Clip from 4-Sided Dive, Episode 1: Silken Secrets ruclips.net/video/jwtpHQ_-JUA/видео.html This video is unofficial fan content and is not approved or endorsed in any way by Critical Role.
Caleb 100% inspired the way I describe casting spells. When I'm sitting at a table with "I attack twice with my hammer" and "I cast green flame blade", I describe in full detail how my character "aims their staff and an inky spectral snake flies from the tip and as it opens it's mouth, it splits into multiple smaller snakes that take long arcing paths to strike their prey" for eldritch blast
*Hats He has a very large collection of very large hats. And somehow he makes every single one of them look good. Anyone else wearing a large hat looks silly but Robbie makes it looks downright sexy.
Marisha as Beauregard was also immaculate in her descriptions. Yes it was a lot of “pop pop” but she made every hit paint a constantly ever evolving picture.
I’m actually in a group where I’m playing as a Battlemaster and I took Tavern Brawler feat and I gotta say the combo makes my actions more fun & creative for me than just “stab stab stab”
For bonus fun, take the Unarmed Combat style. It turns your unarmed strikes into d6’s if your hands are full or d8’s if you go full Mike Tyson on some clown. Made a pugilist build for a one-shot and had SO much fun describing boxing moves at the table
Liam takes the time to consider terrain and the physical environment - so just the act of getting to the enemy gets flairs like "I jump up on the table, naruto run across this wall and do an attack like achilles in Troy, you know that jump and stab - superman stab"
Ya, Liam is amazing. His ability to bring so much flair and passion to a character is beyond words at times. Definitely one of my favorite people to watch and listen to. Same can be said for Marisha this season with Laudna. I LOVE Laudna and how Marisha portrays and describes her.
Yeah, it's interesting to me that so many players don't feel drawn to illustrate their actions more often. Like they feel the only time they should get to is at the end of combat and I am like "Why?". Liam is amazing though at putting his own flair on things that feel impactful.
@@ethanhorn6093 Some tables prefer players cut down time describing their actions, excluding technical details. It depends really when you do it; some players take every opportunity to describe their actions in depth which results in bogging down the game time. Some do it before knowing the result of a roll, which means it could simply fail or not achieve the results their description led them to believe. Other players wait for a moment when the description would improve the moment, such as a game-changer or visually impressive spells, otherwise holding their tongue, letting their imaginations fill in the gaps.
I followed a DM tip I saw awhile back of letting the players know the AC they need to hit from the start of combat (Because they're going to know soon enough what number hits). So now I have them roll the to hit and damage dice at the same time, to save time, and once they see whether it hit or not, and how much damage it does, they can describe the attack. There's no: roll, wait for DM to confirm it hits, roll damage, tell how much damage you did, and let DM describe it, that I see in some games. Early on with newer players, I would sometimes describe the attack for them, to let them understand what they could do. An encouragement. I also always do max damage + a die roll to determine damage on a crit hit. So there's no need to roll again for that either. Player rolls to hit, rolls a d8 at the same time for damage, if it's a crit, just add 8. Keeps combat moving quickly but creatively.
I'm currently playing a character who's whole thing is a one man army isn't made by one man so he has a bunch of combo attacks for when I go on the same turn or just before/after another player. It's so dope to work with a player to make these cool ass moments mid fights. And as a player you'd be amazed how many of the little things your dm will let slide for the sake of a cool as fuck combo attack.
@@ethanhorn6093the reason i dont is because i focus too much on what i need to do, that i often forget to roleplay. That being said when big moments happen in combat, i do roleplay.
Liam playing Caleb inspired me to finally give wizards a try - he made them seem so cool!! And I love playing fighters, so it's been so inspiring to watch him play Orym.
Nothing makes me feel more happy as a gm than a player leaning into the descriptions of their characters' actions. I will always respond and feed on my players' creativity.
Orym is my fav character of C3 simply because of how Liam plays him. His practice duel with Dusk is still one of my fav moments from him. He's just so flavorful.
My players are slowly learning how to describe their actions without overstepping (“I cut off his leg” while only dealing 4 points of slashing damage was an early example lol) and I finally get a chance to be a player again and I’m hopeful I can inspire my table mates further. Liam is a fantastic example to go off of.
I usually partially zone out during the combat scenes because they're usually just not as engaging but I always pay attention to Orym's turns because of the way how Liam paints the scene with his descriptions
Some other flavors he could be adding would be to steal from the pathfinder dirty fighting action list. Lots of spitting, tripping, foot stepping, and pants dropping. Matt was the battle master in the Critmas Episode with Chutney which got Liam excited for it.
I love being a fighter that bounces around the field providing cover and disadvantage on attacks against my teammates tanking a few hits then bonking the troublesome enemy that won't go down 😁. Something about taking a hit for someone then surging the HP back is so badass to me
When I first watched critical role I thought it was weird that Liam described everything little thing his character was doing inside and out of combat but now I think it's really sick
Matt should give himself some credit here it was his scene and world building and acting and noises that made the previous campaigns pop as much as they did. Liam has learned well from him
Sure, but that's kinda "Celebrating Mothers on Father's Day" mentality. Celebrating one thing doesn't take away from celebrating another, and giving credit to Liam's descriptions doesn't take credit from Matt's DM'ing. Rather, I think they're giving credit to an underappreciated aspect of the game, which is Liam taking a class that isn't typically very cinematic in what it does and making it such. Matt's DM'ing gets plenty of well-deserved credit.
I often look for people who can describe their actions instead of going "I'm going to slash Goblin 12 with my Main-hand", I praise things like "I'll shift around the goblin and flick my wrist around to cut up the side of his face to see if I can expose his brain or at least take his ear!"
Liam is the reason I got more descriptive with my combat, as a Wizard, Barbarian, and my group's current DM. All the props to him for helping me make combat more cinematic.
Thanks to Liam. without that birthday of his a decade ago or more this would've never have happened where he asked a bunch of nerdy voice actors to play a game together!
ive actually been struggling with this lately. my party just started a brand new campaign after our 4 year long one ended, and i'm playing a soon-to-be berserker barbarian. i feel like i only ever Do An Attack And Hit Or Miss. i need to work on making my turns more dynamic 😭
Give it some flair from who your character is. What is your barbarian's main personality trait; arrogant, short fused, eager for a fight, grumpy at the world, bored, dumb but sweet like Grog, or something else? Lean heavily into that. A bored barbarian who likes to fight to entertain themselves might be overly cruel in battle to compensate, going for kneecaps and spanks to tear down the enemy's resolve before their body. An arrogant barbarian who is very loyal might not immediately go for the biggest enemy in the group, but step up when friends are in danger. Basically ask; what causes your barbarian's rage? What do they get so frustrated over they can disregard their own physical harm and jump into the middle of danger? Also, weapon; well maintained and loved, or just a tool for destruction. And then figure out how to add their personality and how they handle battle/their weapon as little visual tells. Orym is great, but Taliesin with Ashton as a barbarian does an awesome job to. If you take away the fancy stuff, Taliesin is basically using their hammer as a baseball bat. Very much in the style of Harley Quinn from DC, brutal and full swing every time. Little extra flair cause Ashton loves his fancy hammer. They nonchalantly lean on it when not in use, but goes for maximum range of motion like a pissed-off baseball player when they can swing it. Good luck with your new campaign! I hope you find your own flair ❤
If I ever manage to find a new group to play with, Liam's been inspirational for me in making a whole stable of new characters... probably starting with my harengon Eldritch Knight 😁
My first character was an Eladrin battlemaster fighter and Liam was so inspirational! I found my groups on a Facebook group for D&D in my state, so check out if there is one for where you live? I've also heard of people finding groups on discord, or ask at your friendly neighborhood game store.
Battle master is the best martial class first dnd class that i had to include martials feats into a magic swordsmen build i took parry 😅 my dm hated me for doing parry all the time but if its a deadly hit i dont wanna be slapped to the next dimension
Martial/ melee characters are by far the easiest to describe attacks for. I've never figured out a good way to enhance an encounter with a description of someone using a bow.
If you think martial classes are boring, it's not them that's boring: it's your imagination. Sorry. My martial characters have been some of my absolute favourites. I have a hobgoblin fighter with the Knight background, Marika Rakhan, and she's a goddamn Lawful Evil warrior QUEEN
I come from a text based roleplaying background, so I'm extra used to heavily describing combat etc, even as martial characters. I wish everyone did this!
It's been two years but they're only on episode 63 because of breaks and things. I wonder if it'll continue on into 100+ episodes even if it goes on another 2+ years to accomplish that, or if they'll wrap it up much earlier than the other campaigns. I actually don't dislike this campaign, I just liked Campaign 2 more. But to me, that's a compliment to Campaign 2, not necessarily criticism of Campaign 3.
@@kellyriddell5014 I am in the exact same boat. I REALLY loved Campaign 2 and while I've been trying really hard with Campaign 3, I just... can't. Robbie's presence was the most fun I've had this campaign and it's a shame he's not there anymore.
Clip from 4-Sided Dive, Episode 1: Silken Secrets
ruclips.net/video/jwtpHQ_-JUA/видео.html
This video is unofficial fan content and is not approved or endorsed in any way by Critical Role.
Thanks for linking the sources! Too few creators do that nowadays
“Let’s paint some pictures, baby”
Robbie Daymond - Try Not to Be Sexy Challenge (2023) - Difficulty: IMPOSSIBLE
Miss him soooooo much!
Dude the way Caleb played a wizard in C2 was a revelation.
Legit! Made me actually decide my next character is gonna be a wizard
@@bookmarkyourthoughtsblog My first caster honestly is gonna be a Warlock/Sorc. But thats me.
Caleb 100% inspired the way I describe casting spells. When I'm sitting at a table with "I attack twice with my hammer" and "I cast green flame blade", I describe in full detail how my character "aims their staff and an inky spectral snake flies from the tip and as it opens it's mouth, it splits into multiple smaller snakes that take long arcing paths to strike their prey" for eldritch blast
He was so majestic 😂
Wall of fire comes to mind ugh, so good
When you boil it down, I think the most important thing to remember about CR is Robbie's big hat.
*Hats
He has a very large collection of very large hats. And somehow he makes every single one of them look good. Anyone else wearing a large hat looks silly but Robbie makes it looks downright sexy.
@@ravenna6543you're not wrong
Liam did such a good job using material components he inspired me to use them in my campaigns
Marisha as Beauregard was also immaculate in her descriptions. Yes it was a lot of “pop pop” but she made every hit paint a constantly ever evolving picture.
I miss Robbie SO MUCH
Happy again?
How bout now?
Describing combat was something I struggled with and Liam truly inspired me to try to become more descriptive and super frogging cool about it 😂
Totally, me too!
Vax got so fun and creative with just a teleporting dagger
I always loved how Liam as Caleb would describe how each component was used to cast the spell.
“Is that just Liam being extra or something you can do that is cool and celebrated?” Yes
😂 I mean, asking if Liam is being extra is a fair point.
Honestly the flair Liam brought to Caleb inspired me more than anything else after years of watching CR.
I live for the pictures Liam paints.
Liam is also an enabler of everyone around him
And at the same time… “AHOO-EY, I’m back, baby”
I’m actually in a group where I’m playing as a Battlemaster and I took Tavern Brawler feat and I gotta say the combo makes my actions more fun & creative for me than just “stab stab stab”
Yeah cause it turns your character into John Wick, since everything around you becomes a weapon.
@@deathbykonami5487 yeah my primary stat is strength, but my Dexterity isn’t far behind. So I’m a Jackie Chan-John Wick combo
For bonus fun, take the Unarmed Combat style. It turns your unarmed strikes into d6’s if your hands are full or d8’s if you go full Mike Tyson on some clown.
Made a pugilist build for a one-shot and had SO much fun describing boxing moves at the table
@@Vespuchian I may take that option
Liam takes the time to consider terrain and the physical environment - so just the act of getting to the enemy gets flairs like "I jump up on the table, naruto run across this wall and do an attack like achilles in Troy, you know that jump and stab - superman stab"
Ya, Liam is amazing. His ability to bring so much flair and passion to a character is beyond words at times. Definitely one of my favorite people to watch and listen to. Same can be said for Marisha this season with Laudna. I LOVE Laudna and how Marisha portrays and describes her.
About FUCKING TIME they caught onto this.
"How do ya wanna do this" is not the only time ya get to do choreo fam :/
Yeah, it's interesting to me that so many players don't feel drawn to illustrate their actions more often. Like they feel the only time they should get to is at the end of combat and I am like "Why?". Liam is amazing though at putting his own flair on things that feel impactful.
@@ethanhorn6093 Some tables prefer players cut down time describing their actions, excluding technical details. It depends really when you do it; some players take every opportunity to describe their actions in depth which results in bogging down the game time. Some do it before knowing the result of a roll, which means it could simply fail or not achieve the results their description led them to believe. Other players wait for a moment when the description would improve the moment, such as a game-changer or visually impressive spells, otherwise holding their tongue, letting their imaginations fill in the gaps.
I followed a DM tip I saw awhile back of letting the players know the AC they need to hit from the start of combat (Because they're going to know soon enough what number hits). So now I have them roll the to hit and damage dice at the same time, to save time, and once they see whether it hit or not, and how much damage it does, they can describe the attack.
There's no: roll, wait for DM to confirm it hits, roll damage, tell how much damage you did, and let DM describe it, that I see in some games.
Early on with newer players, I would sometimes describe the attack for them, to let them understand what they could do. An encouragement.
I also always do max damage + a die roll to determine damage on a crit hit. So there's no need to roll again for that either. Player rolls to hit, rolls a d8 at the same time for damage, if it's a crit, just add 8.
Keeps combat moving quickly but creatively.
I'm currently playing a character who's whole thing is a one man army isn't made by one man so he has a bunch of combo attacks for when I go on the same turn or just before/after another player. It's so dope to work with a player to make these cool ass moments mid fights. And as a player you'd be amazed how many of the little things your dm will let slide for the sake of a cool as fuck combo attack.
@@ethanhorn6093the reason i dont is because i focus too much on what i need to do, that i often forget to roleplay. That being said when big moments happen in combat, i do roleplay.
Liam playing Caleb inspired me to finally give wizards a try - he made them seem so cool!! And I love playing fighters, so it's been so inspiring to watch him play Orym.
Nothing makes me feel more happy as a gm than a player leaning into the descriptions of their characters' actions. I will always respond and feed on my players' creativity.
introducing... the Liam O'Brian Effect
Dms that let you be creative with your descriptions are the ogs.
Orym is my fav character of C3 simply because of how Liam plays him. His practice duel with Dusk is still one of my fav moments from him. He's just so flavorful.
My players are slowly learning how to describe their actions without overstepping (“I cut off his leg” while only dealing 4 points of slashing damage was an early example lol) and I finally get a chance to be a player again and I’m hopeful I can inspire my table mates further. Liam is a fantastic example to go off of.
I usually partially zone out during the combat scenes because they're usually just not as engaging but I always pay attention to Orym's turns because of the way how Liam paints the scene with his descriptions
Liam = MVP
Nah. He's maybe #4 behind Sam, Laura, and Travis.
CritRole wouldn't probably be a thing w/o him, so... yeah. 😊❤
Some other flavors he could be adding would be to steal from the pathfinder dirty fighting action list. Lots of spitting, tripping, foot stepping, and pants dropping. Matt was the battle master in the Critmas Episode with Chutney which got Liam excited for it.
Klaus Prigman
I love being a fighter that bounces around the field providing cover and disadvantage on attacks against my teammates tanking a few hits then bonking the troublesome enemy that won't go down 😁. Something about taking a hit for someone then surging the HP back is so badass to me
What a great hat Robbie is wearing!
When I first watched critical role I thought it was weird that Liam described everything little thing his character was doing inside and out of combat but now I think it's really sick
I’ll be honest: I thought playing Wizards was boring until Liam played Caleb and showed just how cool you could make it.
Matt should give himself some credit here it was his scene and world building and acting and noises that made the previous campaigns pop as much as they did. Liam has learned well from him
Sure, but that's kinda "Celebrating Mothers on Father's Day" mentality. Celebrating one thing doesn't take away from celebrating another, and giving credit to Liam's descriptions doesn't take credit from Matt's DM'ing.
Rather, I think they're giving credit to an underappreciated aspect of the game, which is Liam taking a class that isn't typically very cinematic in what it does and making it such. Matt's DM'ing gets plenty of well-deserved credit.
@@kylehahn4410 fair point
Not just as Orym! His descriptions as Caleb were epic, with his spell components
I love Liam's creativity with fights. Also I always wondered if they did test games, I wonder what those are like!
I often look for people who can describe their actions instead of going "I'm going to slash Goblin 12 with my Main-hand", I praise things like "I'll shift around the goblin and flick my wrist around to cut up the side of his face to see if I can expose his brain or at least take his ear!"
Liam helped me create my warlock fighter so I can do both melee and magical descriptions
This is the man who climbed all over his furniture to get into character for voicing Gollum. I’m not surprised lol
Liam is the reason I got more descriptive with my combat, as a Wizard, Barbarian, and my group's current DM. All the props to him for helping me make combat more cinematic.
I want to be able to describe my actions like Liam
Need a critical role exalted one shot
I wish Dorian returned
Robbie is my favorite
I am a druid, always want to play a druid, but the way Liam plays his battle master has made me LOVE the battle master - Liam is awesome!
I'm playing a battlemaster fighter because of Orym and I'm having so much fun!
He's my inspo on how I play my (mostly) martial character
I do admit that this may be the reason I'm currently playing battlemaster fighter 😉
I really like the Warrior class in DCC because basically, you can do whatever you want with your attack. As long as you roll your mighty deed.
Flavor is always free just be precise. Don't need to bog down combat all the time.
Thanks to Liam. without that birthday of his a decade ago or more this would've never have happened where he asked a bunch of nerdy voice actors to play a game together!
Orym inspired me to play a Fighter as my first time playing D&D
Totally, I played battlemaster because of Orym, it's so much fun!
Ga I want Robbie to be a full time cast member he fits so well with the team
ive actually been struggling with this lately. my party just started a brand new campaign after our 4 year long one ended, and i'm playing a soon-to-be berserker barbarian. i feel like i only ever Do An Attack And Hit Or Miss. i need to work on making my turns more dynamic 😭
Give it some flair from who your character is. What is your barbarian's main personality trait; arrogant, short fused, eager for a fight, grumpy at the world, bored, dumb but sweet like Grog, or something else? Lean heavily into that.
A bored barbarian who likes to fight to entertain themselves might be overly cruel in battle to compensate, going for kneecaps and spanks to tear down the enemy's resolve before their body.
An arrogant barbarian who is very loyal might not immediately go for the biggest enemy in the group, but step up when friends are in danger.
Basically ask; what causes your barbarian's rage? What do they get so frustrated over they can disregard their own physical harm and jump into the middle of danger? Also, weapon; well maintained and loved, or just a tool for destruction. And then figure out how to add their personality and how they handle battle/their weapon as little visual tells.
Orym is great, but Taliesin with Ashton as a barbarian does an awesome job to. If you take away the fancy stuff, Taliesin is basically using their hammer as a baseball bat. Very much in the style of Harley Quinn from DC, brutal and full swing every time. Little extra flair cause Ashton loves his fancy hammer. They nonchalantly lean on it when not in use, but goes for maximum range of motion like a pissed-off baseball player when they can swing it.
Good luck with your new campaign! I hope you find your own flair ❤
well liam voiced illidan for a couple of years idk but he might come back in the war within
If I ever manage to find a new group to play with, Liam's been inspirational for me in making a whole stable of new characters... probably starting with my harengon Eldritch Knight 😁
My first character was an Eladrin battlemaster fighter and Liam was so inspirational! I found my groups on a Facebook group for D&D in my state, so check out if there is one for where you live? I've also heard of people finding groups on discord, or ask at your friendly neighborhood game store.
Battle master is the best martial class first dnd class that i had to include martials feats into a magic swordsmen build i took parry 😅 my dm hated me for doing parry all the time but if its a deadly hit i dont wanna be slapped to the next dimension
He might need to read some fencing manuals ;-)
Wait 2 years since orym first appeared? EXU still feels like it started last week
Yeh, I know time absolutely flies... I started watching just after ExU finished and it has flown!
Martial/ melee characters are by far the easiest to describe attacks for. I've never figured out a good way to enhance an encounter with a description of someone using a bow.
"I load up a cross bowbolt" lol
If you think martial classes are boring, it's not them that's boring: it's your imagination. Sorry.
My martial characters have been some of my absolute favourites. I have a hobgoblin fighter with the Knight background, Marika Rakhan, and she's a goddamn Lawful Evil warrior QUEEN
Anybody have a link to a compilation of Liam’s descriptions?
If I had time I would totally make one, but have a search on RUclips and I'm sure you might find one ☺️
I come from a text based roleplaying background, so I'm extra used to heavily describing combat etc, even as martial characters. I wish everyone did this!
The creepy sound design makes me wish my headphones weren’t good 😵 too many nasty monster sounds
No no, Laim is still being extra.
Love your channel, would you please insert source links into description?
My apologies as my real job's been a little hectic. Episode credit and link now in the description and pinned comment.
@@birdscritters you da you da best, you da you da best
😊😅
If only I liked the character. Oh well. Just not my cup of tea. But glad that he is doing well.
Been two years already... Season three cannot end soon enough.
Im on ep 9 of the M9. I should have given this a shot when I was getting paid to stay home!
It's been two years but they're only on episode 63 because of breaks and things. I wonder if it'll continue on into 100+ episodes even if it goes on another 2+ years to accomplish that, or if they'll wrap it up much earlier than the other campaigns. I actually don't dislike this campaign, I just liked Campaign 2 more. But to me, that's a compliment to Campaign 2, not necessarily criticism of Campaign 3.
2 years includes the original ExU
you are welcome to stop watching and whining about it and let the rest of us enjoy it
@@kellyriddell5014 I am in the exact same boat. I REALLY loved Campaign 2 and while I've been trying really hard with Campaign 3, I just... can't. Robbie's presence was the most fun I've had this campaign and it's a shame he's not there anymore.