Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap Up

is a Q&A episode of Critical Role covering the events of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.

Did knowing it was The Calamity change how you normally build your characters?

 * Aabria Iyengar normally doesn't optimize a character. However, Brennan Lee Mulligan said that they were likely to die, and she refused. She worked her hardest to create a sturdy character who would survive as long as possible, and she found it fun to see the hit point difference between Laerryn Coramar-Seelie and Patia Por'co. She researched wizards builds and worked with a friend to optimize Laerryn.
 * Sam Riegel said to Brennan that, when they were told they could have as many items as they wished, he was scared to pick items because he felt like he was cheating. Instead, he picked only a Wand of Smiles and a +1 Ring of Protection but still guilty, even though the others had significantly more items. Marisha felt that Luis Carazo asking for a Holy Avenger gave everyone free reign to pick whatever they wanted. Brennan granted the items not only to break them in but to create a sense of Avalir being a height of arcane prowess during the Age of Arcanum.
 * Lou Wilson wanted to "show out" and hesitated to appear on Critical Role playing a bard that was just simply giving Bardic Inspiration. Brennan pointed out both Lou and Sam played multiclass bards. Sam played a bard multiclass because he did not want to learn a new class at such a high level but did not want to play a bard again, so he took Brennan's suggestion to multiclass as a warlock. Brennan highlighted Loquatius Seelie's connection to the Seelie Court, which in turn connects to the ongoing Campaign 3's Fearne Calloway, also of the Seelie Court. Sam admitted that he simply looked up fey creatures in the Exandrian lore to choose a patron
 * Sam and Lou talked about their multiclass level distribution and what their characters' first level is in. Nydas Okiro's first level is in sorcerer and had 4 levels, then 10 levels in bard, which reflected his past as someone who gained influence through his lifestyle rather than his magical talent. Loquatius is similar, with 3 levels in warlock first and then 11 in bard, as he found better means to gain attention and fame.
 * Patia's subclass is School of Enchantment. To reflect Patia's character as Keeper of Scrolls and owner of an orb in which she stores information, Marisha Ray requested that Patia be able to prepare more 10 spells than normal and have every spell scribed. Brennan allowed it, seeing as she could just "Google it" and it would be "bizarre" for her not to. He felt that Dungeon Masters should be generous with requests that are not game-breaking.
 * Travis Willingham admitted that he did not come to their character creation meeting with ideas and builds as instructed, and he instead built off what the others had pitched. As everyone else had magic, he decided to play a martial class and asked Brennan for a suggestion of a subclass that would make a good investigator to keep mages in check. Brennan suggested an Inquisitive rogue. Travis typically builds characters around an item. Fjord in Campaign 2 was built around a pair of bracers. Cerrit was built around a pair of tomahawks used in the Sayoc Hawk system of Arnis, which in turn led to Cerrit being visually based on a Philippine eagle. The group agreed that Cerrit being a non-magic user balanced the group out. Travis said that he felt "out of it" in, which he admitted was probably "perfect" for the group dynamic, because the others were talking about magic and the city and he sensed a rapport among some of the others.