Grog Strongjaw

Grog Strongjaw is a goliath barbarian/fighter and a member of Vox Machina. He was played by Travis Willingham.

Intro
"Right, listen up. If you have ale, then you have a friend in Grog Strongjaw. A goliath of towering height and size, this barbarian has an appetite for the two great loves in his life: combat, women, and ale. Wait...

''Easily the brains of the group, Grog is often consulted for his vast knowledge of shapes, colors, and shiny things. Also ale.''

''In his early years, armed with his two-handed great axe, Grog often enjoyed proving his might amongst the ranks of his family's wandering herd. But after coming upon an unsuspecting elderly gnome in the woods, he objected to the killing of such an innocent life. A creature of impulse, Grog felt only pity for this terrified little thing. His disobedience cost him dearly. Beaten bloody and banished by the herd leader, his uncle Kevdak, Grog was abandoned and left to die.''

''Exiled from his herd, it was then that the relative of the very gnome he fought to save, saved him. It was the kindness of a gnome cleric named Pike that healed Grog, bringing him back from death's edge. And they have remained close friends ever since.''

''Most nights, Grog can be found challenging entire taverns to wrestling matches! Or accompanying Scanlan to the nearest house where you pay for, er, lady favors. Also ale."''

Appearance
Grog, being a goliath, is grey-skinned with tattoos all over his upper body and his bald head; he weighs upward of 645 pounds and stands at 8 feet, 7 inches tall. After having a phylactery removed from his body, a scar formed on his chest which remains a mark of the lingering darkness within him.

After donning the Belt of Dwarvenkind, Grog has grown a thick black beard, a feat thought to be impossible for him due to male goliaths having no body hair.

After joining the Slayer's Take, Grog has the brand of the guild on his right arm.

During Vox Machina's one-year break, Grog took the skin with the bear tattoo which he had flayed from Kevdak's chest and had it tanned. He then got an exact copy of it tattooed on his back, as a symbol that Kevdak and the events surrounding him are now behind him.

Personality
Jokes have been made occasionally about Grog being smarter than most barbarians when the group plays, as Travis does mathematical calculations faster than the other players. Travis sometimes jokingly calls his character "Professor Grog".

Grog's low intelligence score has proven problematic for the group in the past. On two separate occasions he has been completely incapacitated by creatures that made psychic or intelligence attacks, once when an intellect devourer's attack put Grog into a catatonic state, and the other time when a duergar, Queen Ulara, dominated his mind and kidnapped him (Travis was absent from that game).

Because of his low intelligence, Grog is illiterate and cannot read or write in any language. After being unable to read any of the runes written in Giant within the City of Brass, Grog expressed a desire to learn how to read, and asked for Pike to help him learn the Common alphabet. Since then, Pike has managed to teach Grog how to read words in Common that are up to five letters long.

Grog has shown himself to be rather impulsive, as seen often when he charges ahead of the group into an unknown area of a dungeon or map. He was also the only chaotic-neutral group member at the start of the campaign, and he is often more aggressive and less merciful than some of the other characters.

He does not like being bested in single combat, as seen in. He is willing to cheat to win, as seen when he drank a potion of Stone Giant Strength to defeat the half-orc Kern in.

Background
Grog is a refugee barbarian, having been banished by his people. Grog is physically the strongest member of Vox Machina and often attempts to take the majority of damage due to his high armor class and constitution.

As of, Grog officially puts Kashaw to shame when it comes to genital size.

Before the Stream
Shortly after Vox Machina's adventures in Stilben, Grog left the group and traveled back to Westruun. After not hearing from him for several weeks, the rest of the party traveled there as well and met Pike Trickfoot for the first time. She told them that Grog had been acting strangely and had marched on his own through the Bramblewood Forest towards Gatshadow Mountain. Deep within the mountain, they discovered a mind-controlled Grog, the reanimated corpse of his father, Stonejaw Strongjaw, and a dying mage attempting to become a lich. The party slew the mage, but not before he embedded his phylactery into Grog's chest.

While in the Frostweald, Grog entered a portal alone to retrieve an item. A nymph, named Nahla, was on the other side protecting it. Instead of attacking him, she liked what she saw. After a while, Grog returned looking quite satisfied with himself while holding the item the group needed.

With the help of Eskil Ryndarien, the phylactery was successfully removed from Grog, although it left behind some lingering necromantic energy.

At some point, Grog inadvertently almost killed Trinket when he hit the bear's backside with the flat side of his axe, causing Trinket to charge through a heavily trapped area of a dungeon. Vex was not amused.

Grog was the one who decided to keep one of the penises of the trolls, that his teammates shot off, as a souvenir; it was later used as a distraction in an encounter.

Grog has previously been mentally dominated by another opponent, which caused him to turn against his group and almost kill a few of the party's members.

During a mission, Grog was fighting an umber hulk just like in. He ended up getting confused and, in an attempt to bull rush the creature, he fell 170 feet to the cavern floor. He was knocked unconscious and almost killed by the impact.

Grog and Scanlan managed to intimidate a group of hostile mages in a fighting pit when Scanlan summoned a pony, that Grog abruptly decapitated and smeared its gore on his body while screaming.

Grog was responsible for a blue dragon, Brimscythe, turning against Vox Machina when he found a treasure room and went into a "rage loot"; when the dragon emerged, Grog paused to acknowledge it before he continued looting the room. Grog's choice almost cost some members of Vox Machina their lives, but it also significantly increased their party funds.

Grog convinced the group that in order to find good security for their new keep, which they named Greyskull Keep, the potential guards would have to fight each other to the death.

On the road from Emon to Kraghammer, Grog successfully prevented a fight between a roving band of goliath barbarians, led by his uncle Kevdak's son, Zanror, and Vox Machina after he recognized his cousin. The truce was only temporary, though, and Grog left with the understanding that their next meeting would almost surely be their last—though this later turned out not to be the case.

Keyleth

 * &rarr; Main article: Relationship between Grog and Keyleth.

Grog calls Keyleth's sabretooth tiger form "Minxie", after the two of them (Keyleth in her cat form) attempted to intimidate somebody and Keyleth pretended to be Grog's pet. Keyleth and Grog have worked together on other occasions as well, such as creating a special combo attack referred to as the "Fastball Special", where Keyleth turns into a brawny creature, like an earth elemental, in order to have enough strength to throw Grog at a large opponent.

Grog was present when Keyleth was on the brink of attacking Raishan when the dragon revealed herself in the guise of Seeker Assum and explained to her the value of patience. When Keyleth, struggling with her anger at Raishan, asked Grog how he manages to keep his rage in check, he answered: "Family."

Lady Kima of Vord
Grog became infatuated with Lady Kima after the party freed her from a torture rack in Emberhold and she subsequently borrowed Pike's mace to bash the duergar who tortured her into "hamburger meat."

Pike

 * &rarr; Main article: Relationship between Grog and Pike.

Grog and Pike are very close friends due to Grog protecting Pike's great-great-grandfather Wilhand Trickfoot, and Pike's having saved his life after his uncle Kevdak banished him from his tribe and ordered the other tribe members to beat him near to death. The two often joke when working together, and Pike will often defend Grog from jokes made by other team members. After her death and resurrection, she has become more violent and bloodthirsty, sometimes even impressing Grog.

Scanlan

 * &rarr; Main article: Relationship between Grog and Scanlan.

Grog and Scanlan Shorthalt were best friends, occasionally pursuing the same things. After he left Vox Machina though, relations between the two have been strained. Grog seems to feel that he has been replaced by the "Bardbarian".

Vax'ildan

 * &rarr; Main article: Relationship between Grog and Vax'ildan.

Grog and Vax'ildan have a rather antagonistic relationship, the two of them occasionally playing pranks on each other. Aside from that, they are close friends who have each others' backs.

Quests
Grog's quest is not exactly known. However, it has been stated by Travis that he wants revenge on his uncle Kevdak for nearly killing him, which he managed to fulfill in.

One of Grog's short term goals was to beat the half-orc Kern, also known as "The Hammer", who beat him in the Crucible—a quest he has since fulfilled.

Current Items

 * Alchemy Jug
 * Amulet of Defense (+2 to AC)
 * Amulet of the Drunkard (allows Grog to heal HP when he drinks ale)
 * Bag of Holding
 * Belt of Dwarvenkind
 * Bloodaxe
 * Boots of Feral Leaping (traded for Percy's Boots of Spider Climbing and traded back )
 * Chain of Returning (made by Tiberius)
 * Dragon-Tooth Necklace (doubles hit points restored by hit dice; given to Grog by Shale)
 * Dust of Tracelessness
 * Dwarven Thrower
 * Firebrand War Hammer
 * Holy Oil
 * Titanstone Knuckles
 * Boots of Levitation

Former Items

 * Boots of Spider Climbing (received from Percy in a trade and traded back )
 * Bracers of Defense (given to Scanlan's Simulacrum in, lost in when the Simulacrum was dispelled by Vecna.)
 * Craven Edge (banished to the Dread Emperor's realm by Vox Machina in ))
 * Dancing Sword (originally awarded by the Deck of Many Things, but taken away through creative editing due to DM error on the draw)
 * Deck of Many Things(confiscated by Vox Machina after he pulled The Void card and they had to spend two weeks retrieving his soul from Pandemonium)
 * Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Now belong to Pike)
 * Javelin of Lightning (lost in Ank'Harel)
 * Sword of Kas (gains a +1d10 bonus to initiative, deals an additional 2 dice of damage to undead; given to Highbearer Vord)

Abilities
Grog has a few abilities that allow him to inflict more damage in combat and demoralize the enemy. The primal path of his rage is that of the berserker—his rage is a means to an end, in which his thrill is derived from the chaotic nature of battle. He later multiclassed into a Battle Master fighter similar to his uncle Kevdak, gaining use of Second Wind, the Great Weapon Fighting style, the ability to use Action Surge, and a variety of combat maneuvers.



Goliath Abilities

 * Mountain Born
 * Natural Athlete
 * Powerful Build
 * Stone's Endurance

Additional Features

 * Beard Growth (Belt of Dwarvenkind)
 * Darkvision (Belt of Dwarvenkind)
 * Dwarven Resilience (Belt of Dwarvenkind)
 * Elemental Resistance (Fire/Cold/Lightning) (Titanstone Knuckles)
 * Enlarge (Titanstone Knuckles)
 * Siege Damage (Titanstone Knuckles)

Feats

 * Great Weapon Master (taken at level 12)
 * Tough
 * Mobile
 * Mage Slayer

Class Features

 * Brutal Critical (3 dice)
 * Danger Sense
 * Feral Instinct
 * Persistent Rage
 * Primal Path: Path of the Berserker
 * Frenzy
 * Intimidating Presence
 * Mindless Rage
 * Retaliation
 * Rage
 * Reckless Attack
 * Relentless Rage

Class Features

 * Action Surge
 * Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
 * Martial Archetype: Battle Master
 * Maneuvers: Trip Attack, Parry, and Disarming Strike
 * Student of War: Smith's Tools -
 * Superiority Dice (4d8)
 * Second Wind

Trivia

 * Grog has the highest strength score and highest constitution score of any player character thus far.
 * Grog formerly had the lowest intelligence score of any player character. However, Buddy the Ogre now possesses the lowest intelligence score with an intelligence of 5.
 * Travis often plays this aspect for comedic effect, thus giving birth to Grog's signature catchphrase: "I have an intelligence of 6, I think I know what I'm doing."
 * Occasionally Travis forgets himself and "Grog" says something clever, usually played off as a random moment of cleverness. However at least once it has resulted in Grog suffering pain and the DM assigning psychic damage for "attempting to think too hard."
 * "Grog" is a term for any alcoholic beverage, originally referring to a drink made with water and rum.
 * Travis didn't have a name for his character when he arrived at their first home game, so when Matt asked him for one he made it up on the spot. He cited his love of the game Monkey Island, where "Grog" is a popular pirate beverage that is 'one of the most caustic, volatile substances known to man'.
 * "Grog" itself originated from the nickname of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon (who first introduced the drink), Old Grog or Old Grogram, which itself stemmed from how Vernon wore a coat of grosgrain (also known as grogram) cloth.
 * In the Critical Role Major Arcana Tarot Card Set, he represents VIII - Strength.
 * In the 2017 video game "Mass Effect: Andromeda", there is a krogan warlord named "Strogjaw Grog". Strogjaw Grog is the leader of a refuge for exiled scavengers known as "The Flophouse" on the scorching desert moon of Elaaden.
 * In the Vox Machina Origins comics, Grog's title of "Grand Poobah de Doink of All of This and That" is erroneously written as "Grand Poobah of de Doink."
 * Interestingly, the final roll of the one-shot The Search For Grog (done by Travis as Grog) was a Natural 20; meaning that Travis ended Campaign 1 on a 'critical roll'. He would (previously) begin Campaign 2 with a Natural 20 roll.
 * Grog's design as a large, muscular man with pale skin, a bald head, facial and body tattoos, and thick black beard coincidentally gave him a resemblance to Kratos in the 2018 video game God of War. Additionally, Kratos also has the special ability to "Spartan Rage" in the game. Many Critters were quick to point out these resemblances across various social media such as Twitter and Reddit, with quite a few posts directed straight to Travis Willingham.