The Chain of Acheron: Ep. 18 - The Sun Elf | Matt Colville's D&D Campaign

[@_myst_4267]

I like tóm so much. Dude always sounds like he's having the time of his life while playing.

[@Ubrfnd]

@@SophiaAphrodite Well, RPGs are different things to different people. I disagree with the suggestion that people who play it for the tactical decisions or just to hang out with their friends are playing it wrong or missing the point. But it is fun to watch Tom play a particularly charismatic character - he really takes to it well.

[@soshp]

I like tom so much. Dude always sounds like he's having the time of his life while playing.

[@NopeJustPatrick]

@@SophiaAphrodite Combat and tactical roles are just as valid a way to roleplay in D&D as in-character interactions.

[@christopherfers1569]

"I miss Red too. He was a good character." Is a really really really good line. Well done.

[@azuraben5128]

Gentlemen, you can't fight here, this is the SPOILER Room 0:00:00 We are MCDM productions 0:00:05 Intro 0:00:35 Welcome 0:01:35 When last we left our heroes 0:09:57 Slim, the Invisible Reaper 0:11:25 Game sart 0:17:55 Audience with Lady Shirome 1:07:20 Balsy moves 1:09:16 Map of Capital 1:10:00 Table mechanics 1:10:35 City streets battle map 1:16:48 Screams in daylight 1:19:30 Weredragon 1:22:14 Feature Fanart 1:24:22 Fan awesome sauce 1:26:45 When last we left our DM 1:27:02 Initiative 1:37:25 Slim goes down 1:46:50 Disbelieve! By way of dispel magic 1:56:32 What happened to the crowd 1:58:05 Initiative 2:05:55 Unwilling spellcasting 2:15:52 Transformation 2:39:05 Sun elf 2:42:00 Boots is back 3:00:35 Anna's tabs 3:03:50 Another character sheet borrowed 3:16:45 Blinding blood 3:19:30 Telepathic message Let me know if I missed anything or wrote too much/little, happy travels!

[@chrisnash9551]

You're doing the good work. Thank you

[@ajotpe]

I see not only Slim got Hasted.

[@teddyboragina6437]

you sir are a hero

[@TNamers]

Thanks for this dude

[@RobinBaggett]

Thank you!

[@helloMCDM]

Really sorry about the delay folks. Sometimes KZbin just isn't made for multi-hour videos.

[@aaronhearst784]

I was starting to think that the session had been cancelled. Never so glad to be wrong!

[@ethanholmes6306]

KZbin needs to suck it up. Damn whiners.

[@xavierrolland-neviere1410]

Had to watch this one on twitch, which I never do. I'll still watch some parts on KZbin though. Thanks !

[@TheodoreMinick]

I learned something this week. I DESPISE the Twitch app.

[@bardoftherunekeepers6601]

Been waiting in anticipation. But whenever you get it up, I’m always excited. No worries!

[@talscorner3696]

DUUUUDE! Linguists would litterally KILL to have a read at the Chronicle of the Chain... all the bits written in now dead languages are like treasure for those trying to puzzle the history of language! It's as if, say, somebody had begun writing an Art of War during the Roman Republic and folks had been adding to it until today; the scholars in Romantic Studies would kill for that because it would document almost the entire history of Euro-Latin-then-Romantic language...

[@jlg3991]

"Legendary wank" "Had a few of those" OD is the best D

[@orion46n27]

I think she just OD on the D

[@Griffiana]

I will pay...no seriously pay, for a 5 minute long version of the drawn intro with the epic music. I always slow down the video and savour it.

[@matthewturner5178]

Very strong episode. I like how even as the Chain was doing a deal with Shirome, Shirome was telling them "Oh don't throw in with me. You have the Prince's seal. Stay as neutral as possible." Also, a dragonborn turning into a full dragon is VERY cool and is something that I will definitely use someday. Can't wait for the juicy secrets in the campaign diary.

[@josephmort4039]

A "Days Without Boots Nonsense" counter should totally be in the stream!

[@Alresu]

So a big Zero at all times?^^

[@GuillotinedChemistry]

This was a pretty crazy episode! Excited that you're looking for people to write a Player's Guide to Capital!

[@jameswachter5295]

Lars I get commented all the time because I dont smile at work, I work in an ER. People expect we're just going to smile like idiots, but I get you man. Don't worry about it bro

[@ComradeCrab93]

Same, I have a very neutral/mad looking resting face combined with a very flat voice.

[@FishoD]

3:04:30 - I absolutely LOVE how Anna is the one that says “legendary...wank” and then is taken aback and laughs that OD continues with the dirty sex jokes.

[@olafisashark5105]

Love you guys. You keep my head up in the darkest of days and I really appreciate it.

[@TheKenthor]

Anna's laugh always cheers me up.

[@merrymerryjerry6736]

darkest of days … so you're a time traveler? -I just had to say it-

[@olafisashark5105]

@@merrymerryjerry6736 looool

[@Alaplaya9]

Discombobulated is putting it mildly. "Hey, let us visit this noble guy to do some politics." "Roll initiative to fight the black dragon you encounter on your way there." "Oh, and the angel turning people into mold after you are done with that encounter."

[@NegatveSpace]

I bet Matt has backup encounters for if one goes too easy

[@jaredsmith4507]

I feel like in a corner Lady Shirome had an oversized bowl for Big Cat that she was disappointed she didn't get to bring out.

[@sivartevafal]

Matt: Metagaming... Everyone else: You just told us! Matt: .....that’s true, but still... The most DM’ey thing I’ve ever heard 😂

[@soilworker0226]

Critical blimey! 1:51:20 Thats going into my home game

[@jaredatkinson1071]

I've made up a new drinking game. When ever Slim attacks I take a drink... Two rounds later I'm very drunk.

[@StevoM08]

Sounds like a good way to get alcohol poisoning. Especially once they get a few more levels under their belts.

[@roamingcelt]

Interesting idea. Matt set up this room as kind of like the Feds... Maybe down by the docks there's a parlor that's is a gambler's den for betting on what ships will come in and when. Odds on the ship is set by how dangerous the route is, the speed at which it arrives and/or the value of the cargo. Think of horse racing meets cargo/military shipping.

[@matthewturner5178]

Best part is that NO ship is totally safe. Krakens and Dragon Turtles happen.

[@mknecht01]

That’s *exactly what they’re doing* in the room Matt described. International trade in the Age of Sail was large scale gambling. It’s not an accident that the headquarters of his trade guild is the church of the Saint of Gambling. That’s just straight-up clever.

[@MrSilvUr]

That's also how insurance works. Both in the age of sail and today.

[@denolaj]

I’ll probably not be the first to make this joke, but Marquis Damasco should have a brand of hotsause in Capitol, because I always hear: “Marquis Tabasco” So ... maybe there’s a “Marquis Damasco’s Magnificent Tabasco” local hotsause?

[@matthewturner5178]

They made that joke in either the same session or the one after he showed up. Matt said the Marquis would have them hanged for saying such a thing :)

[@denolaj]

@@matthewturner5178 There you go :P More evidence for how much content I retain, especially when I'm doing something else while listening to The Chain :P

[@WilliamSlayer]

I remember seeing someone make some artwork of a Tabasco bottle dressed up in Riohan (sp?) garb... :-)

[@guiltysonder]

This is the new Game of Thrones

[@jaredsardella2170]

Matt: "Keep you're Mrs. Slocombe to yourself" Me: Did Matt and O'D just make an Are You Being Served reference? There's only one way to respond to that; "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one." Also, gods this episode was a roller coaster.

[@markinok.8787]

If boots faints wouldn't his magical cat boots keep him up even if he's not conscious

[@Chomp-Rock]

I assumed he'd just fold at the knees, so his lower legs are still upright.

[@damienfeymont3433]

Matt about to make some Stands with that arrow

[@GaryFromLiberty]

Haha that thumbnail, Matt holding an arrow with the big letters RUN

[@WilliamSlayer]

Matt O'Driscols new mini is SPOT ON! Great use of the HeroForge minis to get the cleaver in his hand and the bottles around his feet.

[@soshp]

"Math is hard" is a thing often said at my table.

[@luminarious]

I recognize the city tiles! They were made by French company Rackham for their tactical rpg Cadwallon. It had amazing cartoony art direction in general, never tried to play it though.

[@shaushaged9659]

‘35 As the Crow Moulds.’ - He’s invented a measurement.

[@gmscott9319]

Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors would be proud!

[@WhatsUpGazpacho]

Resorted to watching this in the absence of the campaign diaries and the story is great. Especially love Matt O'D

[@AramilsMusic]

1:10:46 - 1:11:53 is pure gold. As I said before on other episodes, this is just like hanging with friends. So comfy.

[@charlescates5703]

Tom and OD make these videos so entertaining.

[@diego7oclock]

Ana is such a boss dispelling magic like that :)

[@patrickbuckley7259]

Oh god that mold effect. That is truly one of my greatest nightmares both in real life and as a horrifying scenario to deal with in a game. I usually play heroic characters because I want to be able to rescue people in paril, and that just seems like such a no win scenario at least on the face of it, that it'd drive me nuts.

[@rooseveltcooper]

You rolled a 1!!! I know he still makes the save lol

[@tjbrooks4782]

Fantastic Episode! I had all sorts of guesses as to who was behind the Sun Elf, but the last message put those ideas out to pasture!

[@erikskaug9952]

Nice! Was looking forward to this

[@Simon-ow6td]

Yay! Finally! I have been looking forward to this for over a week now! :D

[@ietsbram]

"and we didn't even have to use any spells" amazing, i laughing out loud

[@dco901]

I love the Indiana Jones reference at 2:44:24! Discombobulated or not, this was excellent as usual.

[@luckyfire313]

I know I'm late to the game, but the transformation scene immediately popped into my head as an anime style scene. Super amazing description! Love it!

[@SeanBoyce-gp]

This is one of those silly things that annoy me, but the jumping rules aren't as stupid or as confusing as the crew thought they were. What's frustrating them is the action cost of Jump, a spell, versus the movement type of Jumping. For rules lawyers out there, I think this comes down to a bad thing Wizards did in 5e when they decodified the movement part of the action economy. In 4th edition, you had three clear things you did on your turn: your Standard Action, your Move Action, and your Minor Action. Tactically, in 4e, you had to plan your movement a lot, partly because of how opportunity attacks worked in that game, but mainly because whatever movement you made was your whole move action. If you spent your movement moving 10 feet but had a speed of 30 feet, that was just how the cookie crumbled, there was no breaking up your Move Action with your other actions. To get rid of that and simplify the tactics and action economy, Wizards said now you just have a "movement speed." TL;DR - "Jump" the spell is unimpressive in combat if you're trying to get somewhere now. It's a buff spell, so it's more about helping you over its duration. But "Jump" is not an action, and "jumping" not an action either. Jumping is a way to spend your movement speed. You don't just freeze and hover mid air. If your maximum jump distance exceeds your speed, you jump and then land at the point you have spent all your movement. This question always comes up when a buffed jump value exceeds an unbuffed movement speed; consider the inverse. You have 3 points of exhaustion and your movement speed is halved, let's say to 15 feet. But you strength is 18! You're exhausted, does it follow that you should be able to move 10 feet and then miraculously leap 18 feet from that point? No, you're only fast enough to move 15 feet in a turn. You spend feet of movement speed to move. Doing so in a novel way doesn't change that limit. Everyone wants momentum to matter suddenly, but in the D&D abstraction, "speed" already takes into account all the directions of acceleration and momentum and simplifies it down to "this is how far you can move in 6 seconds." Much Longer: On your turn, you can run/hustle around the field up to a number of feet equal to your speed. That's the hard limit. You can elect to move in any number of ways with that speed: you can move on foot, crawl, swim, climb or "squeeze." These are all "movement options" that everyone has, including monsters. So is jumping. When you move by jumping, you elect to spend some of your movement speed to cross a distance without touching a surface for a specific distance. Everyone can do this, and there are two ways to measure it: a long jump, for horizontal distance, or a high jump, for vertical distance. Either way, as long as you get a running start, which means moving at least 10 feet on foot (so not crawling, swimming, squeezing, or climbing), your long jump distance is equal to your Strength score and your high jump distance is equal to 3 + your Strength modifier. If you don't get a running start, you halve those values. You do this for free - no Athletics check unless the DM decides you need to also clear an obstacle or otherwise thinks it's engaging. That's jumping. You're spending feet from your movement speed to move in a specific way, by jumping. Just as you would for swimming, crawling, or climbing. So, if Slim's speed is, what, 30? Then his ability to jump while not hasted: run 10 feet, jump 18 feet across or 7 feet vertically. Actually kind of impressive. From a stand still, 9 foot horizontal leap, 3.5 foot vertical leap. Again, impressive. Slim's ability to jump while hasted: he could run 10 feet, jump 18 feet, run another 10 feet, jump another 18 feet and still skid to a stop with 4 feet of movement. Equally, he could run 10 feet, leap 7 feet, run another 10 feet, leap 7 feet, and run another ten feet to leap 9 feet. When we talk about covering ground vertically, there's a fun little stinger rule that says you can extend your arms above you at the end of your jump, so you can jump your vertical jump height plus 1.5 times your height. So if you're 6 feet tall, as Slim is, then you can extend your vertical by 9 feet. Meaning Slim can get his arms 12.5 feet in the air from a stand still. So, Slim can dunk from a stand still. From a running start, Slim could dunk the backboard, and could easily get himself up over the top of the lip of a building. Casting "Jump" does not cause you to move at all. It simply enhances your ability to leap long or high distances. The action you're taking isn't "Jump," the action your taking is "Cast A Spell." But it does buff your jump distance for a whole minute without requiring you to maintain concentration. Specifically, it triples your jump math. For Slim, with Jump, while not hasted then: he has 30 feet of movement to speed. He can run 10 feet, then jump 20 feet. Even though the magic gives him the ability to jump (theoretically) up to 54 feet, he's not fast enough to do that. So instead, he runs 10 feet and jumps 20 feet and lands. He doesn't just sit in the air and hover, he makes a 20 foot jump because that's as fast as he is. Maybe that doesn't seem particularly good until you have to cross a 20 foot chasm, which would be impossible without Jump in this case. Without jump, you'd come up 2 feet shy and fall to your death. If he dashes, he can run 10 feet and jump *50 feet*, because he spends all 60 feet of his movement on his run and his jump. Which is very much quite far, sirs. The vertical jump numbers, however, are awesome. Instead of 7 feet of vertical leap plus 9 feet of reach, Slim has 21 feet plus 9 feet of reach, meaning he could run 10 feet and jump to the top of a tall building. Why is that valuable? It's twice as fast as climbing. Or, if he's at a standstill, he could jump and pull himself up to the top of a 15 foot obstacle. When he's hasted and Dashing, he can jump 100 feet horizontally so long as he has 10 feet of running movement before each 54 foot jump. If he uses both actions to Dash (which you can), you can get 180 feet of movement, or 10running + 54jumping + 10r + 54j + 10r + 42j for a total of 180 feet, with 150 feet airborne. That's some Incredible Hulk stuff. References: www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/adventuring#ClimbingSwimmingandCrawling www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#SqueezingintoaSmallerSpace www.dndbeyond.com/spells/jump

[@mortalLP]

I'm glad someone else appreciates Matt's "bad news" regarding jumping rules. I was surprised to find myself doing a fist-pump. Not that I want to rain on parades, but I enjoy the rules knowledge.

[@jakegoodrich6520]

Thanks for this. I really enjoy Slim; both ic and occ but the whole argument came across as really whiny. And it doesn't really make sense that i could leap further in one jump than i can run in a 6 second span: a person with a 6 second 40 time isn't going to have a 41+ ft long jump. And like Anna said: if jumping didn't use movement everyone would always jump too which would be goofy:a bunch of knights jumping around like ballerinas

[@alpagator1372]

Töm & Boots such a perfect player and character combo.

[@nathansummers1655]

Boots as shambling mound: "I am - Boot"...

[@cruye9633]

They don't do +2 bonuses but they do do +1d4 sometimes, which is mathematically pretty similar. Guidance and Resistance, as well as dragonmark intuition and Glamerweave from Eberron, the latter of which is exactly fancy clothes giving you a bonus to charisma checks.

[@StevoM08]

OD: I’ll insert myself in... Me: *eyebrow wiggle*

[@benliam6501]

well,.. in that case, I will go on writing my bachelor thesis in 3 hours. Need my weekly OD - doses.

[@MarcusBeirne]

SPOILER This doesn't seem to be said much but major props to Anna, that was a great out-of-the-box solution to an unimaginable problem @ 1:49:14. I don't know if Matt uses inspiration points, but that totally merits an inspiration.

[@chadcaughmann7898]

I love Matt's random guess of buying the gaming tiles back in 2006, because the game they came from was released in 2006 :)

[@fhuber7507]

Stacking concentration "buff" effects on a single PC can get OP very fast.

[@fhuber7507]

Its not a Bodak, its a kadoB

[@isthatrightgaming]

I see that Ankylosaurus behind Matt! My favorite dinosaur.

[@psachickennugget8617]

I get the Kidneys joke! Finally something I know and don’t feel left out on!

[@lightning1087]

Yes!!! New leech art

[@dyslegein]

I ship Copper and the rich lady

[@wanderdragon1075]

Same

[@halfpintrr]

I ship king with her tbh

[@isthatrightgaming]

Also, I am just like Anna when it comes to my tabs. I have tons and tons of tabs open right now.

[@MaaronK42]

"Wreck the Bodak" "Don't wreck the Bodak, baby"

[@unit18nate]

Boots should now be referred to as "Just Boots".

[@ryansherman3065]

Ms. Slocombe reference!

[@NoInfoAvail]

1:51:11 Hella funny. Made me snort with laughter there.

[@themanonthewall7029]

nood boots arrives thats an interesting capcom assist.......

[@MrMRThomson]

Oh no! Now Tom is blowing on his dice too !!

[@GLGJazzy]

Boots is sooooo cooooool!!!!!

[@cj719521]

Young Frankenstein refs made my day. Haha

[@Magiuztelpuerta]

"Just goblin things." Goblin slaying intensifies.

[@thetravelingbard9178]

“Kidneys” I got you Phil 😂

[@CoL_Drake]

i was for minutes like "why the hell do anna look so strange" xD the glasses :) oh jaeh :)

[@Juanpa_SC]

OMG such a great episode. I LOLed too many times :D

[@theyellowninjadude]

I watched the Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 trailer again, and then I realized the song they used is "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac! This is the perfect song for The Chain of Acheron's theme song! I can totally see a GotG style trailer for the Chain with this song! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYfRlHZ3h5WAfdU

[@aaronhearst784]

One thing. Matt went to lengths to have OD describe what it looks like when Leech casts Blight, but then for the dragons next action just says "You all take 54 acid damage". Not even what from, let alone a description. This is not a criticism. Matt did mention on several occasions that he has had a rough week (sorry to hear that). I DM too, so completely understand how easy it is to miss stuff in the heat of the moment. Just felt like an opportunity missed when Matt clearly wants to evoke vivid imagery. Maybe something everyone at the table can help remind each other of?

[@invisibledooley]

Well done to Judge!

[@blackgaurdsmash]

Am I the only one thinking they could fix this right now without a war? If I was king I would have asked the chain to give him a few minutes to discuss in private then asked the Falcrum lady how much she loves her city? When she says "with everything" or some such, ask her to marry Duke of the navy house. When they get married, call the privy council and have them vote her and him the new prince and princess. City saved, name commander king as "protector of the city" then fold the hammer/navy/gold buttons/king's men into the chain and start getting ready for that rematch!

[@blackgaurdsmash]

Even better.. have both houses approach house Navar to marry them and get them to recruit the churches as allies. Spend some money to refurbish the Coliseum and host the wedding there for the entire city!

[@nerdgarage]

Where does the layout for Boots' character sheet come from ? That looks really nice.

[@derekburge5294]

All hail King Boots!

[@sanguiniusszuiriel4984]

Matt, I hope you don’t mind but I took the dynamic of the lady of the fulcrum and her knight and altered it to be almost like the bath house scene in pirates of the Caribbean, but in a re-tooled Barovia using the new Ravenloft campaign guide, and I made her knight constantly accosted for being a Knight by her other henchmen of low rank, and turned him into a guy that basically never gets heated even about horribly racial comments, and her relationship with him is to punish attacks on his character like that for something like race with basically letting him fight them to the death even though they have the death penalty for murder in the city, and my players (even the one we almost kicked for overt racism against another player prompting the whole encounter being designed to teach him a lesson being the one whose character was slaughtered by the knight) loved the encounter, and since the problem player has apologized to the other player and started taking responsibility for his actions. Thank you for the experience

[@StarWindEnergin]

There is probably no point to saying this since we're a couple of months worth of sessions behind, so this will be something that is either solved or not by the time we've caught up to current, but a bit of feedback. My wife and I both feel that Lars is smart and has really good ideas but if he's going to be the commander of the chain, he needs to make decisions and act on them more during RP situations. It seems like he's trying so hard not to make a misstep that he's also missing a lot of opportunities due to being too worried about not making a bad decision. This is a longform version of the commander needs to talk more, or if he doesn't, he could let Tom aka Boots do most of the talking (ie "the commander prefers to observe rather than talk directly, he will interject if he needs to"). We're loving the story and the game as its unfolding but it's hard to watch the players expecting Lars to talk on their behalf as the commander and then Lars says nothing.

[@SkurgeOfCaprica]

That leech art tho...also baldur's gate eeeeeek!

[@NegatveSpace]

How much xp for dispelling a dragon?

[@chuckallerston9997]

" Just Chill'n !"doing goblin thingswith my friend's "

[@russ4024]

I shamelessly steal from Matt for my game and i will not apologize

[@Gerritt94]

Stranger Things steals from MCDM CONFIRMED

[@stevenquillen4662]

"This whole game is built on the Robo Rally Engine (TM)"

[@nobody8612]

1:34:12 How does a group of people get a sum wrong so many times in so many different ways? XD

[@Alaplaya9]

I need to know where those tiles are from at 1:11:00

[@craigalexander1191]

Pretty sure they are from the Cadwallen miniature RPG game

[@svartalfimposter]

Four Candles? Here you are then ... in case you didn't know it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZrCZ4aXpruEidk And the Mrs Slocombe reference: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIOtnXyqr8afgLs

[@kevincullen6627]

Sucks about the nice cloths guys. i hope they can run the coliseum one day would be a great recruitment tool, and an interesting enterprise that would be sure to attract strange characters from all over the world

[@aureliomanalo]

Who's Elrick the Evergreen? Am I spelling or hearing it wrong?

[@CBeach-vy2xc]

Elric of Melniboné. A sword-and-sorcery hero (or, arguably, anti-hero) written by Michael Moorcock back in the 1960s and 1970s. Wielded a cursed intelligent sword named Stormbringer.

[@coffeecaesar1443]

Man, I'd play this campaign like such an asshole. My first thought with the dragon was to just run away, don't worry about it if it can't stop you from escaping, lol

[@theodorebellavia-frank5900]

Is it Ithilweth or Ilithweth?

[@aarondavis7391]

That many tabs would drive any sane man crazy...

[@Bryon1187]

Anyone ever play Chosium's Elric game?

[@andrehardy8873]

Matt is trying to kill everybody again, run away!!

[@AttenuatedNecronym]

I love the biological sequins mention

[@TheThrashKing92]

YUS!!!

[@LuxMachaera]

1:57:10 Ambergris Vibes

[@MrJacobGR]

Ambergris is the best perfume

[@lydiasteinebendiksen4269]

From where comes the idea that the first rule of diplomacy is "to always be talking to everyone"? I googled around it but didn't find any source which claimed so.

[@TheForswornKing]

How does Anna's PC have enough ram to handle how many tabs she has open. I have one chrome tab open and chrome wants to dominate at least 30% of my ram

[@jonathanshannon3456]

Like if you got Phils "kidneys" joke

[@liamflynn1120]

Background Anna: King knows the Higaran term for [fuckface]... bakka I d i e d.

[@larryreddecliff2284]

How do I find the wiki for the Chain, please and thank you

[@twistedblast5253]

2 months late but here you go mcdm.fandom.com/wiki/MCDM_Wiki

[@BarokaiRein]

2:08:00 That's nice and all,Matt,but Bards don't prepare their spells,they are spontaneous casters.

[@ComradeCrab93]

I think he just meant the mechanics of knowing spells in a combat situation. You'd obviously be going over your options in your head, wether you're a prepared caster or not.