A Very Non-Statsy Love Letter to the Community

One year ago today, Crit Role Stats posted its very first article. What started as a one-man project of counting crits and live commentary has turned into what amounts to a full-time job for a team of individuals tracking all sorts of things that happen on a show featuring a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors as they sit around the table, roll dice, and play Dungeons and Dragons.

Over the past year, I have been extremely fortunate to talk with many wonderful critters over Twitter, Skype, and Tumblr, meet some of you at conventions, and collaborate on several cool projects. While a part of me is sad that I have not yet had the opportunity to meet many of you or find you at conventions like SDCC or GenCon, I can say it is still extremely heartwarming just to see all of your amazing faces and to watch the love that just exudes from all of you wonderful people. In time, I hope to share my love with many more of you in person.

As for Crit Role Stats, this project has truly become something else. I want to extend my thanks to all the volunteers who make it feasible to track many of the zany things we log, and to the network of other awesome critter projects I’ve had the pleasure to watch in motion. I want to thank the critter community at large. Y'all are crazy awesome, fun to watch, and even more fun to talk to. The creative energy, the loving support, and the joy and charity that this community perpetuates has been a powerful force to experience and be a part of.

I want to thank Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey, and Travis Willingham, who are some of the kindest people I have ever met. I also want to thank Liam O'Brien and Ashley Johnson, two individuals I haven’t had the opportunity to meet but whose hearts are very influential on those around them. I also want to thank the Geek & Sundry crew, who tirelessly do the work of 20 people with a skeleton crew, as well as the rest of the individuals at @geekandsundry who have made the leaps and bounds of this community possible.

Especially, I want to express my extreme gratitude to @thesingingbadger, not just for her work on organizing content, cataloging stats, and directing critters for episodes to watch, but for doing all of that tirelessly week after week. I want to express my extreme gratitude to @dragonmustang01, who has taken on several very sizable and awesome projects. I want to express my extreme gratitude to @kathatherine, who introduced me to this show and community in the first place, and continues to support this project in many ways. Thanks to all of you, for your regular work and support.

The Crit Role Stats team is going to be taking next week off to deal with a series of major life events happening for all of us (nothing bad, just very attention-worthy!). We’ll be running live commentary on Twitter for the episodes when they air, but the ask boxes on both Twitter and Tumblr will essentially be closed until August 29. We look forward to continue being the primary source of Critical Role statistics and trivia for as long as Critical Role and Critterdom continues!

Love and stuff,
Andrew

Monster Analysis: Saundor + Treants

Thanks to @the-softsignalfor this piece!

• First Appearance: 63 The Echo Tree
• Armor Class 20
• Resistant to nonmagical weapon damage
• Legendary Actions and Resistances
• Lair Actions at count 20
• Heals at start of turn (est. 25 HP)
• 348 damage taken, 12 HDYWTDT by Grog
• Rebuilt ability sheet here!

“You mistake, my intent is not to hurt, but to understand.” Saundor wallowed so completely in his own self-pity and bitterness that he not only forgot in what manner he was betrayed, but the name of the individual who he felt betrayed him. In his own emptiness, he stole and corrupted the heart of the tree, then the heart of the Shademirk. After attempting to drain Vex’s self-worth, he then attempted to steal and poison her heart. Upon being denied this, he showed himself as the corrupted, black-bile-spewing tree monster he was.

Edit: We found out quite a bit more about Saundor (or Sondur, both have been confirmed correct by Matt), including a much larger spell list, a Huge classification, and a change in landscape had Vex accepted his proposal. Whether that would have changed his Lawful Evil alignment is uncertain, but we do know that the forest would have begun to revert without a fight, and Vex would be… Well, remarkably different!

Saundor’s Strategy

Saundor used the home-court advantage to the best of his ability. His vine-walking kept the melee combatants plenty frustrated (sorry, Grog), ensuring that those restricted to the ground would have to focus their attention on his treant enforcers. Preferring to keep his distance from the party, Saundor kept the party guessing where he would appear in the walls of the tree next while he passively healed himself each round.

Saundor’s strategy with Fenthras was primarily clouded by his anger and feelings of betrayal. He typically tried to deal as much damage to Vex’ahlia as he could, though he occasionally strayed and hit other combatants. He targeted Vax and Percy each once, though Percy took the brunt of it due to a Natural 20 and a lack of a Cloak of Displacement (sorry, Percy).

Saundor’s least wise tactical decision was to target Grog with the Bramble Shot, since it did the least percentage and amount of damage to the raging goliath than it would have to almost anyone else. Grog was also the best-equipped to deal with the strength saving throw from the restraining effect, with advantage on the save and a +12 modifier. Saundor did wisely stick to ranged as best he could, only using his giant tree fists to lay into a hanging Grog when the goliath got close enough for Saundor to feel harried.

Saundor’s lair actions were intended to shake up the party, but a low DC of 16 ensured that both the poison and confusion clouds had minimal effect. Even the vines sprouting from the walls of the tree only successfully held Scanlan, who was just as effective restrained as he would have been otherwise.

His legendary actions, on the other hand, were put to much greater effect. His “random” bow attacks caused more issues for Vex, but his casting ability (using two slots) provided the largest sources of concern. As a caster with a level 7 spell slot, all of Saundor’s spells were channeled directly through the tree itself. The Reverse Gravity spell shook up most of the combatants, and the vines of the tree reached out to drain Vex twice via Blight. Scanlan very fortunately countered his Wall of Thorns in the first round, which would have made the arena much more difficult to traverse.

Treants

Thanks to @BrinMataujall for this piece!

• First Appearance: 63 The Echo Tree
• Armor Class 16
• Speed 30 ft
• Resistant to nonmagical bludgeoning and piercing damage
• VULNERABLE to fire damage
• Enhanced Slam attacks, two per round
• Suggested average, max HP: 138, 204
• • Treant 1: 141 taken, 14 finishing blow by Keyleth
  • Treant 2: 150 taken, 35 finishing blow by Percy

Treants are typically chaotic good entities who come into their own sentience as the result of cultivated potential and druidic care over time. Saundor’s corruption of the Shademirk was further demonstrated by the hatred infused into them, both visually by means of his tar and mechanically through their blind, unquestioning assault on whoever was closest.

Though initially awakened by Saundor, the treants acted of their own, hate-driven volition throughout the battle. They hit whatever was closest by, which was almost always Percy (sorry, Percy). One got an attack against Vax’ildan, but was dead by the time its next turn came around. That same treant later landed an attack on Vex’ahlia, but that was due to her running from it, provoking an attack of opportunity. Keyleth might have been a good target, had she not been living flame and within the treants themselves. Saundor wasn’t afraid of hurting the treants, either, as evidenced during his casting of Reverse Gravity.

Vox Machina’s Strategy

Vox Machina also played to the best of their ability, for the most part of the battle. Here’s a rough outline of their strategy, provided by L and N:

“Run in with a plan to woo, realize he is the world’s biggest asshole, stab and burn him to death as quickly as possible while scrambling to avoid arrows, spells, and lair actions.” “Boom, Vestige.”

Vex became the focal point of the battle, and accidentally played meat shield to the corrupted’s wrath. Both potions she used proved effective in wasting Saundor’s attacks, giving her enough hit points to force him to use another arrow in round 2 and just barely render his second Blight unable to put her down. 

Keyleth’s decision to go Fire Elemental paid off very well in several ways. First, the treants’ vulnerability to fire ensured that she was the primary controller of the minions in this battle. Second, even without Tree Stride, she could occupy the space of the treants. This not only dealt extra damage at the start of their turns (that was also doubled), but also prevented her from becoming a potential target from the other treant in play or Saundor’s assault. Third, even when she did take falling damage from Reverse Gravity and Scanlan’s failed toss, her fire form resisted the damage.

Vax got the first hit of the fight on Saundor (after Vex’s surprise round), then spent most of the battle helping Keyleth take out the treant complications from the battle before sprouting wings to confront Saundor at the end. Percy got a few hits on Saundor (resisted due to nonmagical ammunition), and helped Vax and Keyleth finish off the second treant.

Scanlan provided excellent support, in spite of being tied against the wall. His first Counterspell prevented Saundor’s Wall of Thorns rendering the terrain very difficult to navigate, and his Healing Words brought Vex back in the fight and kept Percy in it. Although both castings of 5th level fireball were resisted, every little bit of damage on the big guy brought Saundor closer to death.

Even Grog, who “didn’t do anything” and was “running around like an idiot the entire game,” managed to deal damage to Saundor almost every round. Grog also spent a bonus action to summon Ukurat in the middle of the second round. Although the werewolf didn’t appear until the third round and couldn’t contribute in the final round, his appearance provided a morale boost to the party and an attack of opportunity to the antagonist.

Saundor’s Abilities

Thanks to @whispersdivide for this piece!

Saundor is another fully-homebrewed entity in the Vox Machina campaign. While we obviously don’t have his complete set of stats, we are able to rebuild a surprising amount of his abilities.

Passive Abilities

Saundor had an Armor Class of 20, darkvision to 120 ft, and approximately 280 hit points. At the beginning of each of his turns, if his HP was 1 or greater, Saundor recovered an estimated 20 HP. 

His speed was determined by his connection to the tree (estimated 40 ft). Moving from one location to another still granted attack of opportunities, but as long as he was connected to the tree, he could essentially teleport himself anywhere within it by means of vine walking.

Lastly, Saundor had Legendary Resistance. If he failed a saving throw, he could choose to succeed instead, up to three times per day.

Actions

Saundor could take a multiattack to fire three arrows from his bow (+11 to hit, 1d8 + 7 piercing + 1d4 lightning damage). With Fenthras, he also had to the option to declare a Bramble Shot (one per day), dealing 1d8 + 3d8 + 7 piercing damage on a hit. The target would also be required to make a Strength saving throw (DC 19) or be grappled. His other option for a multiattack included sheathing his bow in place of huge trunk fists. Each of the three fist attacks had +10 to hit, and dealt 2d8 + 8 bludgeoning damage.

Saundor also demonstrated a predilection for magic (13th level caster, DC 19), made manifest by the tree itself. While it’s very likely he had more spells at his disposal, these are the spells that we know for sure that he cast:

• 2/day: Blight
• 1/day: Wall of Thorns, Reverse Gravity

Legendary Actions

Saundor could also take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action could be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Saundor regained spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

• Bow attack: Saundor fires a single arrow.
• Slam attack: Saundor makes a single slam attack.
• Spell (costs 2 actions): Saundor casts a spell.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Saundor could take a lair action to cause one of the following magical effects (DC 16). The same effect could not be used twice in a row:

• A poisonous cloud bursts out from the floor of the tree. Those within its area of effect must succeed a Dexterity saving throw to take half damage, or full damage on a failure. (This effect matches the description of Cloudkill, cast as a single action without concentration.)
• Vines reach out 10 feet from the wall of the tree, grabbing onto anyone standing too close. Each creature within reach must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained. The victim can repeat the Strength save at the end of their turns.
• A mist of confusion seeps upwards from the roots of the tree. Each creature within a 10-foot-radius sphere must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be affected. (This effect matches the description of Confusion, cast as a single action without concentration.)

Fenthras

Anonymous asked: Is there an official picture or description of what Fenthras does yet?

Yes! Also listed here:

• Handle is wrapped with very tight, dark brown/black leather. At the cusp of the handle, where the handle is notched, and the caps is nice, golden-bronze metallic inlay.
  
• The bow is curved, deep verdant green, with jungle vine-type texture, like it almost builds on itself with a series of natural leaf scales.
  
• As it curves into the ends, it flexes and shifts on its own. When the user pulls an arrow, it tightens automatically.
  
• When an arrow is fired, it moves with incredible speed. The bow flexes with such intensity that it makes a roaring rush of wind.
  
• When a creature is killed by an arrow from this weapon, a single six-foot tall tree grows from their corpse (type of tree may vary).
  
• +3 Longbow (Requires Attunement)
  
• Damage = 2d8 Piercing + DEX + 3 + 1d4 Lightning.
  
• Once per day, the wielder can declare a Bramble Shot: on a successful hit, the target takes an additional 4d8 piercing damage and must make a Strength saving throw or be restrained.
  
• Once per short rest, the wielder can declare an Oracle Shot, allowing them to project their sight through the arrow they fire from the bow for up to 10 minutes.