Optimizing Critical Role: Caleb

[@cmccbuilds8229]

I made what I consider an egregious mistake towards the end of the build. Resilient Wis should of course be Resilient Con with the tattoo also switched to Diamond (con) to get con to a hardy 18. Lucky would be another great choice but after Vax, I doubt Liam would take the feat.

[@frickenayee]

i forget…did you have him take warcaster? if so, i think Resilient Wis was smart. otherwise, i agree. i really like these videos, keep ‘em up!

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Warcaster at 8. Wizards already have Wis proficiency :(

[@chrimedina]

Good to Know. Anyway it's a robust and consistent build

[@frickenayee]

@@cmccbuilds8229 lol there you go.

[@wyattfrye8262]

You just reminded me I want to see a one-shot of Caleb enacting his plan of going back in time and seeing Matt’s “messing with time” results chart. Maybe at the end introducing a new god of exandria that controls/manages the flow of time.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Love it

[@cianconnolly8291]

Caleb kills Pelor, the Dawn Father. 'Pelor rules over the sun and summer, his vigil encircling the ages as the keeper of time'

[@kenderrick_valentine5852]

First things first great video. Liam selected Transmutation Wizard with the intent of being a wizard in pursuit of regaining lost time. At first that would sound more like a diviner but it was thematic to go Transmuter because in 5e most spells dealing with the manipulation of time are Transmutation and at the time it would seem like the cast aside from Matt who was the DM didn't really know much about Dunamancy which would have been a great option if Caleb wasn't from the Empire. Edit: Also the Explorer's guide to wildemount wasn't out just yet.

[@blackpeoplestorytime802]

Caleb as an evoker makes the most sense thematically considering he was studying to be one before the accident. I would have heavily considered order of scribes tho. Its ability to change damage types of spells would fit Liam's spell creator persona and fire theme. Since he could have cone of colds that do fire damage "Caleb's cone of cremation". The ability to copy all spells better also fits Caleb's quest since he was always collecting, searching and learning new things about magic. However, because he was poor he would have had been forced to find a way to do so for less of the cost. For spells one could argue Haste and Slow fit more thematically given his goal to eventually manipulate time. Especially slow since if you want to go back you have to at least stop time and to stop you have to slow down. Plus in situations where creatures are immune to charm such as the tomb takers.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Or the frightened condition. Good pt

[@blackpeoplestorytime802]

@@cmccbuilds8229 didn't even think about that good catch. They did fight a lot of undead. In the campaign.

[@joabpelling462]

Liam said back when he was in the academy he was studying to be an evocation wizard but then the stuff happened and he started his desire to do magic again when he met Nott with the desire to transform her back meaning transmutation wizard makes sense!

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Evocation > transmutation works for that.

[@joabpelling462]

@@cmccbuilds8229 well Wizards are about studying magic and their applications. If Caleb was an evocation wizard it would make no sense to create a transmutation spell as he hasn’t focussed his study into it. there’s a reason Tasha doesn’t have 100’s of spells and that’s because it requires a lot of intellect and time designated to as well as expertise in their creation. Picking the school of transmutation makes Caleb one who becomes a master in Transmutation magic thus making it possible to create a transmutation spell to use on Nott. Caleb still casted Evocation spells alot and while they would get a mechanical bonus if he went Evocation wizard. It’d make little sense for him to make Transmutation spells and I know he made 2 Trasmutation, 2 Conjuration and 1 Evocation but conjuration in my mind is close to transmutation in types of magic and the Evocation spell came from an almost innate power which is more something Caleb had been building up towards with his relationship with fire magic. Also switching subclass shouldn’t be that easy and should have a cost to it

[@cmccbuilds8229]

It is that easy and doesn’t require a cost. But it can. In this case the cost is time spent learning.

[@daniberrieful]

​​@@joabpelling462 just a heads up. Caleb being transmutation has nothing to do with Nott. Liam and thus Caleb knew about Nott's background. They did not share that backstory with each other. Liam selects Sam's race and class each Campaign. Caleb was probably built before Nott amd Sam based his backstory on Liam's subclass

[@davidmcguire8041]

Here for the one I was looking forward to. Congrats on the growth of the channel!

[@ericpeterson8732]

I think he went transmutation for the philosopher's stone. And we've not seen anyone play one before. Evocation leans into his trauma too much. He was afraid of using them. Perhaps Liam wanted to use more transmutation spells and found it was just easier to go blaster once in play.

[@chillycharizard5985]

Amazing use of subclass swapping, which I normally am not a huge fan of, but this was just perfect, mechanically and story wise. Brilliant.

[@austynkozak4073]

This was really cool, I think The jumping around with subclasses was actually perfect. Caleb was originally supposed to be an assassin for Trent, So starting with Evocation made sense. Switching to Transmutation just in time to help Veth, Ending on Chronurgy because of Essek. I also forgot how intricate Calebs final plan was. Liam is a mad man!

[@AmusinglySaunters]

14:21 Overall good build Small note original wizards get wisdom save proficiency and the tattoos are apart of his trauma.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Oh yikes. Of course they do. Not sure what happened there. The tattoos I’m referring to are the ones orly gave the M9

[@Simsystwistedmind]

@@cmccbuilds8229 I think what they meant was that Caleb would have refused the tattoos because of his traumatic experiences with the residuum crystal implants in his backstory.

[@Daltygaming2]

Yo can’t wait for that Vax’ildan optimisation lmao

[@andrewdowns3673]

What Vestiges of Divergence would be useful for Caleb? My top pick would be the Grimoire Infinitus. It really is good for Wizards, plus it'd give Caleb vastly more spell options.

[@logancuster8035]

Alright, this video earned my subscription. Started watching the channel recently, got clued in from the Treantmonk collaboration. This was just so creative, and the best use of changing subclass for narrative reasons I’ve ever seen. Very nicely done. * As a side note have you invite Colby at the D4 deep dive channel to do the Gauntlet? Strikes me as something he would be into.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

I have asked him. Open invitation.

[@tylerthompson4553]

I disagree with him not taking keen mind he said he really wanted it because he as a player couldn’t remember stuff. I understand your going for power here, but I feel not taking keen mind directly goes against the basic character concept and playstyle of the player. I understand why you did it but I personally think it helped him more than a telekinetic shove would have. Especially for how he played the character. I also don’t know how I personally feel about changing your subclass three times in one campaign, two I get, three is difficult for me as a DM to want to allow. But I see what your doing. Love the content look forward to supporting Patreon eventually. After watching this I really wonder why he didn’t pick up Alert. Very good insight into the character. All these videos have shown me how important that wisdom resilient feat is. Definitely going to take it when I can on my sorcerer!

[@AmericanAurochs]

I am actually enjoying both CR and superhero/fantasy builds. Keep the videos coming and I’ll be here to watch them. Would you be willing to give Conan the Cimmarian a shot?

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Yes! Was thinking about Conan this morning actually.

[@AmericanAurochs]

@@cmccbuilds8229 Well that’s a bit spooky. Lol. Keep up the good work!

[@rantdmc]

it's slightly ironic that although Liam made plenty of sub-optimal choices (which of course is not something the cast of Critical Role worry about anyway), nevertheless it shows the power of the high-level wizard that he still ended up as the most powerful Mighty Nine character. i suppose he was a transmutation wizard because before chronurgy became available, the transformation of objects and creatures was the theme that he was going for. he never quite succeeded though: as he said to Jester: "i am the transmutation wizard, but you are the one who changes people."

[@jvfmf]

Amazing use of analytical approach to data and trends on the rpg scene

[@angriestjoker]

Spoilers: A good theory I heard for why he is a transmutation wizard was because it was the most apt path for him to take in order eventually enact his plan of going back in time and saving his parents. Time Stop is a transmutation spell after all. Of course, this was all before the chronurgy wizard was introduced. It checks out for me that he started as evocation, tried to leave behind those teachings as much as he could, and devoted himself to learning to transform and alter reality so he could right the biggest wrong in his life

[@fearthepiggaming2998]

Small thing I wanted to throw out is that Caleb actually was an evocation mage originally before the campaign he changed to a transmutation wizard because he didn't like destroying things but old habits die hard

[@mohalledaar5798]

In case you use D&D Beyond, I think it'd be a great addition to provide links to these 'optimized' final character sheets.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

That’s a patreon option, if you are interested.

[@mohalledaar5798]

@@cmccbuilds8229 perfect, you've got yourself a new patron then :)

[@davidwilfand916]

By the way Peacechron is even stronger than Artichron, since emboldening bond is cracked. You also get guidance and blessed. You will nead to take resilient con at level one though, through custom lineage or a flying race. Check out Tabletop Builds as they are probably the best source of optimization knowledge out there.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

I’ll have to think about that because you are giving up con saves (or using it as a feat tax) right at level 1. EB is certainly broken though I’m very familiar with TTB. They have some interesting builds.

[@shealupkes]

Use polymorph on your allies when they're low on hitpoints or on your opponent if they seem to have a weak wisdom score

[@jasonmed2119]

Tyvm

[@shadowhell8378]

Time spells tend to be more transmutation school so Caleb who wanted to rewind time to fix what he did transmutation fits as dunamancy did not exist yet

[@fly1ing891]

Just note that if Caleb had a 2nd level teleportation option, he wouldn't have been able to sheepshift, so it's well worth it

[@cynicalchaos8008]

Don't wizards already have proficiency in Wis saving throws?

[@cmccbuilds8229]

pinned comment

[@cynicalchaos8008]

@@cmccbuilds8229 for some reason the comments didn't load. It only showed one comment.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

Idk what KZbin is doing to the comment section - on desktop especially.

[@Malkor13]

Liam took time spells because of his character goal. This isn't a bad video, but it's not a great one either.

[@cmccbuilds8229]

That’s kind of my entire point, no?

[@jameslewis9292]

Ok, I just have to say this, ALL of your CR builds are based on math and combat based optimizations while completely ignoring the story points that DROVE some of the feat/ability score choices (with the exception of Yasha)! The cast of CR is PRIMARILY interested in 1st roleplay and story! C'mon man!

[@cmccbuilds8229]

I'm sorry you feel that way. However, it's just false. I can't think of a single build that doesn't take into account the story choices of each character. I mean, you're posting this on the video that was built with major subclass changes that arise because of specific character and story beats and not mathematical DPR increases. If it was purely about the "math", he would be a hexvoker or twilight/chronurgist depending on the optimization goals of the build. I hope the latest Beau build supports this, along with the future builds. Thanks for watching!