When you ruin the DM's plans | Critical Role Highlight | Campaign 2, Episode 47

It's hard being a DM sometimes... you spend countless hours preparing the intricate details of a battle and .......in comes the PCs and their magics.
The mighty nein avoids an entire sea battle using control water to the disdain of Matthew Mercer.
Taken from Critical Role Campaign 2 Episode 47, "The Second Seal"
If you enjoy my videos and think I deserve a coffee cup or two ---} :) ko-fi.com/speckogirl

[@jwagsftw6767]

Matt: Then suddenly another ship you didn't see before that looks remarkably like the first appears behind you.

[@suchaklutz]

100% that is what I would do

[@yourdadsotherfamily3530]

This is hilariousssssss and 100% what a good dm should do for the laughs

[@highlandus]

@@yourdadsotherfamily3530 no

[@Leongon]

@@yourdadsotherfamily3530 a good DM let their players win when they do something ingenious.

[@xmenwolverineX]

Ship: I am Hagred the worlds most most powerful wizard and i shall avenge my brother Hagren

[@nerdonpluto7801]

"Taliesin, d'you have any idea what a range on a cannon is?" "Uh... Far"

[@kirbs0001]

According to Wikipedia - Up to 500 yards for small early naval cannons. Larger cannons might reach as far as 2,500 yards

[@Jalgorn]

@@kirbs0001 How much is that in "Rest of the world"-units, 2.1235 kilometres???

[@paradocks23]

@@Jalgorn 457.2 meters for the small ones and 2286 meters for the large one. Google is much faster than asking but I understand and have done this very thing many times.

[@kirbs0001]

@@Jalgorn 500 yards is 0.24686 nautical miles, which makes it 14 seconds of arc around the world, or 2.27 furlongs. or 0.4572 km.

[@swaghauler8334]

@@kirbs0001 Except the early cannon weren't rifled but rather smoothbores. The EFFECTIVE range of most smoothbores were between 150m and 250m depending on the size and speed of the target.

[@empirate100]

"Don't apologize, that was awesome! That's how you do it!" - love me some good DMing.

[@popburnsy3207]

When the players make and succeed at a good enough plan, that's all a part of the game

[@johnbiggscr]

empirate100 exactly, when the DM knows he isn’t there to defeat the players but to guide them.

[@TheCthultist]

This part can’t be stated enough. Matt handled this exactly the way he should have and it was awesome to watch unfold.

[@Stormcrownn]

Part of why it's so cool is that they can see that the ship combat isn't going to be easy.

[@DeathnoteBB]

empirate100 I love this attitude. I always see comments like “ugh i hate when players derail” but like... is this not the game? To play how you want and try to win the encounters?

[@FinalIcharus]

"Once they're within 300 feet i can make their life very unpleasant"

[@Altyrell]

Hell, imagine if they had Percy with them lol

[@mollymauktealeaf]

Altyrell Percy’s guns have some serious range as well. He could literally destroy their sails from a range comparable to the actual cannons.

[@Altyrell]

Not just that, but he could potentially simply shoot whomever is helming the other Ship

[@mollymauktealeaf]

Only if he wants to take all the fun out of it. In all honesty, talking Vox Machina, Grog could take a couple of cannonballs with barely a split lip as he punched the enemy ship to death. Thinking about it, all of Vox Machina could probably stomp a ship single handed (except for Vex, she needs both hands to draw her bow).

[@Altyrell]

Considering Taliesin had recently Control Water'd a pursuing ship into capsizing, I wouldn't put it past Taliesin to have Percy do that.

[@ashleyharrison861]

I love that fact that Cad has just been the happy chef this entire trip, then he just demolishes a ship with ease

[@danielwilson8604]

...in retrospect, his nonchalance makes a lot more sense suddenly.

[@vespernight4236]

Samuel Harrison imagine you’re one of the crew and you know these weirdos that hired you are powerful but then the cook, the calm, cleric, cow man, just demolishes a ship in one fell swoop like that had to be a shock.

[@sundavar]

@@vespernight4236 why dose this comment make me think of the movie under siege

[@anufoalan]

Sundavar Gaming because that was the exact movie plot of Under Seige, but let’s be honest Caduceus does it better and less creepy than Steven Segal

[@TheRealMirCat]

@@sundavar Always beware the cook: Under Siege, Hunt for Red October, Treasure Island...

[@hatcatmoby8893]

DM Tip #1: NEVER underestimate the creativity of your players. DM Tip #2: Best way to make your players laugh is to have a plan.

[@kaldo_kaldo]

Anytime my cleric will go near a body of water, he prepares control water. WHY NOT!

[@scages101]

I remember one time my players were fighting a boss much stronger than they were and 2 of them got lucky nat20s on hit rolls (they were all rolling hit rolls at once due to the boss falling on his ass due to a bad athletics roll) and said players would have one shot the boss. So I cucked them and the boss shrugged off their blows and ran away with his pants around his feet. They then met him again later and had a fun super awesome boss fight.

[@AuthorReborn]

DM Tip #3: Employ the sort of tricks players like to turn on you. Don't metagame and make the foes more intelligent than the foes would be, but make them fight people of similar abilities with different ideals/allegiances. It will make your players consider new and creative options and give some fun opportunities for players to easily connect with your villains.

[@kylebeach6799]

@@AuthorReborn Very true, one of the best campaigns our main DM ever did was one that involved so many players he split us into two teams and we each met a different day of the week. He limited the world a bit more to prevent s just running off in opposite directions, but we were two parties of heroes pledged to different world factions. We constantly butted heads and ran into each other and he had copies of everyones character sheet so anytime the groups encountered each other we'd essentially get to pvp because the idea of playing "npc" heroes against us was that he could actually play each character how a player would and didn't have to force limit himself into keeping dumb creatures dumb and smart but weak ones smart but weak. I'll also add that the reason for this is throughout multiple campaigns over a couple years, our core group of 4 or 5 players time and time again concocted ways to completely ruin his meticulous plans, all because of either taking outside the box actions and getting good rolls or having and using skills that he didnt know because one guy or another was saving it up. In the mega campaign he figured out the ultimate way to negate that....by making us play against characters who could react in creative ways to our whacky antics.

[@kominatoriku5483]

dude being DM pains my soul as i watch my beautiful boss battle being slowed destroyed by players creativity a tip for DMS never have a boss battle in top of a tower they will just push the boss of somehow

[@ZechOfTheWest]

"CAPTAIN!!!!!" "Y-yeah?" "LOOOOOOOOOK!!!!!" "Oh shit!" *Pirates of the Caribbean "He's a pirate" plays*

[@WireMosasaur]

thank you for putting this in my mind as the POV footage of the other ship during the control water moment xD

[@BadSkeelz]

I love how cannons turn Nott from her sensitive, self-loathing mama self in to a full-blown dakka-loving greenskin gobbo.

[@ace0071000]

It's basically megafluffernutter

[@mattrenteria7951]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

[@ChaosSquad]

WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

[@scottmillor]

Hitting on 4+ is a lot easier on a d20

[@bitter-bit]

@@ChaosSquad YELLING LIKE KERMIT FLAILING HIS ARMS

[@rowdy35967]

In the military I heard phrases like "no plan survives contact with the enemy," but DMing (D&D, VtM, etc.) taught me the meaning of those phrases.

[@pairot01]

The enemy being the player haha

[@BlueNEXUSGaming]

"Even the best laid plans go to waste on the battlefield." Sun Tsu, The Art of War. In the heat of battle, nobody is worried about the Plan, they're worried about survival.

[@brandoncamarino3127]

Is VtM what the military calls Vietnam?

[@timbrown4086]

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." - Von Moltke, the younger

[@whalwing25]

Jane , Mike Tyson said it best. Everyone has a plan till you punch them in the mouth

[@Morhek]

"It's just water." Man, Taliesin hasn't lost his touch at the understatement.

[@KitsuneRokaku]

This is Taliesin Jaffe, you guys should have seen this coming hehe

[@primepebble2464]

please no one like this its on a nice 666 from Taliesin

[@davidnymann5423]

@@KitsuneRokaku yeah everyone knows a dm's job is to make the players victories feel pointless, just so fun for everyone at the table.

[@scofield117]

Matt: Okay I've got this awesome naval battle planned, complete with new game mechanics and everything. Tal: I cast "Win" Matt: what? Tal: Yeah it says here I just roll a die, then I win. Matt: Are you serious Tal: I win Matt, I just win

[@camrynsmith7631]

scofield117 Tal just cast the OP spell: Fuck the DM's plans. Only requires somatic components, being a middle at your DM.

[@elfhririn]

Lmao

[@remermagic6986]

Well thats what you earn with 2000 years worth of experience

[@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181]

Well I mean, the enemies had magic, and probably should have expected the sly adventurers to have magic too.....So they probably shouldn't have tailed the parties ship so close to a shore and some rocks....That was their own dumb captains fault. Lol Also, If you wanna be a challenging DM in a sea battle. FIREBALL THE SAILS...that'll stop the party in their tracks, then you can board and raid like a REAL pirate all you want. LOL

[@rappturephoenix9737]

@@k-aw-teksleepysageuni8181 Matt doesn't a play "Let's destroy the party" He plays a world that has their own things and reactions. The Pirate ship did not go "Oh I think there will be high level magic casters in the middle of deserted islands so let's assume they can make a tidal wave that would fuck us" In most worlds, and especially Matt's, "Fireball" is not a common spell that every group has access to.

[@gtkall]

There is only one rule, Matt... DON'T. LET. TALIESIN. ROLL.

[@mattbarlow8741]

this is true

[@chipwilson4469]

Remember that time he did let Taliesin Roll and.....Molly died. This was perfect "gotcha back" from Taliesin.

[@giraffedragon6110]

So THATS why Molly died

[@TheDanlovejoy]

every DM has had a taliesin at some point.

[@iselreads2908]

@@PsychicFX , that's simultaneously both the greatest and most terrifying thing I've heard of today.

[@immortallegacy100]

And it was at this moment that Matt thought to himself "Dragon Turtle..." The DM always has the last laugh...

[@Stingra87]

I mean they still cheesed that encounter as well, so...

[@aes2621]

All DMs know this simple phrase. When will they learn When will they learn *THAT THEIR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES*

[@h0lly_blue]

you frickin fricks

[@cheekygoblin1944]

As a dm, I agree with this statement wholeheartedly

[@DarthBoberEXMinMaxMunchking]

Yup, just dropped ~300 angry treants (CR9 each one) on my party for casting a Fireball in the woods and starting a wildfire, even though they had a very recent encounter where these non-forgiving plants who warned them about chopping firewood and starting fires. Sad thing is, I have prepared 3 sessions worth of material for the grandmother hag lair with a coven of green hags amplified by a rare mineral Arcanium which turns them into perma-morphing nightmares. Now all of that goes down the drain because they have no chance of surviving in the wood and the only option is to run out of it.

[@Lurklen]

@@DarthBoberEXMinMaxMunchking Fleeing the woods is amateur hour. They should lead the Treants towards the Hags, and try to pin the fire on them! It won't work but it will be hilarious.

[@DarthBoberEXMinMaxMunchking]

@@Lurklen Impossible, treants know for sure it's the PCs who startes the fire.

[@MrGhosta5]

This is dnd, sometimes stuff just happens. Sometimes you one shot demons with a chef knife, sometimes a house cat murders an entire village, and sometimes rocks move out of your way because you asked them nicely.

[@rinconusmc]

Cast animate object on bolder. Ask it to move itself :P

[@obsidironpumicia4074]

@@rinconusmc Mass animate object on group of boulders. Gain new spell of "Rocks fall, everyone dies"

[@rinconusmc]

@@obsidironpumicia4074 that is absolutely brilliant!

[@obsidironpumicia4074]

@@rinconusmc It's been done before. A cow reach unknown mach and decimated an entire city/mountain. Along with a dragon.

[@Thedrizzle404]

My own party recently managed to kill a boss we were meant to lose against by rolling 3 20's in a row and him failing his various saves. It was kinda epic.

[@SpawnOfJenova]

Matt was such a good sport on this one. He could of easily just said that Talison's roll wasn't high enough and done what he wanted all along, but he gave it to them. Bravo, Mr. Mercer

[@Deathnotefan97]

He had already said it's a 30% chance, and he rolled a 15 on the percentile

[@SpawnOfJenova]

@@Deathnotefan97 Yeah, but he could have said it was a high 30%. Like they would have to roll a 70 or more

[@NioGetsume]

It wasn't stated before hand and they seemed to be all on the same page. If he changed it after the fact it woulda been kinda obvious.

[@victordemortier369]

Abject Mathew Mercer is definitely really good but I believe he didn’t had the possibility to come back on what he said... And in the end it’s not that much of a big deal :) If you feel like you missed something that means you should try it in your campaign or do a one shot

[@Goku61394]

Forgive me for this as I don’t play d&d but if it’s a 30% chance to work how does a rolling a 15 mean he succeeded?

[@wickedpissa25]

"Guilt is for humans and mortals." - Executive Goth

[@thatpedanticcommenter5847]

I was in a game once where a PC ended a massive naval battle with control water alone. Every round, he would make a 100ft. deep trench of water right underneath a ship, and every second round he'd fill it in by redirected the flow of water right on top of the former trench. He destroyed like 4 ships that way until his concentration ended by getting indirectly hit by a cannonball. Clerics are powerful casters, man.

[@weiss4855]

I'm starting to think that any ship worth it's salt should have their own aquamage on board.

[@micahinnerarity9563]

With what spell??

[@thatpedanticcommenter5847]

@@micahinnerarity9563 The spell's name is Control Water.

[@PopeCrispy]

Weiss I mean how much is salt really?

[@golgomethlayceon2594]

@@micahinnerarity9563 or counter spell. Everyone knows how badass that can be

[@dumpeeplarfunny]

I know the feeling. Me: "I spent 4 weeks making this cultist camp, but it's done." Them: "Let's leave the camp immediately and go directly into the cave."

[@chasefarber3796]

Horde of the dragon queen? I had the exact same experience with my group, but mine decided to yell out to the watch towers and literally tell them who they are. then one of my guys cheesed cyanwrath by calling him out to a unnarmed duel, which he cheesed by another party member using protection from good and evil on him right before the 1v1

[@willyguston407]

@@chasefarber3796 In our group the camp rolled terrible perception to the point that they didn't spot a naked Tielfing flying in the sky above them. When we later fought Cyanwrath in the cave he was knocked out most of the fight with a DC 13 Tasha's Hideous laughter and only got one attack when he finally rolled high enough to break it before we killed him.

[@satibel]

you can always have the players come back to the camp later, maybe it's been invaded by orcs or goblins this time and you need to find a cultist cowering in a chest or something.

[@unbelievablytrash9458]

This isn't even remotely what happened in the video. In the video, the DM presented the players with a challenge and they conquered it succinctly.

[@MikeTwaiks]

kind of beeing there, i spend a hole day making a cultist hideout, planing how will they find them and creating my very first homebrew monster with cool mecanics, a cool background, lore building... they kill all of the cultist they saw but terrible dice rolls didnt allow them to find the passage to the boss 😢 obviously they left thinking there was nothing else and the rest of the cultists + the boss escaped 😭😢

[@Silver-Rexy]

This slight hint of anger as Matt says, "Yeah, the ship's fucked..." is palpable.

[@TheGeminiZodiac2]

One time, our DM tried to put a simple little dungeon into one of our sessions. By the end, we almost single handedly caused the end of the world.

[@magiv4205]

That reminds me of LITERALLY MY SECOND SESSION EVER. A simple dungeon crawl resulted in us accidentally releasing an arch-lich into the world and forcing the DM to rewrite her entire campaign. Fun times.

[@nerezza6517]

D&D at it's finest

[@baguldus1885]

I have only played D&D once, about a two years ago. It was a one shot to see if we liked it (We all really did, but then graduating and getting jobs kinda got in the way sadly). The story and set up was simple; An old necromancers dungeon had recently been discovered and opened. The local guild had set up so that any adventurers who wanted to got to enter the dungeon only being paid if they could bring back proof that they had actually killed things down there. The proof being things such as heads and different body parts from undead. Our party met at the local guild and decided that we should work together. We had a wood elf bard, a high elf druid, a kenku rogue, a dwarf cleric and me, the human unarmed fighter monk. We after our first couple of fights had a long rest in one of the "bedrooms" in the dungeon. During said long rest we heard a scraping sound outside the door, the kenku rogue peeked out the door. Outside our door was another party of three people. They were dragging a giant shield of some sort. (The story we got to learn later was that inside the dungeon was a giant broken statue of a god, for every piece that was found and put back on the statue everyone inside the dungeon would get a sort of blessing by the god, +1 to AC) We decided that we should try to convince them to work with us, we left the room and after a failed persuasion check the other party belived that we were trying to trick them and kill them. So they attacked, our rogue used their crossbow to try to shoot one of them, missed and hit the giant shield. At that point the enemy party realized that they could use the shield to their advantage as a giant cover. They all hid behind the shield. A good thing to note is that this was one of the DMs planned battles, so wether the persuasion check had succeded or not they would have turned on us. This was supposed to be a sort of "mini boss fight" as the enemy party would use the shield to have almost full cover. That being said, we realized that we could use the shield to OUR advantage by pushing it. So we did... after a failed strength saving throw on the enemies part, a natural 1, the result was that the shield tipped over on top of the enemies and instantly crushed all of them, ending the boss fight instantly. After a long laugh from everyone at the table we looked at the clock and realized that it was time to end the session. The DM was cool with the outcome and said "That is the most you thing to do to a bossfight!". And sadly never got the time to play again.

[@pbentle1990]

that's got to be nearly a 1.75 on the henderson scale

[@baguldus1885]

@@Meta-Drew How did I screw it up?

[@KonkaBass]

Lol, poor Mercer. In all fairness though, all of the players really wanted to have a ship fight. I mean look at Merisha when he hands her the first m8 ship rules sheet. So much excitement. Lol and Sam hahaha, he wanted to shoot stuff soooo bad.

[@bitter-bit]

SAM GOT TO FIRE

[@gamester512]

@@bitter-bit At an unmoving target that had already been defeated....but sure.

[@devinaschenbrenner2683]

@@gamester512 hey sometimes that enough taste of what could of happened to have the players ask to have another chance at what ever it is combat wise they missed out on. I've experienced this. We were playing Starfinder, and I had an Envoy that was basically a gunslinger in all but name. Due to the ridiculous Carisma stacks the Envoy can have I bluffed our party's way out of a unique Combat of a game of Poker. Which after the session the dm explained the rough concept, we all liked it and asked for that to be revised elsewhere in the campaign. It ended up becoming the encounter for the end of "Act 1; Now what the fuck did we do?" It was pretty intense actually. Managed to bluffed my last hand and forced the Boss to fold, reviling I actually had a losing hand, won my partys ownership back, they where captured and turned into slaves, cleared all my characters debts,( he was a ganster) and established Rightful claim on my planet essential I owned my own home world. It was fucking awesome.

[@benji2495]

At least they got to do naval battle in mighty nein reunited

[@Julia.Taunton-Clark99]

*Marisha

[@cgrisetti87]

Matt's willingness to let his players spoil these plans and instead, use what they have and their own ingenuity is 100% what makes this all work. Yeah it stung, but he let them do it. Such an amazing DM.

[@fellen1611]

Nott: *screamss and gets ready to fire the cannons* Cad: Now, let's give them fair warning -and completely destroy their ship-

[@falonsherrard6004]

The one time you want your players to be murder hobos and they decide to be smart, experienced players instead 😂😂

[@jessicagarner8463]

Why is this so true?!

[@a7xguitar666]

As a player, this is awesome. As a viewer and fellow dm, this shit is heartbreaking lol been waiting all arc long for a ship battle and I get blue balled by a lucky percentile roll >.>

[@thenosieyartist6924]

It IS taliesin

[@jekubfimbulwing5370]

Welcome, to Critical Roll!

[@Zergonapal]

lesson learnt I think, next time Matt will sure to have a magic user standing by with dispell or maybe a counter control water.

[@redfinale]

it's stunts like this too that debunk the whole "this is scripted" bull that people claim CR does. How many times has Matt been blue balled from what he had planned (like Lorenzo getting away) vs what actually happens. Matt made a long twitter rant saying play the way you want to. Critical Role is more story driven, to provide entertainment for the group playing and for those of us that watch them versus many people who play a campaign and literally just play the game "I do this: Roll, pass/fail. I attack that boss monster: It's dead, done. CR tells a story with even the smallest rolls. Fails could result in hilarious misgivings, like Nott failing trap rolls and then subsequently getting impaled on the very traps she misses (thankfully instead of the other party) or success on attacks giving us some of the goriest HDYWTDTs.

[@YuubiTimberwolf]

Welcome to DnD, you must be new xD I saw that happen so often, nobody is save.

[@yourboynik]

Matthew: "there is a firearm of some sort" Everyone:"TALIESIN!"

[@jackdog06]

Not only did Matt allow this to happen, he upped the percentage chance due to the island placement, that was pretty cool of him.

[@AdamDRoache]

Mercer- "Mission Failed, we'll get em Next time"

[@Alv0iD]

You forgot the part when he said that he planned a lot of fight on the water, but everytime they manage to avoid it. (Like by killing Avantika on the island)

[@binder38us]

Technically the Plank King did...

[@danhays307]

SPOILER . . . . . . NARRATOR: But Avantika’s death at the hand of the Plank King would NOT eliminate the instance of her attacking the Mighty Nein on the water …

[@ChasingDeathbeds]

I found it absolutely chaotically hilarious that throughout the campaign that “tea zen” Cad had some of the biggest “destroyer of campaigns” moments compared to everyone else

[@danhays307]

An upset Cadeucus is a most daunting thing. His “March of Angry Beetles” when Fjord was ambushed in his sleep was just phenomenal.

[@Alche_mist]

Again, the case of "fear the wrath of a calm man".

[@OzixiThrill]

He's beet red when he realizes that he tumbled Matt's plans ^^;

[@matheusfiorelli8829]

everytime Caduceus ruins Matt's plans, i call back to the time Percy was wearing pajamas with the butt flap down xD

[@sirken2]

I love Travis adding salt to the wound." It's okay if they got some arcane people... if they can survive this barrage." XD Matt's chuckle after that is painful XD

[@Apexx27]

Marisha being all giddy over the ship sheet she receives might be the cutest thing ive ever seen

[@sleepinghermit7778]

Everything marisha does is adorable.

[@TheSpencermacdougall]

I am guessing that has changed after rumblecusp.

[@Apexx27]

@@TheSpencermacdougall nope. Marisha reigns supreme.

[@shadows_assassin3131]

"Turn to port, prepare to fire!" *Pirates of the Carribean music starts up* Matts face like "Oh you, you... I had this all planned and you threw a wave into my plans..."

[@ciaranmcguinness8900]

It's just good business

[@loganb7059]

Shadows_Assassin Matt’s laughing but you can see he just died a little inside.

[@Galin1993]

This music is from Skyrim

[@Alex-yz6uw]

This is the most "D&D spellcaster class" thing I have ever seen. "I roll a die, and if I succeed I win instantly."

[@isabelchmontuenga]

Everybody acts like it is surprising, but they had three magic users with Control Water, one of which had been used to escape a Geiser less than an hour before. And it was a 100ft Geiser. Control Water is OP on the Sea.

[@Gryphon2026]

That's a fair point!

[@Aplesedjr]

As it should be.

[@hinro]

Well yeah, it gives them avatar powers where everything is water.

[@Tepalus]

But normal cannons outrange them... Normal range of 600ft. And in a fantasy setting you would KNOW of this spell and have tons of counters to that... Still, gg to the players though.

[@georgecraig6282]

"It's just water" Caduceus is the most passively cool of all of them

[@thetntraider]

Don’t worry... he got his revenge.... “Captain, we’re being followed by a tiny island!”

[@Stingra87]

And they still cheesed that encounter, lol.

[@thetntraider]

@@Stingra87 and then they lost their ship

[@Stingra87]

@@thetntraider They got a much better one.

[@jakepauly3149]

Matt: It’s gotta be the best pirate you’ve ever seen Tal: So it would seem

[@viamarie5108]

I am back after his 2% roll in episode 140. Talesin is a god.

[@JonathanMandrake]

Yeah, once he dies he will become one of the minor deitys, granted the status by the Wildmother

[@__Insanity_]

It took you that long to realize? He's an Eldritch Entity/Deity

[@haku8135]

If episode 140 has taught us anything, just don't let Taliesin role percentile.

[@benstin]

"Make it so" This would be the weirdest Star Trek crew, man

[@ZeroCanalX]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYbbY3ZthdNqkKc

[@perrycarters3113]

Matt, your first mistake was engaging an eldritch deity like Taliesin in open water....

[@evilgibson]

this is a good dm. a lesser one would make that percentile fail or make up some random reason they survive

[@sleepinghermit7778]

Matt's the best. He dms under the premise that its about letting them be hero's and having fun.

[@pairot01]

If you really really don't want them to skip that encounter you can always say that they didn't capzise but some men and canons fell overboard, or that the ship got pushed and damaged against the coast line. You are the DM, you are literally the god of your own world, you make the rules.

[@evilgibson]

@@pairot01 and this is the reason i stopped playing random groups. the god complex is fun, but it is about the players making the story and you revealing it to them. if you abuse the gm powers youwill slowly find yourself having a forced storytime thinking the players enjoy it but that is just them saving face. I've left groups when i started seeing the gm go down this dark path and a very good percentage of the time it leads to player stories becoming "i think we rolled three times collectively' to 'the gm forced a character into our party dedicated to forcing his storyline' stop seeing your god powers as a cheat. if there is no reason the players actions really mess something up then nothing is more fun than adlibbing.

[@pairot01]

@@evilgibson I've never DM'd so don't say throw that criticism at me, you don't know me or what I do. Have you ever tried talking to a DM about that? Because leaving a group should be the last resort. You seem like a very polarized person, everything is either perfect or it's the worst.

[@evilgibson]

i am a very polarizing person, yep! i like having good times for all than bad times for some, so thank you! reply was directed at you but mostly to your comment (shocking!!). just the absurdity of using the god power to save the GM's precious story even if the players did something awesome is just downputting

[@chipwilson4469]

The end was the best part. Sam: Maybe the blast pushed it back over and gave them a second wind!! (desperately trying to give Matt a chance to have this battle he worked so hard on) Matt: .....nah

[@ronlittlejohn8046]

When Fjord told Nott to ready the canons and Sam did that scream I couldn’t help but picture a wavy armed Kermit the frog 😂

[@squattingheads]

Poor Matt's Soul

[@frankwieser478]

squattingheads I see what you did there!!!

[@pierluigidipietro8097]

It will come handy in another occasion :D

[@Ardenithar]

Luckily, there are several.

[@MinersLoveGames]

It's a good thing that he is invulnerable.

[@TheNordmann]

This stuff is so frustrating as a GM, and truly enjoyable as GM. Its a love hate relationship with our players.

[@Tempestan]

You love to hate them?

[@chrisk1039]

@@Tempestan sometimes it's more than you hate that you love them for their cleverness

[@hopefullyginger2065]

I had a party of nine players go to the hells to rescue a friend. They met Mephistopheles. Was supposed to be an epic level boss, 500 hp, the first person used a ridiculously op magic weapon and action surged to attack like 8 times...killed him in one turn. No one else even got a turn. I’m not gonna lie I was so disappointed. I was pissed. I was prepared to run like a 2 hour encounter...over in five minutes.

[@josephvickrey5396]

I feel both despair, and utter pride when my player's destroy my plans. "So proud, yet so betrayed.... well done."

[@warpedminds88]

I'm really disappointed that no one asked Matt to confirm the time of day. You know, to make sure the sun was directly overhead and not getting in their eyes.

[@dowskivisionmagicaloracle8593]

He responded like a mature adult. This is why he gets to run the show.

[@spuzzfipple951]

A similar thing happened recently in one of my groups. We were being chased through the desert by a hoard of mounted goblins, hobgoblins and orcs when a group of Grimlocks and 4 Mind Flayers appeared 200 feet in front of us. By sheer happenstance, a unique magic item I possessed had a teleportation ability when attuned correctly. The party zorped miles away from the conflict before the 2 groups converged on us. Our DM had everything written down and was ready for an epic showdown, but I said, "Nah, we out."

[@erikpullenberg1747]

Matt:" Initiates naval battle" Marisha:"*Heavy Breathing"*

[@BM03]

"Maybe the canon blast flipped them back over and then THEY GOT A SECOND WIND!!" Well shit, maybe make a bard again and inspire the broken ship while you're at it. lol

[@galbert117]

Once used a wish from a genie to accidentally wipe out the entire race of Frost Giants by dropping them into a volcano...the town got messed up and half the people burnt to a crisp when the lava overflowed....but it worked...

[@nathanielranney9163]

I'll bet your DM was really *heated.*

[@galbert117]

Nah he was surprised but went along with it... the rest of the party was horrified. Especially the Cleric

[@johnlong8952]

How did you phrase your wish to where it "accidentally" kills off an entire race of frost Giants?

[@galbert117]

@@johnlong8952 "I wish for all the frost giants to be dropped into a volcano" as I gestured at the ones attacking....I realized too late how I worded it and by the time I tried to fix it millions of frost giants were falling into the volcano.... First time dealing with a genie and my second wish from it....

[@BlueNEXUSGaming]

@@galbert117 You have clearly never seen Aladdin 2! XD "I Wish I had the great Sunken Treasure of blub blub blub blub?! Blub!!!" Genie Jafar: "You probably Wish to breathe now don't you?" "BLUB!!!!" Jafar had teleported him to the Sunken Treasure, at the bottom of the ocean. Yeah, be careful what you wish for.

[@jclarkent3757]

As much as this sucks for mat, this is the mark of a truly amazing DM. Allowing your players victories even when they spoil your plans and expectations is probably the hardest thing for the DM but the best thing for the players. When DMs twist rules in order to fit their own agendas, the players start to feel out of control and helpless, and pretty soon stop caring.

[@victoriagideon9408]

Fjord watching Cad destroy them with control water "Glad we went through all that so I could get that spell once a day..."

[@GaiaDblade]

Or as we like to call it in our D&D group: "How close is the king standing?"

[@captainnwalps6689]

I like how they try and make Matt feel better like “maybe they can fire their cannons and right the ship”

[@carella211]

This was one of the greatest moments in CR history. Of course Taliesin was at the center of it, lol.

[@sleepinghermit7778]

Assflap dangling

[@garysmith3037]

As you sail away, what's this?! On the horizon you see ANOTHER ship headed your way...…..

[@heroclix0rz]

As soon as he said "I cast control water" my inner DM was triggered.

[@Lv20Bard]

I love how the players still appreciate Matt’s consideration and prep for that encounter and he still appreciates their ingenuity and creative application of their abilities.

[@HeinrichKonig]

I had something like this when hosting Deadlands Reloaded... Party heard rumors of a stagecoach robber in a ghost rock-powered wagon going around sticking people up. Naturally one of the party declared themselves on hold while the group was travelling. Of course, the stagecoach robber shows up... At this point I start laying out the table for a chase sequence, and I start explaining the rules for chases. It was going to be a tight chase, but with a little luck and some teamwork, they could do it. I call for initiative... The player on hold declares he'd like to spend his held action. I agree. He fires a shot at the robber himself, and he manages to land a clean hit with some bonus damage. I don't have any fate chips left to let the enemy do any soak rolls, but I'm not too worried, since the player's bullet still needs to pierce the reinforced glass of the cockpit, and then roll high enough to cause 4 wounds on the guy. He needs 32 damage in one hit... Then exploding dice happens. He rolls a 39. Motherfucker ended the chase before it had begun, one-shotted a mid-tier boss at novice rank, *and* destroyed an entire adventure hook! One day I'll get them with a chase...

[@megascrubgaming275]

you know the best part to me is the fact that matt actually gave Tal a better chance to capsize the boat but it didn't even matter

[@TheCart54321]

Matt- finally! It took so long but I have made naval combat possible! The group will love this next encounter. Caduceus- I use control water and capsize their ship. Matt-😐.....😑sure why not.

[@samschoemaker9557]

Cool Dude yup

[@aienma6660]

I remember ruining the DM's plan a few times Missed a shot with flaming arrows (leading an army) set the field on fire... killed 5 waves of troops from an army of monster... ALL weak to fire Killed the BIG BAD, what one you run into at the start that starts your whole campaign. Using a homebrew that the DM allowed/created, I was 'dead' at his feet, as he monologue... being an undead i reanimate after a few hours, and he had kidnapped me a while ago and killed me... this supposing to be a 'fun way' to show the other players i'm semi-immortal. My nat 20 attack, with surprise damage to his nat one dex... severity 1. I bisected him with my two handed sword... that the same length as me Supposedly he was gonna be some New God... but he didn't leave his mortal body yet

[@leonmuller2077]

Oh god, the last one is hilarious!

[@RpTheHotrod]

I remember when some powerful witch was trying to escape the group for whatever reason. She went into rat form and quickly scampered into a wall through a small crack\hole in the wall. The mage decided to cast enlarge (or was it dispel?) on the witch just before the tail was out of sight. Yeah, didn't end well for the witch.

[@aienma6660]

@UCH4RodxUQEQ-SSGiB7gl5Fg Indeed it was... the DM just stared at me, like i broke him.

[@AlexPBenton]

That sounds awesome!

[@finnfiasco]

This is wholesome all around because a) he could’ve just said “nope, not high enough” but stuck to the rules, even though it meant his work was wasted, and b) they all felt guilty for his work being wasted. It’s like “Oh, this could’ve been a bigger deal - never mind, let’s proceed!” 🥰

[@johnwitherspoon105]

Every DM knows that moment..... PC does something clever..... guhhhhhh. Well they all died. Soooo that encouter is over.

[@SolarFlarehorse]

John Witherspoon “So there are a bunch of skeletons climbing up out of the well. The Wizard goes first.” “I cast grease on the well.” “Goddamnit.”

[@johnwitherspoon105]

@@SolarFlarehorse hahahaa... That sounds hilarious.....as a player.

[@Gikarin.Gamemaster]

@7:53 holy SHIT, Talesin turned Ruby of the Sea red he felt so bad lmao.

[@alextowers3564]

Ikr, its so funny how it compliments his blue hair so perfectly

[@jeffheun5258]

Mercer should have made them be boat Mormons... Just trying to spread the good word of their God.

[@aglazeddoughnut5250]

I understood the reference.

[@Grey_Shard]

@@aglazeddoughnut5250 i was waiting for someone to see the name "Ball Eater" and come to the conclusion that this was a floating brothel.

[@jeffheun5258]

@@Grey_Shard there's still time

[@Gamemaster6400]

Ahh a fellow door monster friend

[@Alpha0727]

Jeff Heun Then they could have gotten into Boat Heaven.

[@sunsetbridge322]

2:43 That smirk of "Finally!" on Tal's face.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I just love how Fjord was dejected about how Caduceus just pulled out the exact same power that they struggled for Fjord to gain.

[@VeggieGamer]

The closest Matt has been to tears (outside of C1E115 XD)

[@tomaspinho6785]

Cad just ALWAYS rolling bellow the percentages. People that already finished the campaign know what I’m talking about

[@lucienschlut]

Remember me that game of Naheulbeuk (french roleplay game) where a super long boss fight was solved at the first dice throw... In this game, making a 1 is a crit success and 20 crit fail. if you crit during a fight, you throw a dice to know what you did to the enemy, 20 you do a normal attack, 19 you graze him but inflict a bleeding of 1hp/turn, 5 you cut the left arm, 4 the right,... and 1 you cut the head (humanoid only). Player barbarian get initiative, player barbarian roll 1, DM "let's see what it does", second dice second 1. instakilled the boss.

[@deathcompanybattlebrother]

Lucien Schlut it’s pretty much like a pathfinder vorpal sword(don’t know if it’s exists in 5e). If you get a 20 on dice and confirm the crit( basically doing another roll and beating the enemy’s AC) you behead him and kill him if he needs his head to survive. For example, an ooze is immune to vorpal

[@lucienschlut]

Then the Naheulbeuk game is a path of found vorpals.... In this message lie the worst pun ever, please kill me.

[@icetang97]

Lucien Schlut vorpal Sword is in 5e, but you have to double crit to cut off the head of a creature.

[@chrisk1039]

@@deathcompanybattlebrother Vorpal swords exist in 5e I just think they have DM fiat where if the creature is too big to 1 shot it takes 6d8 instead

[@chrisk1039]

Just re looked it up, its immune to the 1 shot if it has legendary actions, is immune to slashing, doesn't have or need a head, or if its too big to have its head cut off in 1 blow from the given weapon. If it fits in those categories it takes 6d8 extra damage instead

[@TroySpartan247]

“Turn to port, prepare to fire... SMOKE THESE MOTHERFUCKERS!” No mercy Fjord! Lmao!

[@luwuni]

i cant wait for this too be animated!!!

[@rikukega4564]

This epitomizes nearly every session I DM... "Okay, I guess I'll just throw these 30 pages of notes away now..."

[@primepebble2464]

i liked this part but you missed matt's little rant :(

[@Z0mb13g4m3r88]

When was his rant? I am currently watching the episode on youtube around the exact moment of the highlight here, but either I missed it or it doesn't happen until around the end of the episode.

[@frankwieser478]

Goes to show how strong magic is. Poor matt

[@jekubfimbulwing5370]

They've got 5 different casters at the table, the amount of magical fire power at that table is staggering!

[@KeiyarlaDraga]

@@jekubfimbulwing5370 Thought there was 4 magic users at the table?

[@itrogash]

@@KeiyarlaDraga Caleb, Nott, Cad, Fjord and Jester are all magic users

[@jekubfimbulwing5370]

@@KeiyarlaDraga Caleb = Wizard, Ford = Warlock, Jester = Cleric, Caduceus = Cleric and Nott = Trickster Rogue. Rogue with a half caster subclass. Plus they're only level 7 at this point. It's only going to get worse!

[@KeiyarlaDraga]

@@jekubfimbulwing5370 Ahhh, I thought that Nott was just a rogue. That shows how much I pay attention to anything.

[@bryanalexander7571]

I did something similar in Second Edition. The Psionics Handbook had just come out and one of the "psychoportation" abilities was to open a portal to a location within range and you could keep that portal open for as long as the character had Psionic Power Points to burn. We were on a beach and the villains of the piece were approaching in a ship so I had the others tie a rope around my waist, waded out until i was chest deep and opened a portal in front of me leading to the ship, allowing the water to rush through, flood and sink the ship. Looking back, there were several ways to probably deal with that but none of them occured to the DM (my uncle) at the time. Instead he banned psionics from his game so I paid Rider's Hobby Shop $20 for that single story to tell.

[@captainnwalps6689]

I mean Matt did create a new class that Talsim used for 4 sessions before being slaughtered by a fiend so this is fitting

[@efrainlopez3782]

I'm only on episode 18 but saw this title and had to check it out. Wish I discovered this sooner its my newest obsession

[@jdwatson7588]

Oh my friend welcome to the best thing on the computer, I've been watching since the first show of the first season. It never gets old.

[@ajtame]

The wind was knocked out of matt's sails :(

[@the13inquisitor59]

This reminds me strongly of the time our GM tried to insert a maze into a session. And then, found out that the trick to any maze is to just always go left. Needless to say, we've never had a maze puzzle since.

[@grobanlover292]

Matt Mercer. Defeated by the Control Water Abilities of the Ball-Eater.

[@ghostchannel4766]

"Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails...Throw away the plan." -Leonard Snart

[@TieflingKumasi]

Sam and Laura’s faces after they capsized the enemy were amazing

[@1augh0utL0UD]

"Don't apologize, that was awesome!" But at the same time you can see how disappointed he looks lol

[@thegeneralmitch]

and that is when the DM says "another IDENTICAL SHIP, rounds the island into view!" >:D

[@jessy5241]

I do love that out of character, Travis asks Taliesin how far a cannon’s range is. Taliesin didn’t quite know (or remember) but it is a fun moment to draw on the information you learn from a prior character.

[@danielturner88]

Poor matt, he seems so giddy with excitement to show his cool stuff.

[@EliDjahn]

you know he has always wanted to say "Make it so"

[@steventarsitano3209]

as a player, some of the most satisfying moments come when you break the DM

[@7ylerD]

“Awesome job, people! Y-you all took out the **ahem** the ship. The… great, grand obstacle that was **laughs** SUPPOSED to take a… while. Good thing I got something else awesome lined up. Great roll! Five minute break?” **grabs notebook and laptop** “Yeah, maybe ten minutes…”

[@ff-pj3de]

"No, it's fine. Really, I had fun just prepping this thing (for 8 hours)."

[@FoxGamer39618]

I love how they all try to scale back their affects.

[@137terra]

I laughed so hard watching this and was glad to see a highligh of it. Someone need to really animate this. XD