though he also dealt a TON of damage with it. I don't think he'd risk using Wish for anything other than casting a spell, since he risks losing it and this one battle isn't as important as other plot points he could use it on later. But it's also probably really hard in the heat of the moment to figure out which spell he could use it for.

[@KKBash]

Why is Tom smelling Kim's armpit? 💀

[@malakai960]

Yay I'm first comment I'm surprised I'm so early love you guys such an amazing episode can't wait for more

[@mikolajkropinski276]

sniffs that sweat tom from kimś body team no fear

[@Sorenzo]

I am sorry, but I can't follow a combat that lasts this long. 😅