Notes on Sorcery Points

One of my players (who actually introduced me to Critical Role) is planning on playing a sorcerer in an upcoming campaign. In preparation for her role, she researched how sorcery points work in practice… And realized that in 5e, they don’t actually give you extra actions per turn, as we’ve seen Tiberius put them to use.

Starting at 2nd level, a sorcerer gains Font of Magic, which allows her access to sorcery points to regain spent spell slots. For example, if a sorcerer is out of level 4 spells but has 6 sorcery points, she can take a bonus action to spend all of those points to recover a level 4 slot. Additionally, sorcerers can also spend a bonus action to convert a spell slot into its sorcery point equivalent, indicated by the Creating Spell Slots table (PHB p101).

Matt pointed out in the Youtube comments for episode 17: “It was a house-ruled element of the game due to complaints, but I agree… it needs to be scaled back a bit.” This was in response to a critter who argued that multiple fireballs in a round was OP… Which we agree with, as awesome as it looks.

Sorcery points are still pretty badass as they allow sorcerers to be the most fluid with spells of the casters, but it’s probable that your 5e DM will not let you alter their intended purpose so you can take multiple actions per turn.

With that said, there is a Metamagic component (PHB p.102) that allows sorcerers to cast full-action spells as a bonus action:

QUICKENED SPELL
When you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action,
you can spend 2 sorcery points to change the casting
time to 1 bonus action for this casting.

As @stevengodbey and @starcords pointed out on Twitter, the current house rule restricts Orion from using any spells larger than level 2 as the bonus action. It may behoove you as a DM to restrict that to cantrips.

Anonymous said: Just want to say thank you for everything you do on this blog. As someone whose introduction to D&D is through Critical Role, and thus doesn't really know much about the logistics or background of anything, this blog is both helpful and fascinating.

Thanks! Critical Role has been a fantastic primer for a lot of people on the potential of tabletop RPGs. D&D has such a rich history (and a LARGE rule set) that it can be pretty daunting just figuring out where to get started. I credit the show for encouraging me to dive from player knowledge to the DM domain. There’s still a lot to learn for a player or DM of any experience, and we’re happy to learn and teach from Vox Machina’s experience in addition to that of fans of both D&D and Critical Role alike! (Seriously, Critters are amazing!)

Nat Crits of 04: Attack on the Duergar Warcamp

Critical Wins

• Pike (0:22:59) Religion check vs. Kima’s carving
• Pike (0:39:40) Assist Scanlan (negated b/c too late)
• Tiberius (1:30:30) Secondary stealth check vs. Duergar Camp
• Vax’ildan (1:48:16) Initiative vs. Duergar General and crew
• Percy (1:57:08) Shot vs. Duergar General
• Scanlan (2:11:01) Stealth check vs. Bulette
• Vex’ahlia (2:22:24) Second attack vs. Bulette
• Grog (2:46:44) Third attack vs. Bulette

Critical Fails

• Grog (1:10:37) Stealth check
• Pike (1:10:37) Stealth check
• Keyleth (1:30:35) Secondary stealth check vs. Duergar Camp
• Vax’ildan (1:44:30) Stealth vs. Mind Flayer (negated by advantage)
• Keyleth (2:11:01) Stealth check vs. Bulette

DM Rolls

• General (Nat20, 2:06:25) Save vs. Tiberius’s Blight
• General (Nat1, 2:07:35) Save vs. Scanlan’s Dominate Person (negated by advantage, still failed with a 2)

Nat Crits of 03: Strange Bedfellows

Critical Wins

• Vax’ildan (0:38:30) Stealthing in the Underdark
• Vex’ahlia (0:53:02) Stealth check vs. Duergar camp
• Vex’ahlia (2:00:38) Perception for carpet

Critical Fails

• Vax’ildan (0:23:32) Religion Check vs. Bahamut symbol
• Vex’ahlia (0:23:32) Religion Check vs. Bahamut symbol
• Keyleth (0:55:48) Check for bats
• Percy (1:30:06) Intelligence check about Mind Flayers
• Vax’ildan (1:54:14) Dex check vs. Fall (negated by Advantage)
• Percy (2:29:15) Insight vs. Clarota

DM Rolls

• None recorded.

Monster Analysis: Ghosts

• First seen in 21 Trial of the Take Part 4
  
• Armor Class 11
  
• Challenge Rating: 4 (MM), ~6
• Darkvision 60 ft., Passive 11
• Immune to cold, necrotic, and poison damage
• Immune to basically all conditions
• Resistant to acid, fire, lightning, thunder, and nonmagical physical weapon damage
• Speed: Fly 40 ft.
• Avg/Max HP: 45/80
• Chased away by Kashaw’s Turn Undead

Okay, let’s get this out of the way right now: The ghosts were dungeon dressing. As we saw at the end of a very intense battle (that almost killed Keyleth, gah!), it ended fairly anti-climatically with them fleeing from Kash’s Turn Undead. It’s not surprising that Kash didn’t think to use it earlier since he was new to the system; the actions he did take were best given that he didn’t know what effect Turn Undead would have.

This battle can also serve as a reminder to DMs of all experience levels, especially those who are as experienced as Matt, that if a battle is intended merely to scare the players, if there is even a possibility that they might kill themselves, they will give it the old college try to do so. (I have a story of my own, but we’ll leave this blog to this campaign.)

The ghosts’ possession ability is their most brutal. The only means to eject them are to Dispel Good and Evil, Turn Undead, convince them to leave willingly (difficult in the middle of combat), or reduce the victim to 0 hp (as we saw with Keyleth, cringing the whole time). However, it can only affect each creature once. Once the ghost left Keyleth, she was safe from possession for the rest of the battle.

A non-possessive ghost can also deal necrotic damage as a melee attack, slip back and forth between the Ethereal and Material planes, and frighten Wis save-failing creatures. Creatures who succeed are immune for the next 24 hours. Creatures who fail this save with 8 or less also begin to age prematurely. These effects can only be removed by a greater restoration spell, which must be cast within 24 hours lest the damage be permanent.

Monster Analysis: Otyugh + Rat Swarms

• First Appearance: 20 Trial of the Take Part 3
  
• Armor Class: 14
• Challenge Rating: 5 (MM), ~7 with Rat Swarms (CR)
• Darkvision 120 ft, Passive 11
• Speed: 30 ft
• Avg/Max HP (MM): 114/168
• 239 damage received, 45-point killing blow by Keyleth

The otyugh’s bite forces its victim to make a DC 15 Con Save to avoid being poisoned. A creature dies automatically if it’s still under the effects of the poison if its HP reaches 0. Its tentacles also grapple targets it successfully hits, assuming the target is medium or smaller.

The otyugh provided the plot hook at the end of episode 20 and the introduction to the Dungeon of Deception of episode 21. In combination with the rat swarms, it also provided a means for the party to waste their spells before they were able to confront their quarry (which swarms are very good at doing due to their resistance to physical weapons). Fortunately, after enough rats and the otyugh had been killed, the others were forced to think of self-preservation over their next meal.

The otyugh might have been employed by the city of Vesselheim to consume waste, and had been used by Hotis to slow down pursuers. It also set the tone for the rest of the dungeon: watch your step, make your saving throws, and plan accordingly.

i-mindtraveller asks: Hello, thanks for your work, especially those monster stats! Do you know why for Vax a 19 is already considered a critical roll? Is that a house rule? I couldn't find any info on this in the books...

Thanks! From what I’ve found in 5e, only Fighters with the Champion archetype have the Improved Critical ability (PHB, p.72). Percy’s Gunslinger seems to be based on the Fighter class, so it makes sense for him.

As for Vax, I haven’t noticed 19 come into play as a crit since it appeared in the first couple episodes. Pathfinder does allow Rogues to apply Improved Critical to specific weapons. If Matt still allows it, it does indeed appear to be a house rule that carries over, falling under the purview of aspect of the magical weapon. Update: The Keen Dagger is responsible for Nat19 being a crit!

Help Wanted!

We had someone ask if they could help with our backlog of Crit Data by rewatching old episodes (#isitthursdayyet). We would certainly welcome the help! Just send an ask if you’d like to join the effort, and we’ll assign you an episode or two and what to look for and document. All posts will go up with attribution (unless you state you wish to remain anon). This will allow us to concentrate on the monster stats, current episodes, and other random things you want to know. Thanks!

Nat Crits of 21: Trial of the Take Part 4

Critical Wins

• Kashaw (0:11:17) Initiative vs. Otyugh
• Keyleth (1:01:58) Investigation vs. Cells
• Vax’ildan (1:02:58) Lockpick vs. cell door
• Tiberius (2:23:15) Perception vs. Anti-magic field
• Thorbir (2:48:32) Insight vs. Hotis
• Vax’ildan (3:15:27) Dominated attack vs. Kashaw
• Keyleth (3:50:01) Extracting eyes
• Keyleth (3:50:17) Extracting tongue

Critical Fails

• Thorbir (0:45:52) attack vs. crotch-biting rat
• Thorbir (1:13:00) Check during Kasha’s history speech
• Keyleth (1:23:06) Cha save vs. possession
• Keyleth (1:29:40) Possessed attack vs. Kashaw
• Thorbir (1:40:17) attack vs. possessed Vax
• Vax’ildan (1:45:56) Possessed attack vs. Thorbir (negated by advantage)
• Thorbir (2:50:55) Initiative vs. Hotis
• Thorbir (2:59:55) Dex save vs. Shield Guardian’s Fireball
• Thorbir (3:10:42) Attack vs. Shield Guardian

DM Rolls

• Rats (Nat1, 0:48:33) Save vs. Sacred Flame
• Rakshasa (Nat20, 3:38:19) Save vs. Stone Pillars

Wil’s rolls for 21: Trial of the Take Part 4

Total rolls: 39

Average number of times each number should have appeared: 1.95

• 2 (4) Initiative vs. Otyugh
• 9 (17)  Athletics to land on rats
• 2 (12) 1st attack vs. rats
• 3 (13) 2nd attack vs. rats
• 1 (Nat1) 3rd attack vs. crotch-biting rat
• 6 (12) Ad1 Perception vs. stone structure
• 9 (15) Ad2 Perception vs. stone structure
• 1 (Nat1) Check during Kashaw’s history speech
• 15 (17) Stealth with a new die
• 3 (6) Perception of acidic smell
• 9 (11) Initiative vs. Ghosts
• 4 (14) 1st Goading attack vs. Possessed Keyleth
• 14 (24) 2nd Goading attack vs. Possessed Keyleth
• 11 (13) Wisdom vs. ghost’s fear effect
• 19 (24) Perception of possessed Vax
• 6 (16) 1st Goading attack vs. Possessed Vax
• 8 (18) 2nd Goading attack vs. Possessed Vax
• 1 (Nat1) 3rd attack vs. Possessed Vax
• 2 (12) Attack vs. Possessed Vax
• 4 (14) Attack vs. Possessed Vax
• 7 (17) Attack vs. Possessed Vax
• 5 (11) Perception
• 6 (12) Perception vs. Anti-magic field
• 12 (14) Dex vs. falling into acid
• 8 (14) Ad1 Perception vs. stone wall (ad1)
• 9 (15) Ad2 Perception vs. stone wall (ad2)
• 20 (Nat20!!!) Insight vs. Hotis
• 7 (13) Perception vs. Shield Guardian amulet
• 1 (Nat1) Initiative vs. Hotis
• 1 (Nat1) Dex save vs. Shield Guardian’s Fireball
• 13 (23) 1st attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 2 (12) 2nd attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 3 (13) 3rd attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 17 (27) 4th attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 1 (Nat1) 5th attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 18 (28) 6th attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 11 (21) 1st attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 6 (16) 2nd attack vs. Shield Guardian
• 13 (23) 3rd Attack vs. Shield Guardian

(This time we have all natural rolls. Wil was pretty good to say his rolls before adding his modifiers in this episode, and for the few that he didn’t, I rebuilt his character sheet from scratch using the modifiers he did give. It might not be a fully accurate recreation, but it covers all the checks that he did do!)

Rimefang vs. Rakshasa

First thing to get out of the way is that comparing the two assignments are like apples and oranges. Team 1 was far more optimal to face an adult white dragon: they were a powerful group of damage dealers who were best-equipped for the journey to the cave, then handle both the punishment received and fire-power needed to bring him down. Team 2 was equally optimally composed to deal with the machinations of a sly, city-dwelling demon, with their magical arsenal and a spellcaster able to counter its greatest spells.

The biggest difference between the two fights was the price of failure. Rimefang wasn’t going anywhere; it was him or a TPK. The battle there was who could deal more damage first, which Zahra handled in spades by not only dealing the most damage, but also by preventing the frost giants from assisting Rimefang. Grog’s ability to cross the entire map and frenzy-act saved two party members from leaving the show (the barbarian on support, guys!). The magical abilities of the rest of the party, as well as Percy’s firepower, were also far-better spent on the non-resistant dragon. Any fewer than 6 in the party would have been felt.

The rakshasa battle had two options for failure: TPK (unlikely) or letting it get away (very likely). The rakshasa battle required a bit more strategy and coordination with the team to make sure it didn’t get the upper hand. The lack of legendary actions and a mostly useless assistant made it easier to fight in a damage race, but the saving throws mattered more here than dealing damage. Additionally, flushing it out, keeping it in reach, and avoiding the traps to corner it were also paramount.

That’s probably enough commentary on the latest boss fights for now. We’ll return to your regularly-scheduled statistics tomorrow!

Monster Analysis: Rimefang the Adult White Dragon

• First Appearance: 18: Trial of the Take Part 1
  
• Armor Class: 18
• Challenge Rating: 13 (MM), ~15 (CR)
• Blindsight 60 ft, Darkvision 120 ft, Passive Perception 21
• Immune to Cold Damage, uninhibited by icy environment 
• Speed: 40 ft, 80 ft fly, 40 ft swim, 30 ft burrow
• Avg/Max HP of Adult (MM): 200, 288
• Avg/Max HP of Ancient (MM): 333, 504
• 630 damage received, 9-point HDYWTDT by Zahra

For the most part, Rimefang’s stats, such as Armor Class, available actions, damage dealt, were all definitely of the Adult variety rather than Ancient. However, everyone watching will have probably noted that there was one significant modification to the rule book: HP.

If Rimefang had been entirely textbook, the battle would have been mildly tense, but not extremely climatic for a freaking dragon. Even worse, he would have fallen before Scanlan got to say one of the greatest lines in the entire show. The tension definitely increased when we realized that Rimefang had health to rival an Ancient. Once both Scanlan and Percy were down two death saving throws and Rimefang was STILL standing, the true stakes and the difficulty of the battle revealed itself. By the time Zahra got her MAGNIFICENT killing blow, Rimefang’s defeat was definitely a great victory, and something that everyone (i.e., the players, the chatroom, and the DM) were praying for.

MVP: Definitely Zahra. Besides getting the killing blow, she’s responsible for almost a third of the total damage (198) thanks to Witch Bolt. “Burt Reynolds” gets honorable mention for being a badass at the cost of near-death.