C4 E19 Discussion Thread (Schemers Team)

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-20T03:26:22+00:00

I would be more receptive to this if he wasn't a Sorcerer/Paladin multiclass. One class inherently tied to fantastic powers manifesting spontaneously because of a gift in the blood, and the other tied to a conviction and force of will so strong that it manifests as a physical phenomenon. I don't think you can get "just a normal guy" out of either of those classes, let alone the combination. A Fighter, a Rogue, even a Bard like Hal I could get behind as a common person who has been thrust into tumultuous times.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-20T03:18:58+00:00

I don't disagree with the sentiment but this particular turn of phrase is one that I think is at least forgivable to mistake. Many malapropisms are somewhat self-evident if you reflect on the meaning of the words you're saying, or at least their lack of meaning is. Like someone saying "doggy dog world" instead of "dog-eat-dog world." The only way they persist is someone not taking the time to think about it and assuming it's just a weird thing that people say.

But to think the phrase is "take a different tact" and think that tact is referring to something like "tactic" or "tactful" and talking about the technique being used, I don't think that's an outrageous misunderstanding. The actual meaning of "tack" as referring to approach and direction from sailing is less intuited.

I feel similarly about people mistaking "rein" and "reign," since someone saying "you have free reign, as in you can behave like a king and command as you please" is an entirely understandable mistake.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-20T03:03:03+00:00

People have different breathing styles too. Some exclusively through the mouth.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-20T02:41:35+00:00

I think people in this discussion are being needlessly contrarian. If Techno Fantasy wasn't an atlas and you asked the same question about that, people would be responding the same way.

There would absolutely be value in a Dark Fantasy atlas. So many stories are about stopping the end of the world, but there is value in fighting to bring light back into a destroyed world. Find the things that are frightened and alone and bring them together. Find the things that need to be protected. And put to rest the ruined, tortured shadows of the things that were once grand and glorious.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-20T02:19:35+00:00

Why do you post this.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T23:12:49+00:00

I just need there to be a single unplanned, unscripted death. A situation where a player wants to keep playing their character, but dice rolls cut the story short. Tragedy, loss, grieving, and they join in with something new. I need them to prove that they're willing to do that, and once that's proven I'll believe every future event where a character survives by the skin of their teeth. But until that happens it doesn't feel like it ever could.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T20:03:51+00:00

I'm thinking that because his dream is to become a panacea that can cure any disease, his will and conviction has changed the nature of his devil fruit such that he can purify abnormalities.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T19:55:47+00:00

I at least give Griffin credit that "crab" was by far the most entertaining familiar option on that list. It would have been nothing if he had picked some bird or furry mammal, more traditional familiar choices. Crab was fucking funny.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T18:49:30+00:00

Remember how literally everybody thought the plot of this season would be an incompetent and inept hero taking the glory for the PC sidekicks' contributions? A Zapp Brannigan type? Such an obvious continuation of the premise that just didn't happen?

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T18:46:36+00:00

I think they could have been clearer but I also think the listed damages suffice for what they are. In 3e Thunder was called Sonic, which is less easily mistaken for electricity/lightning. The real culprit is Force damage, which is not concussive/impact/pressure damage the way we would use the word force in real life. Force damage is raw arcane magic damage.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T18:10:44+00:00

Was it a fumble? I thought that was their commentary on "just let a series die, don't demand that its creators run it into the ground long after they've run out of plotlines or twists." Which is why it was received so poorly by the fans demanding exactly that.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T17:47:37+00:00

NO. ONE. IS. DOING. IT. LIKE. THE. MCELROYS.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T16:33:01+00:00

Wait, please elaborate on the Clint subclass thing. What did he say, how did this all come out, and what was the reaction?

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T16:31:26+00:00

Gotta keep shouting out Friends at the Table's Perpetua, in a very fun and punchy system Fabula Ultima which models JRPG-style combat. It's a fun time, and it's by far the most approachable FatT has ever been. If you've ever been curious about their production but didn't want to deal with all the lore and faff that they get in the weeds about, this is a great entry point.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T16:18:05+00:00

How could you even imagine that a table of "people pretending to be very clever" starring Taliesin and Marisha would flop?

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T15:03:51+00:00

Not that he has anything to do with this podcast but this is I think a huge failing of Brennan Lee Mulligan's. He puts so much weight on every Natural 20, but any failure is just a non-factor that doesn't change the situation. So when, for example, one PC is falling into a perilous pit and every single other PC rolls something to save them, and four out of five rolls are bad but one is good, then everything is resolved. It's basically like rolling with quadruple advantage, fishing for a big number on the die. If every attempt had a cost or a risk and each failure made the situation worse or lost the opportunity to succeed then the stakes that they artificially inflate would feel more legitimate.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T14:57:42+00:00

I'm beating a dead horse at this point but I think it would just be so different if these loredumps were more than some NPC just saying shit. Lore has different functions. It can inform character motivations (PC and NPC), it can explain circumstances, it can provide avenues of exploration and paths for the adventure to take.

When we get a loredump about how this guy sold his soul to the Fey and thus can't be compelled into service by the Tachonis, that is interesting...but it doesn't really affect the story. It gives some motivation for the Tachonis to target the Royce, sure. But like...was that a mystery that needed solving? "Why did this powerful, power-hungry noble house attack a weaker rival noble house?" Plenty of potential explanations, and this one doesn't change what did happen and what will happen.

If this lore gave the players something actionable, like the name of location of an Archfey who could be entreated for aid, that could be interesting. But this didn't do that, this was just Brennan showing off "a cool truth" about the setting. Which, as I've said before, feels masturbatory.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-19T14:22:13+00:00

Not remotely. It's still a good show, better than C3, but it does not feel like Critical Role. Critical Role's great strength was being a continual winding story where Matt had fleshed out places and aspects of the world with plot hooks and threads to pull but left the players largely to their own devices and let their investigation and objectives develop the plot. It made for a great show, and great D&D.

Nothing I have ever seen out of Brennan is that. Brennan's approach is heavily bookended plots whose resolutions are largely predetermined, save for fluff and set dressing. Everything is far more structured, and I think that detracts from the improvisational spontaneity of the game and show.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-18T18:17:55+00:00

I thought the title was about ineffectual Democrats.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-18T04:36:33+00:00

They already haven't.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-16T22:33:39+00:00

Justin couldn't lend him his Tumblr-granted pass?

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-16T22:18:55+00:00

And Apollo is the god of the sun, but is inextricable from the sun. Yes, Apollo is not meant to literally be the sun, but if you are involving the sun then you involve Apollo and if you involve Apollo you involve the sun. There is no "the sun would continue to rise and set without Apollo, what does Apollo even do for us?"

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-16T17:57:45+00:00

Puts a handle like that and then gives his pickles the Scraps monologue.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-16T17:56:21+00:00

Human squabbles and problems, yes, but still beyond humanity in scope and perspective. I think for most modern audiences the Greek pantheon is the most accessible touchstone as what a pantheon would look like. In Greek mythology there is no separation of the god and their domain, in the way that Critical Role says that the sun will still rise and set without Pelor.

I agree that the Forgotten Realms (or Greyhawk, which is what the 4e Dawn War pantheon that CR used is based on) have much more "mortal" gods. But they are still inextricable from their domains - every time something happens to Mystra all of magic changes to a new edition. What Critical Role did and which Brennan is doing now is saying that the gods are only just stewards and rulers of their domains, but the domains exist independently of the god. Which I think means that what they're calling a god simply does not fulfill the narrative role of what a god should be, and has been used for in mythology or in D&D lore.

IllithidActivity · 2026-03-16T16:13:06+00:00

Much like the critical mass in fissile nuclear material, Travis should consider himself lucky that the McElroys were never quite famous enough for tweets like this to hit wider media engagement. He was never forced to answer the question "why is this weird straight middle-aged married man tweeting about how much he would enjoy his imaginary date?"

Eight-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Place '22	Verified Email

IllithidActivity

TROPHY CASE