Permanently Turning into a Dragon

anonymous asks: Hey! I've had this questiom since the group rescued Gilmore, and asked if he was a dragon. Is there any way that someone can be a dragon permanently without being born as one of them? PS: You guys rock!

I mean… Theoretically, the Wish spell can do just about anything. Outside of tampering with the fabric of reality, though, a human (or humanoid) will always be a human(oid), with the same relatively short lifespan and no real means of permanently turning into a dragon (though True Polymorph can transform an epic level wizard into an Adult Dragon for an hour.). Similarly, dragons can shapeshift into humanoids for many years, but eventually they must return to their true forms.

UPDATE: Upon further reading the spell, True Polymorph’s effect stays in place until it is dispelled once the caster holds it for the full hour. karaziox on Twitter points out that a level 20 wizard could theoretically transform into an ancient-sized Brass or White dragon indefinitely, for as long as the spell is neither dispelled nor the form is reduced to 0 HP. So, to reanswer the question: Not permanently, but for a very, very long time, yes!

anonymous asks: When in episode 40 did grog burn? By the way, I love your blog!

We assume you mean when Matt responded to Pike’s insight check on Grog about his desire for the skull by saying “he is … a simple mind looking for a simple solution to a complex problem.” Travis starts patting imaginary fire off his arms around 2:15:48.

@criticalrolesource, we have a GIF of that, surely?

The odds of Wheatoning

Earlier this month, we put together all of Wil’s rolls from the Trial of the Take and attempted to calculate how much he “broke math.” Now, actual statistician IsYitzack has sent in his analysis of the data (along with the numbers retrieved from Mathematica): 

If you’d like to see what else IsYitzack has calculated for us, check out the stats on Saving Throws and the odds of the second Kern fight!

anonymous asks: Do you know what episode Vax kills a person for hanging the kid in Whitestone?

Vax kills one of the guards in Episode 31 p.1, (2:11:13), earning him some respect from Grog.

laochcashel asks: How high did Travis manage to buff Grog's strength score before he had to rest?

Grog’s Strength is usually 17 (it used to be 19, until he needed to attune to Craven Edge).  Here are the times his victims failed their DC 12 constitution saving throws:

• Grog (Ep41, 1:32:58) Craven Edge GWM Reckless Attack vs. Looter 5
• Grog (Ep41, 1:53:25) Craven Edge GWM Reckless Attack vs. Looter 2
• Grog (Ep41, 1:53:35) Craven Edge GWM Reckless Attack vs. Looter 2
• Grog (Ep41, 1:54:00) Craven Edge GWM Reckless Attack vs. Looter 4
• Grog (Ep42, 1:29:07) Craven Edge vs. Rider 2

If you’re counting along at home, that means that before he begrudgingly went to sleep, Grog’s strength score was 22!

Critical Role's First Natural 20

frywick asks: What is the first nat 20 rolled on the show?

Keyleth (Ep1, 1:24:15) Performance Check as a bear.

Puns of 42: Dangerous Dealings

Raise your hand if your first thought after Percy told Cassandra that he’s not good at being the bearer of bad news was something like, “Actually, you are The bearer of Bad News.”

• (0:24:19) Scanlan: I’ve been thinking about that long and hard…most of what I do is long and hard.
  
• (0:38:44) Taliesin: Big girls don’t scry.
  
• (1:03:23) Percy: I’m not good at being the bearer of any bad news.
  
• (1:10:33) Taliesin/Percy: (at Vax putting the Gate Stone in his pants) Get your rocks off.
  
• (1:45:28) (After cleaving Rider 2 in half) Grog: I told you he’d open up to me!
  
• (1:53:53) Vex: Scanlan, I’ve got you!  Scanlan: No, no, I know you did, you shot me on the last turn, I remember!
  

anonymous asks: Did I add that up right? Did Grog do 140 f***ING DAMAGE IN THAT FIGHT WITH THE LOOTERS??

Get this: Grog did 140 damage in one round in the looter battle, thanks to Great Weapon Master, Brutal Critical, Reckless Attack, and Craven Edge!  In total, Grog dealt 181 points of damage and killed 3 looters.

Like Matt said, when barbarians crit, things die.

Vax's Highest Stealth Roll

sonicimpala asks: What is Vax's highest stealth roll? I seem to remember around 42 but I'm not sure.

He rolled a 43 in Episode 31, Part 2 (0:26:08).  That’s a Natural 20, plus his Dexterity modifier, plus his Proficiency bonus twice for Expertise, plus 10 for Pass Without a Trace.  This was back when he still had advantage on all stealth checks from his cloak, but on this particular roll, he rolled the Nat20 on his first attempt!

anonymous asks: Has Keyleth ever received any benefit from her crafting book she bought?

Short answer: Yes!

Long answer:

How much use she’s gotten out of her books depends on which ‘crafting’ book you’re speaking of.  In Episode 15, she purchased a book on herbalism and a book on animal extraction.  In Episode 24, she purchased a book about the properties of chemicals and liquids, and an introduction to sorceries book that had a chapter on alchemy.

Her goal of learning how to craft her own potions has been largely set aside for the time being.  This is namely because Vox Machina had to hideout in Whitestone with no access to materials for so long, then had to search for Daxio, then check into the house, and then deal with the dragons.  However, she did craft her first Greater Healing Potion in Episode 27 (2:31:52) thanks to the the knowledge she gained through reading all of the books she bought dealing with alchemy.

Arguably, she’s thus far reaped more benefits from her book on animal extraction. When she uses it, she gets advantage on rolls for extracting any parts from animals, and it gives her insight on what parts are valuable from those creatures.  She successfully utilized it when carving up the phase spiders in Episode 16 (2:20:41), Hotis the Rakshasa in Episode 21 (3:49:53), the behir in Episode 28 (0:59:13), the frost worm in Episode 39 (1:38:49), and the wyverns in Episode 42 (2:17:30).

Update: Confirmation from the half-elven druid herself: “It gives me advantage on nature check when attempting to harvest anything.” Thanks, Marisha!

Update 2: Keyleth created her first Potion of Fire Resistance in Episode 45 (2:26:36).

Thanks to @nevyndoc for the reminder about Episode 42!

anonymous asks: How close is Scanlan to leveling up?

Unfortunately, we’re unable to track the amount of EXP any one player has without either the players telling us each week, or Matt explicitly stating how many experience points they each earned each week. We can always estimate how much experience they earned per encounter they fought, but experience earned through inspired actions or social encounters are significantly harder to quantify from our side of the table.