The Legend of Vox Machina Episode 11 Reaction

[@gamerbear84]

Bethany: Do something! Keyleth: Pass the fuck out? You got it!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😂😂🤣

[@sybariticcupboardrat3763]

3:50 Actually, she's one of the hardiest characters in the party, in a way. Druids specialize in shapeshifting. The cool thing about shapeshifting is that it acts like a damage absorber. The new form takes damage, but your real body is fine when you revert - or as fine as it was before you shifted. Notice when Scanlan turned into a triceratops he got skewered with a bunch of arrows, but when he turned back into himself he wasn't injured. And Keyleth's Moon subclass further specializes in being especially adept at shapeshifting even for a druid. Whenever she feels like she might go down in a fight, she can shift into an animal to protect herself.

[@WexMajor82]

Grog is a berserker, a special kind of barbarian. When he rages, he gets SO MAD, he can't be controlled in any way. That was him failing the save against the vampire's charm but resisting anyway.

[@NovaGirl8]

More like him remembering that he isn't affected by charm while raging

[@gatecruor9292]

@@NovaGirl8 He also wasnt rageing the last time in the show he was charmed.

[@isaiahwelch8066]

Actually, against Grog, if he's raging, a Charm spell like Dominate Person automatically fails.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Nice! Was wondering if he was immune but then remembered he got controlled by Anders. But I guess if he is in rage mode there is no controlling him 😀😁🥳

[@gatecruor9292]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 Only for that subclass of barbarian in D&D Berserker. All other barbarians sub classes at that time were not immune to charm. When rageing.

[@MsMorri]

This was definitely one of the top episodes imo. One thing, if it wasn’t clear, Cassandra was being mind controlled like Vax, she just had the added effect of Stockholm syndrome as well.

[@ticozayas6430]

^^^ this

[@flaminyawn]

Yeah, and even if it was "just" Stockholm syndrome and brainwashing without the supernatural influence, I don't think I'll ever understand the reactors who think Percy should just kill her.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍🙂

[@MFinch-zn6nn]

Ok to clarify the Grog almost getting charmed and then keeping his eyes closed and swinging wildly. Travis Grog's player forgot that due to his subclass of barbarian, while raging he actually is immune to charm effects. In the stream, Matt began to describe Grog succumbing to the charm when Travis asked the question, "Wait can I BE charmed while raging..." And the wild swinging is a feature of barbarians called reckless attack. It actually gives the barbarian advantage on his rolls, but funfact if Grog were closing his eyes, it would be a disadvantage on the roll so they would cancel each other out and it would be a straight roll. Sylas was just super tough to hit, his AC was really high because of his unnatural speed. Awesome as always reactions! Keep it up! Critter hug!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks so much for clearing up Grogs berserk and when he is and isn’t susceptible to charms 😀 and of course for the critter hug 🤗

[@elbruces]

They really went all out with the animation/choreography in this episode.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Agreed 🤩

[@tlaragihai5953]

I totally believe that half of this 11mil budget was spent as fair payment to the animators for their job. They don`t deserve less than that.

[@elbruces]

@@tlaragihai5953 I'm pretty sure that Titmouse Studios earned the majority of the budget, yes.

[@deannahd02]

I believe in the actual crit role session it was vex that almost died.

[@MsMorri]

It was, and I think I know why they changed it, but that would be spoilers.

[@ryanbrooks8045]

Slight spoiler here by saying "almost" :p :) But yes, it was.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😯

[@jordanpeterson5140]

My favorite and most ominous thing in all of Critical Role: The Spinning Orb of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Also regarding the twins and the fire in the introduction: Remember that in the first episode, Vex said a dragon killed their mother. It's not so much that they survived the fire (they weren't there at the time, but we'll see how much of that story comes out in the second season or beyond), but that was the aftermath of the dragon attack that killed their mother and destroyed that part of their life.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks for clearing that up. We had wondered about that from the intro 🙂

[@ShadowyFox_86]

The orb is more evil than doors

[@jordanpeterson5140]

@@ShadowyFox_86 only slightly

[@hhylobates4098]

14:04 Vex took the hit in the original, in the cartoon she has been a lot more hostile to Keyleth, and this event will make Vex revaluate some things about herself and be a more developed character going into season 2.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎👍😊

[@Dannydarko27]

The thing about D&D is that generally the magic users, aside from the clerics and paladins, are the weakest in health and armor. They're often the glass canons because they can deal out a lot of damge, but break easily. Seeing Kiki get hit like that is definitely scary, but her recovery was just magnificent

[@toonman5099]

I love that they incorporated the Critical Role theme "You're Turn to Roll" being weaved in through the fight that you can hear when the music is just playing by itself as a leitmotif during the big moments of the fight.

[@theanyktos]

Uh, no, Cassandra is still very much on the gun. The name that disapeared was Sylas, hence why Percy/the smoke thing was upset about someone 'stealing' his kill.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Ah okay, we totally misread that 😂

[@rendalconstantineau1680]

As for the name on the gun, that was Sylas's name coming off of it.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Makes sense. Not sure why we didn’t realize that 😂🤗

[@carlotaperes1031]

Great reaction! This episode was crazy good. My favorite thing was probably Pike's fight against Sylas, it was so cool and very well choreographed Looking forward to see what you think of the finale!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

That was indeed a very well choreographed fight. 😀

[@RedBlitzen]

As they say in the games, Pike is a MONSTAH!

[@chipsalom]

I completely love reading a reaction creators predictions for shows like this, just like I enjoyed just discussing such things with friends. Whenever there's a new mystery series that's out or something trying to guess who done it and so on, :-). So no matter how many times you may find you got it wrong, just remember that everyone is having fun playing the game with you. Yes some of us know or at least have some decent insight (because some things aren't exactly ofc 😃) into likely arc climaxes, etc. But regardless, it's a blast!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Glad you enjoy the predictions 😀 This was one of the shows we’ve watched that caused us to predict the most. So many interesting clues and little moments that had us guessing. In addition to being a fun show, it definitely had us intrigued 😁🥳🥳🤩

[@tofton1977]

Like i always said, villains in D&D are just heroes with a different agenda!

[@Mordring]

To quote the classic: "Every villain is the hero of their own story."

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😈🤟

[@tlaragihai5953]

Next episone is wild and I loooved your emotions here!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

This one was a wild ride. Great show and we look forward to sharing our reactions to the end 😀🥳🥳

[@Elanchana]

I didn't see anyone mention this so... That last spell that Delilah fired off was called Finger of Death, and if it kills you, you permanently turn into a zombie under the control of the caster. In the original game, when Vex got hit with it (rather than Keyleth in the show), she was at 76 hit points. The damage Matt rolled for the spell? *75.*

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😯😳 crazy how they survived this off the luck of the roll

[@jordanpeterson5140]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 that sentence can describe about 95% of playing D&D.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

I remember that moment. The most terrifying moments of math

[@MrKaelas]

So, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way they depict the magic in the show. In a lot of ways it's somewhat faithful to their DND roots, but it also is shown in such a way that it makes sense in world AND it fits the characters so well. They do a lot of stretching but it makes sense when they do. Like, Scanlan the Bard...in DND he knows a wide variety of spells, not really limited to his class. So like him finding a scroll and learning to shape change was awesome. But in this episode I LOVE that they show him going...hey she silenced me, look I can do that now! It's such a neat idea to show off how flexible his spell casting is. Not to mention unlike other casters he doesn't seem to need to "charge" his powers as long as he sings. It's well done. Pike's casting a buff on Vex's arrow one episode was a classic DND spell (cleric spell called Guiding Bolt, where they blast someone and the next person can hit them better) that I loved, but little things like her shield, and her ability to extend it and the just pure energy battle with Delilah have some roots in the mechanics and cleric protective abilities but are just really visually awesome the way they are reimagined. And then Keyleth. They sort of showed that her light was more elemental than say Pike's earlier when she burned her fingers. And even with the spirits, it blazed like the sun. But it's neat that the power she amped it up with the Sun Tree, devoted to the God of Light and Justice, made it burn Sylas. Mechanically at a table it was just her casting the Sunlight spell I'm sure, but it's so much more evocative and well done. Anyway, just wanted to say that, because I think the spells and the mechanics behind them are so well portrayed. It's just kind of flinging power around if you're not watching closely, but you can still see roots at least of the mechanics of DND and I think that's really neat. Love your reaction! This was a great episode and I'm about to watch your episode 12 reaction as well. :D

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks for telling us more how the actual spells work in game and how they adapted it for the show. They do a great job of staying true to source material it seems (as much as they can) while not over complicating things for dummies like us 🤗😊

[@MrKaelas]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 I mean, not knowing DnD stuff doesn't make you a dummy. 😉 But yeah, I've been really impressed with how they incorporate so much DND stuff. I could go on for days, but they've done great translating the "game" part of DND and smoothing out the sharp edges so it just feels natural in the fantasy world they've made. While actually playing, sometimes you can get caught up more in the mechanics and miss the narrative. 😁

[@korisx]

The spell that Delilah uses on Scanlon and vice versa is silence.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Appropriate name 😊

[@korisx]

@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2 yeah, a castor can cast spells that don't involve a verbal component, I don't think there are many of those for bards if any hahaha.

[@Tachilen]

Indeed - all in all vox machina also ' passed through fire ' in their campaign.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

😎🤟

[@magicalminty6203]

Lady Briarwood is voiced by the same actress who plays Azula from Avatar TLA, and you can totally hear it.

[@cryofpaine]

6:30 - literally. 😁

[@Rynohoopty]

Man.... When she said "I don't accept this" talking about if keyleth stayed dead. Almost cried. Iykyk

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

🥲🤗 😊 Glad you felt Bethany’s emotions on that one

[@James-bw4np]

Yeah this episode had some epic moments! And I had the same reaction when the credits rolled the first time I saw this episode. Percy's character is a very interesting class. Once yall finish the series you should look up the D&D classes and see if yall can figure out what he is. But no spoilers yet! And I really want to see the next season asap!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Glad it already got picked up immediately for a second season 🥳🥳🍾🥂

[@AnxietyRat]

Percy was a homebrew fighter class...so idk how much info they will find about his class...or if Matt made his homebrew for Percy available to the public. 🤷‍♀️

[@firecat4529]

3:21 Considering that she is mind controlled, Percy killing her wouldn't be the best option for him and his mental state, I'd say. Killing her would probably only be an option if it's absolutely necessary, in a "do or die" situation.

[@firecat4529]

9:13 Yes, he would have been dead way sooner without necromancy.

[@ShadowyFox_86]

I guess if you're gonna be the sun, then the best item to ask for a power boost would be a tree planted by a god of sun (ie. The Dawn Father).

[@RomnilWater]

They ended up showing a lot of D&D mechanics in this episode in an interesting way. First of Grog closing his eyes is showing the Barbarian feature Reckless Attack were you would put yourself at a disadvantage to get hit to gain advantage on attacks. It's also loops in nicely storywise with Grog not being charmed (though as others have noted that was also because of another class feature). While Keyleth got assistance from the Sun Tree to super power her attack. This isn't really a rule in D&D as written but it's something the Dungeon Master could decided to allow for creative or smart play. The Sun Tree is a very ancient divine power in the world of Excendria that date back millennia. It makes sense that out of everyone a Druid would be able to tap into this natural representation of Divine power. (The Sun Tree has a very interesting history tied to the god the Dawn Father which adds another level with the light based magic). Finally an easy one to miss is that Vex's arrow was the only thing to actually hurt Delilha is because it was the only non magical attack that was used on her. At this point Percy's gun was a (very powerful) magical weapon and Delilha had a shield up while summoning that I think nullified magic attacks (or at least made it very hard to be hit with magic). Even then Vex only hit her with a natural 20, which mechanically doubles the attack damage rolls. It's probably the only reason Delilha even noticed and lashed out at Vex.

[@nuru666]

They've very cleverly slipped bits of the mechanics into the whole show and I love how they've done it, doesn't register as anything but good and bad luck for someone who has never played and has no idea how, but old players and Critter fans get that added treat of "Oh, that was a nat 20!" or the spiced up version of Conjure Barrage Vex uses against the Animated Armour

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks for sharing with how the show ties into actual D&D rules 😀

[@hulmhochberg8129]

i know they deserved it, but its still pretty rough that this women who did everything just to save her beloved, had to helplessly watch him get killed while she couldnt even scream.

[@PrinceIMC]

She broke the world for him.

[@elbruces]

Sorry ma'am, the extended warranty on your vampire doesn't cover sunbeam magic.

[@RomnilWater]

Delilha is one of my favorite villains ever. She does very horrible things but you understand why. She absolutely deserves everything that happens to her but you have to feel just a little bit of pity for her.

[@nuru666]

@@RomnilWater I hate that bitch and I know why! But yea, she's pretty much a perfect example of a villainous character

[@korisx]

Like the lesson her servants learnt before losing their fingers or having their throat slit. She learned life isn't fair.

[@Hawk_of_Battle]

Fun facts time!; In the original campaign Keyleth also got the killing blow on Sylas, as it is here with the same level 6 spell, Sunbeam, which can do continuous damage for up to a minute to everything in a 30ft line that you can move wherever and is especially dangerous to undead, as you may expect, but for extra flavor she did so by bouncing the beam off of Pikes radiant infused astral projected shield. Generally everybody got in good hits against both Brairwoods and they were a lot less split up as they were here, but this way works better for the medium. Scanlan never got to Silence Delilah, but he did do a lot more than he did here, including counterspelling an attempt by the pair of them to Dimension Door away, something which we haven't seen him do all story but which was one of Scanlans biggest strengths and something only he could do. But Silencing her before she could cast another spell amounts to the same thing so is sort of a nod to that aspect of his abilities. Keyleths little hand motion as she conjures the ball of light just before the Sunbeam fires off is something Marisha actually did when casting some of her spells on stream. It looks way more badass with actual radiant energy shooting out her palm! As a Goliath Barbarian, Grog is actually immune to mind control effects whenever he really Rages, though he can and had been mind controlled outside of that before. Him closing his eyes here is just another way of showing that. His attacking Sylas whilst blind is also a utilization of his ability Reckless Attack, wherein a barbarian gains advantage (rolls twice and takes the highest) on attacks, but then which allows enemies to also gain advantage against him until his next turn. As he most often kills things before they get another turn to hit him, and has so much hp that it doesn't really matter if they DO, Travis was pretty much always using Reckless Attack every time he had the chance. Him only closing his eyes and swinging wildly due to the understanding that Sylas is "seducing him" is also playing in to Grogs extremely low intelligence, but surprisingly high wisdom. For the record, Grog has an intelligence of 6, so he knows what he's doing (the average is 10 btw). Originally, Keyleth was not the one knocked down inside the temple, it was actually Vex, and she fell from a height (she'd been flying at the time), but only after being struck by a Finger of Death spell (the same spell used here) that brought her down to a single hit point. This actually worked out better, as if you are killed by a FoD you return as a zombie under the control of whoever killed you, so falling to death was preferable to the alternative. As she wasn't flying this time, Keyleth was able to interpose herself and take the hit instead. Vex actually took a lot of Finger of Death spells over the entire campaign, more than anyone else. On character deaths; (no spoilers) In the original campaign, only 2 people had died thus far and been brought back, Pike and Grog. Pike had died in the homegame pre-stream (an event that result in her hair turning its distinctive white as we all know it) and Grog dies early on fighting a Beholder. Obviously, they both got better. It seems nobody has died in this version of the story due to how much has been changed and skipped over. And though I won't speak too much on character deaths for obvious spoiler reasons, all I'll say is, in game simply going to 0 hp doesn't auto-kill you for the most part, instead you get knocked unconscious and have to make death saving throws each round to not die. Three successes and you'll stabilize, three failures and you're out. A natural 20 will auto stabilize too. And whilst you can be brought back to life with spells, those spells have limitations, costs and in Matts game, required extra checks by other characters to assist in the ritual to bring people back, because he doesn't like having death be so cheap and the chance for emotional rp moments is too great to pass up. We'll wait and see how such things may play out over the course of this series, and which things if any may be changed for the sake of the story. Just be aware that just because a character goes down doesn't mean they're straight up dead, and just being dead doesn't mean they're gone forever. *But sometimes it might!*

[@isaiahwelch8066]

There is something incorrect here. In Matt's campaigns, a PC can stabilize from Death Saves if they haven't died at all, and if they beat a DC 10, with no modifiers to the roll. Stabilization just means you're at 0 and unconscious, but not dying. A natural 20 means that you are conscious and at 1 HP -- something that actually comes into play during the second-to-last battle of Campaign 2, with the Mighty Nein, where both Caduceus and Jester are both at 1 HP. Additionally, Matt actually has resurrection rituals have a group check with a DC that goes up every time a PC technically dies, and they don't have the ability or materials to cast Raise Dead or some other resurrection spell that isn't a ritual.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Thanks for sharing the fun facts about the actual campaign and how it differed from the show. I will say that I’m very glad they added Scanlan shushing Delilah in this 😁 🤫

[@theanyktos]

Puppy!!!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

🐶 🥰

[@TenebrousFilms]

Vox Machina never sneaks up on anything, especially a Big Bad. I think that might have been a factor in the final attempt of the campaign... the last encounter before the 'final boss' for those in know? Anyway, they portray Cassandra as purely a victim of Silas' control, here; but five years in one's personal hell doesn't need any kind of magic to mess with your mind...

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

We thought it was even longer than five years 😯

[@AnxietyRat]

In the campaign, she was also mind control at this time. Matt has said in the beginning she was mind controlled and then as the years went on they slowly stopped and were able to control her with normal psychological manipulation...but when Vox Machina came back they decided to mind control her again just so that everything went as smoothly as possible. So she wasn't mind controlled the entire 5 years ...but at this point, in both the show and campaign, she was under Sylas' influence. From what Matt has said in interviews, anyway.

[@missykender]

Aww, I just noticed your adorable Pappillon! What's his/her name?

[@taserface780]

NOOOOOO WHY DIDN’T YOU WATCH BOTH. God this is such a good show I can’t wait to see your reaction to the final episode.

[@Knightlight-kw9sh]

They watched all of them already. If you want to see it extra early it's all on Patreon

[@taserface780]

@@Knightlight-kw9sh I would love to but I don’t have money

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Takes us a bit to edit these and we didn’t want people waiting two weeks to see both so focused on getting this one out and hopefully can get 12 out before next weekend 😅

[@madhavmandava]

silence is the most needed spell to shush other spell casters....thats why.....shhhh

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Absolutely loved it that Scanlan flipped it back on her 😁

[@madhavmandava]

you think Pike and Scanlan are gonna be an item?

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

They are hinting at it a lot. But at the same time, don’t think Pike is interested. Seems to be more Scanlan 🤔

[@DaDunge]

14:45 I think it's to some extent Keyleth fleeing again. IF she died during her Aramente she will never have to face failure.

[@isaiahwelch8066]

Hey guys. All I can say is, this is the one episode that gives me huge Dragonball Z vibes. If you know, you know. Lol

[@ryanbrooks8045]

Seems like you guys thought Cassandra's name came off the gun... it was Silas's name. As far as we know Cassandra's is still on it. And I'll say now that the reason there was an empty barrel is b/c vengeance never ends. There's always room for another name once he starts down that path. It's never ending.

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Ah okay. That makes sense. We did think it was Cassandra’s name that came off it 🤗

[@madhavmandava]

so let me more specific....which magic are or school would follow in.....dark, light, nature, elements(nearly nature but no trees as such) arcane or some 50/50 of 2 art only?

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

Probably dabble in both. 😈😇

[@NotCRAZYCHRIS]

React to Stranger things season 4!

[@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2]

We do plan on reacting to that one 🙂

[@JulianCommodus]

What I always found a bit hilarious was that technically, Vex hitting Vax would have been healing him. In the game, Vex has a strength of 7, and a modifier of -2; a punch does 1 point of damage plus the strength modifier, making a total of -1 damage with each punch. Vax would have gained a hit point with each punch.

[@JirkaKunst]

Hilarious, but untrue. It would do 0 bludgeoning damage and no healing. PBH p.196 Chapter 9: Combat, Damage rolls: "(...) You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. (...) With a penalty, it is possible to deal 0 damage, but never negative damage. (...)"

[@azifay]

It is zero damage. :P I know because I have a wizard who has a strength of 7 and does zero damage.

[@nuru666]

@@azifay my str 9 Bard often punched the Barbarian as hard as he could to wake him up in the mornings. Both of us thought it was funny and it fueled the playful rivalry we had at the table