Monster Analysis: Androsphinx

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Monster Analysis: Androsphinx

Thanks to @Mikandii for this art piece!

  • First Appearance: 49 A Name is Earned
  • Armor Class 17
  • Speed 40 ft, Fly 60 ft
  • Truesight 120 ft, Passive 20
  • Immune to Psychic and nonmagical physical damage
  • Immune to charmed and frightened
  • Lair and Legendary Actions
  • Suggested average, max HP: 199, 285
  • 94 damage taken before the encounter ended

Sphinxes are the guardians of secrets and treasures of the gods. Neutral in disposition, sphinxes present their trials fairly to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Even if the sphinx is defeated in combat, the treasure that it guards will remain locked away from the victors. Only by one solving the posed riddle will the celestial's secret be revealed.

 Osysa represented the goddess of knowledge, Ioun. Osysa confirmed to Vox Machina that her mate does not serve Ioun directly, and Kamaljiori said that “[Ioun] is beyond me.” However, the volume of Ioun symbols near and in the androsphinx’s lair points to his fealty to the deity of knowledge.

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Monster Analysis: Orc Warchief, Dire Bears, Orogs, & Orcs

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Monster Analysis: Orc Warchief, Dire Bears, Orogs, & Orcs

Thanks to @MajorAMonkey for this screenshot. Check out the rest of the animation here!

With the rapid approach of episode 100 and the convenient break in the story this week, we figured it was an equally convenient time to reminisce on older Vox Machina adventures… and finally catch up on our remaining four Monster Analyses.

We’ve previously seen the party (or at least half of it) encounter orcs during the journey to Rimefang. This band of orcs, however, had a couple of variations in composition compared to the last pack; besides regular orcs, the band included a war chief leader, an orog, and a pair of dire bears.

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Battle Royale 3 Stats Roundup

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Phillipp asks: I would be interested in a crosstable "damage done to"/"damage taken from" for the latest Battle Royal. Are you guys working on something like that?

We just did! You can find the full sheet here, but we’ve summarized some highlights below. Note that the damage on the sheet does not count any damage ignored due to resistances, but does include overkill damage when it was stated. This does include the damage Grog ignored via Relentless Rage, and the damage Percy took when he fell and failed his first death save, but not any damage that wasn’t explicitly stated (i.e. Grog’s finishing autocrits on Percy and Keyleth). It also does not include any healing.
 

  • There was a total of 1664 points of damage dealt out in the most recent Battle Royale by players, the environment, and the Raven’s Slumber.
  • Grog dealt nearly half this damage, at about 46%. 
  • Keyleth took a full quarter of the total damage, at about 25%. Grog was just behind her at 22%.
  • The lair dealt exactly 50 points of damage, or 3% of the full total. This was more than the damage dealt by Doty, Trinket, Grog’s goliath knight, and the Raven’s Slumber combined.
  • Trinket dealt no damage.
  • The Raven’s Slumber took the most damage dealt by a single player to a single target at 280 (about 17% of the total damage dealt). This also was the most damage dealt in a single round by a single player.
  • Taryon only dealt 77 points of damage to Grog. Percy and Keyleth both dealt more damage to him, at 82 and 126, respectively.
  • Grog dealt the most damage to Keyleth, at a whopping 195 points. Vex came in second at 93, over 100 points less.
  • Taryon’s little camping routine means that he dealt a relatively low portion of the damage at 173 points (10% of the total), but Grog still managed to deal just over 100 points of damage to him. He took a total of 110, 9 of those dealt to himself when he used the Bead of Force on himself.
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What We Know About Battle Royale 3

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In place of the continuing story of Vox Machina, tonight’s episode of Critical Role will see Vex, Grog, Tary, Percy, and Keyleth showdown in a battle royale. Five will enter, one will survive as the champion.

  • Who: Vex’ahlia, Grog, Taryon, Percy, Keyleth

  • Where: Unknown

  • When: Today, regular Critical Role time, 7pm PDT

  • Why: Liam and Ashley can’t be there

  • Other Info:

    • Everyone will be level 17, including Tary (who is regularly level 15)

    • Everyone has access to their current equipment (unless told otherwise)

    • Vex will have Trinket; Taryon will have Doty

In case you're looking for the first two Battle Royales, you can find them here and here!

Media References and Puns of Episode 98: The Mines of The Many

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Assignment. Burden. Business. Calling. Charge. Commission. Commitment. Job. Load. Milstone. Mission. Obligation. Onus. Responsibility. Station. Task. Trouble. Undertaking. Weight. Work.

Or, put simply, duty. 

Puns

  • (0:24:35) Tary: I feel a duty, a responsibility to this family, because they are my family.  Keyleth: Grog!  Grog: You feel a doody? The privy is over there, or over there, or the front yard beckons.
  • (0:28:28) Keyleth: So what exactly is your duty that you’re feeling inclined toward- Grog: *something* *general laughter* Keyleth: Dammit, Grog.
  • (0:29:27) Keyleth: But Grog does bring up a point I was trying to make before he started laughing when I said ‘duty.’ Grog: *tries really hard to not laugh again*
  • (0:29:37) Keyleth: You said you were compelled and felt like you had a duty. Grog: *again starts laughing, Liam and Laura are pretty gone, too* Taliesin: Stop it, Travis, god, I can’t. Liam: It’s gotten all of us now, it’s off to the races.
  • (0:31:21) Grog: Can you describe to me this “duty?” Keyleth: You don’t care! Percy: That’s hard, that’s very hard. Grog: I think I do now. Like, you know. Is it real like, hard, or, you know, is it- *breaks off laughing* Tary: It’s a little more nebulous than that, Grog. Percy: You can pass on this for now.
  • (0:31:56) Tary: Listen, when you see my duty, you’ll know. Grog: Copy that. Vax: It’s loose.
  • (0:39:46) Tary: (while talking to his mother) Mum’s the word.
  • (0:46:23) Grog: This is the meeting place of a dark group, right? A shady group? Shouldn’t we check this area for anything shady? (...) Taliesin: Is there shade? Is there shade in this establishment? Matt: It’s dimly lit, so there’s plenty of shadows.
  • (1:28:00) Pike: Tell her she has nice boots, Grog. Grog: Nice boobs! Pike: Boots! Boots, boots. Grog: Boo- Boots. Boots. Boots. Nice boots.
  • (2:17:58) Keyleth: Duty. Grog: Better.
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Monster Analysis: Symphior the Withered Planetar & Ankhegs

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Monster Analysis: Symphior the Withered Planetar & Ankhegs

Thanks to @ForgingMeanings for this art piece!

  • First Appearance: 98 The Mines of The Many
  • Armor Class 25
  • Speed 40, 120 ft (flying)
  • Legendary Actions
  • Advantage on saves against magic
  • Suggested Average, Max HP: 200, 282
  • 374 taken, 48 HDYWTDT by Vex’ahlia

Despite being a planetar, Symphior shares very little in common with its textbook counterpart. Planetars are a kind of angel, along with devas and solars. Planetars serve a deity, as Herethis’ planetar once did. This planetar, created by the chat during Matt’s fireside Q&A, was put in place as a seed to grow and eventually emerge to protect the land. However, its development was cut short by the land becoming corrupted, stilting and deforming its growth. It was forced to emerge early by The Myriad’s drilling into the platinum mine, terrorizing all who came near.

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Quick Answers 52

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Do you have the timestamp of that one time when Matt, much to Travis' surprise, invented an official flower for one of the big cities (Westruun?) in a matter of seconds and what that flower was?

The Critical Role Wiki answered this one for us. We recommend checking them out, as they are a great source for trivia like this! Matt told us the official flower of Westruun was the white iris in Episode 56 (3:33:10).

Does the timeskip mean that Tary has been with VM as long as/longer than Scanlan at this point?

From what we can gather, no, Scanlan has still been with the party longer. During a Periscope, Matt suggested that a year and a half passed since the party first met together in Stillben to mid-Conclave arc. We can also note that Scanlan was with the party through two Winter’s Crest celebrations, while Tary has only been through one.

Everyone should have had a bday in the year gap. What's everyone's age now?

  • Taryon: 29
  • Vax and Vex: 28 or 29
  • Pike: Early 40s
  • Keyleth and Percy: Mid 20s
  • Grog, Scanlan: Unknown + 1
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Monster Analysis: Trickfoot Curse

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Monster Analysis: Trickfoot Curse

Thanks to @BrinMataujall for this art piece!

  • First Appearance: 96 Family Matters
  • Armor Class: Unknown
  • Unknown to Hit
  • Immune to Unseen Damage
  • 413 damage dealt, total HP unknown

The Trickfoot family name has a long and checkered past. In the words of Ogden Trickfoot: (1:45:18)

"Over four centuries ago, when our kin still occupied the city of Witterbach, up in the Cliffkeep Mountains, long before our bloodline took the name Trickfoot, there was a wily rock gnome called O.G. Pipemender. Now, O.G. grew jealous of his brother, Lons, and his business’ success and his marriage, apparently. So, seeking a means of balancing their standing, bringing Lons down a peg or two, O.G. plotted to undermine, shame his brother, and destroy his life. Now, he was successful in this plot, at least from what I’ve gleaned. Lons was ruined, but not before it was revealed to Lons that O.G. himself was the culprit.

Now, cornered and fearing for his life, O.G. lashed out and slew his brother. He fled Witterbach and wandered the mountains for week, scavenging to survive. On a full moon, he was visited by a vision of what is believed to be the Lawbearer, Erathis herself. At least, an aspect of her, at the very least. Now, this grave injustice he had committed did not go unnoticed by the Lawbearer and it required punishment. And a curse was set within the very blood of O.G. himself. One that lay dormant from generation to generation, unless those carrying the seed fell to extreme selfishness and wanton destruction of others.

Now, we Trickfoots may not have the best reputation, but what we do, we do it to survive. And we hurt no other in the process. Those that wander too far into the dark call up this curse and the shades within them slowly hollow them out, leaving a ravenous, selfish beast of a gnome."

The shadowy entity demonstrated the ability to attack all enemies in melee with it in a single action, striking out at Grog, Trinket, Percy, Doty, and Vax. Unlike past encounters, the Trickfoot Curse Monster was immune to ranged physical and spell attacks. Despite its demonic-like presence, Divine Smite dealt no extra damage. Keyleth creatively used Moonbeam to force the monster to reveal its true self if it was a shapeshifter, but to no avail. Its strange immunity to damage dealt by some party members and not others at certain times and not others provided a wrinkle as they sought to determine the cause of this discrepancy mid-combat...

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