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 (it was the first time Sam has multiclassed). 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, considering she had the orb-storage of the ultimate amount of knowledge and could just "Google it", 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 Kali 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.
 * The cast then talked about how Cerrit's role scared Aabria, Marisha, and Lou, who had separately and privately met to discuss what they'd been doing in service to the Astral Leywright.

What did you guys (Aabria, Marisha, and Lou) discuss?

 * They mostly discussed how nasty and corrupt their characters were! They specifically covered how long their plotting had been going on, what they'd collaborated on, and how they'd been doing so.
 * Brennan explained the breakdown of where the magical energy was supposed to go in the city and asked them whether or not that was truly happening, and they immediately said they were using that energy for other means. He threw out suggestions for how it might be used, including life-extension for one of the magisters.
 * This led to development of Patia as someone in a role that was usually not seen as important, but in the right hands could become incredibly influential, which in turn brought the "space-race" goal into focus. Aabria jokes that then nothing ever bad came of that.
 * Brennan notes that, as he'd said on the Twitter Spaces chat, "not everyone gets the same amount of presents" - some of the Ring of Brass were more involved in intrigue and corruption than others. Luis was, for example, more focused on Zerxus's nightmares about Betrayer Gods.
 * Going back to character inspiration, since they digressed before Luis's turn: Originally he considered playing a cleric, but then decided on being an Oath of Redemption paladin "to the extreme". He wanted to draw parallels through Zerxus's idea of the Betrayer Gods and his own isolation and unwanted obligation, as he had never wanted to be First Knight; Zerxus imagined the Betrayer Gods to be in a similar situation. Zerxus would have told Nydas more had he caught up to him earlier after the two left the Palazzo Por'co, but ended up mostly keeping the story to himself. He also would have spoken to Nydas after his first encounter with Asmodeus at the Hall of Prophecy, but Brennan deliberately used the distraction of Akami Rowe's murder to prevent it. Luis still might have had Zerxus reveal it during the Zone of Truth scene, but Nydas gave a speech defending Laerryn and Loquatius resisting the spell, so Zerxus held off.
 * Brennan felt, from the character building, that he and Luis have a lot of the same feelings about narrative and character, and that the two communicated a lot about how Zerxus was feeling. Brennan also notes that making paladins Charisma-based in 5e was a excellent choice because the class is about conviction, which can be very dangerous - but interesting - when untempered by wisdom, as seen in Zerxus's choices. Luis agrees that he specifically wanted Zerxus's belief in redemption to be extreme to the point of toxicity, even though it was also rooted in a profound optimism.
 * Marisha said while their motivations were very different, much like Zerxus, the three members of the Ring of Brass who had been plotting regarding the Astral Leywright similarly felt their actions were all justified in service of a greater cause. 'Evil' isn't terribly interesting on its own, but doing terrible things for a cause one believes is for the greater good is.
 * In contrast to that, while Sam played Loquatius as someone who frequently lied, the underlying secret was that he was lying to himself about how he felt about Laerryn, and that he actually didn't want to be lying in the first place. He wanted to be a truthful independent reporter, originally, but ended up as Herald of Avalir.
 * The cast jokes that Cerrit had no flaws, but Travis says he was an absent father and husband, and he happened to be caught on a good day in the series. Wrayne and Cerrit were recently separated because he wasn't paying any attention to her and their family. Travis wanted to explore his own fears, as a busy father and husband himself. Because of the story's premise, he also wanted to ask the question of what one might do given a last chance/one more day to make things right.
 * Brennan says that Cerrit was pitched as Jor-El, as someone who helps their children escape the apocalyptic event, as well as being someone who can investigate Vespin Chloras. This, like Luis's pitching of Zerxus as interested in the Betrayer Gods, was very helpful to Brennan as a DM. He also likes that Cerrit's flaws were not corruption, since everyone other than Zerxus was involved in shady dealings (whether that be the work on the Leywright, or Loquatius's influence of the elections). However, the fact that Cerrit's attentions were not on the Ring of Brass mattered just as much as all the corruption.
 * Aabria expected Cerrit to eventually come after Laerryn, but he didn't do so in a way where retaliation made sense.

===@The_Katie_M on Twitter: Travis and Luis, what inspired your decisions to make characters who had children despite knowing that you were telling an apocalyptic story? Did you think the fact that your characters were both dads affected your gameplay and caused you to make different decisions to the other characters?===


 * Everyone found the children's presence in an apocalyptic story very emotionally stressful.
 * Travis felt that because the series was taking place in a city, naturally people would have families and children, and he felt it was an important part of that story to tell. As mentioned before, he was inspired by the story of Jor-El, who helped his son escape a catastrophe, and the idea of someone who is both sworn to protect the city, but who also has a family to take care of; as well as his own experiences as the father of a young child. He thought it would be interesting to put a character in that situation of being forced to choose between the city and his children.
 * Luis does not have children, but he does have nieces and nephews as well as many friends with kids and he wanted to see how he would act playing a character with a child. He also specifically wanted to parallel Zerxus's idea of the Betrayer Gods as parents, but not by blood, with Zerxus himself being an adoptive parent. He also felt the fact that he was a distant parent and Elias was living with Nydas's family was part of this parallel.
 * Lou didn't want Nydas to have children, but he was involved in the backstory of Eaedalus Okiro being Elias's guardian to show how close they had all been growing up.
 * Sam and Aabria discussed if Loquatius and Laerryn would have children, but decided against it because bitter exes without children are funny but bitter exes with children are depressing. However, Luis and Aabria discussed the possibility of Laerryn being Elias's mother. It could have come up if the possibility of Elias being orphaned was discussed, but it never did.
 * Brennan really likes the impact of the backstory on the story, even with the things that didn't come up during the actual campaign, an example being that Zerxus came to Avalir with Evandrin, an Eldritch Knight and First Knight, to investigate his own paladin and oracular abilities, and then when Evandrin died, the city pressured Zerxus to become First Knight because there were no other good candidates. As a result, leaving Elias behind in Cathmoíra was not entirely Zerxus's choice.
 * Brennan also enjoyed playing Maya, Kir, and Elias because orphans are common in D&D and fantasy because it gives them a reason to be wanderers, but in a tragedy, it is important that the PCs have something to lose. He also feels that certain facets of the characters are only revealed when they are with their family, so having that allows the players to show that complexity. Even the relationships that were less at the forefront (Nydas and Eadaelus) or were historical (Patia and Imyr Por'co) help flesh out the person and the world.

Nydas was a pirate who became the key to Avalir's resources. Does he feel as though his dreams were realized even though the city fell?

 * Lou based Nydas in part on the depictions of John Hammond in both the book and film adaptation of Jurassic Park: his goal was both to make the city great, but also to force their rivals to acknowledge its greatness, and the specifics of planar travel bear less importance in comparison to the impression of arcane prowess it radiated. However, when the Tree of Names was on the line, Nydas realized that the thing worth preserving was Avalir itself as a group of people.
 * Luis asks Lou when Nydas realized the impact of his actions and had that "mirror moment", and Lou says it was when Laerryn started casting Blight on the tree and he realized that the prophecy might be true and that he had been hastening it.
 * Brennan asks how it felt for Nydas to become the moral center of the party for that moment, and his shift into a heroic character after that. Lou responds that it happened very slowly, since Aabria initially said that she started to cast Blight but not that she had, so Nydas not only realized the prophecy was true and that he'd helped bring about the fall, but also that he could no longer stop it.
 * Brennan loves this, and also likes how Nydas is, unlike Laerryn and Patia, not an elf, and not originally from a flying city, and is much more pragmatic and aware of consequences. Aabria and Marisha agree.
 * Brennan also liked how Cerrit had left before this. The cast agrees: had Cerrit been there, it would have been a very different fight. Sam asks Travis who he'd have gone after, and Travis says the wizards first, then Zerxus. He also says that while his initial decision was purely an RP choice to save Maya and Kir, he also, before the fight broke out, thought "I'm going to let them fuck each other up first".

===From Andrea: Was Laerryn's urgency to get the Astral Leywright done before the next apogee solstice only so that she could fix or focus on her relationship with Loquatius before he was gone? Or was there something she was hoping to do on other planes she was working towards that involved him as well?===
 * It was both because she realized that this was her best chance to do so, given the information that Calum Staffwright gave her about the leylines, and to fix on her relationship with Loquatius, because she did still have feelings for him. She didn't want to specifically send him to the Feywild; it was more that she felt it could be something they could do together after both the Leywright and her relationship were in the right condition.
 * Sam points out that this was a common thread: many of the characters seemed to feel that once one big project was done, they would be all finished and could focus on everything else. Aabria agrees, and says that it's a great way to enhance the tragedy since the audience knows the characters will probably not finish those projects, or survive.

How much of Laerryn and Loquatius's relationship was planned?

 * Sam finds his conversation with Aabria about Laerryn and Loquatius. Originally, Laerryn's name was going to be Lorwyn and Loquatius's last name was going to be "Hambrick-Zucker". However, Sam immediately changed it to Seelie, referencing Aabria's mention of Elmenore in Exandria Unlimited.
 * The two of them figured out the timeline of their marriage and why they had gotten divorced; Aabria, fresh off the meeting about the Leywright, was leaning into being the antagonist. However, she found she actually became very emotional during the series - originally, the two of them knew they'd be snide towards each other but little else. Sam had also discussed Loquatius's character development with Brennan, hoping that Loquatius would stop lying to himself as much over the course of the series.
 * Brennan was probably the most hands-off on Laerryn and Loquatius's relationship, but he did work with Sam a lot on the story of Elena Tuvaris and how covering up her research into Evandrin's disappearance is what first set Loquatius down the path of being a propagandist rather than an honest journalist.
 * Everyone asks Sam about the speech he gave in and whether the emotion was genuine. It was - Sam was deeply affected by the game, and fell in love with Laerryn over the course of the series. Marisha brings up that Sam has always been focused on bringing in backstory and previously mentioned plot points.
 * Brennan believes the juxtaposition of Loquatius making the decision to stay with the city as it falls and giving a heartwrenching, honest speech, followed by the advertisement for the Market of Wonders, is a perfect joke.
 * Back to the relationship: Aabria's proudest TTRPG choice is saying yes when Sam asked who wanted to be his character's ex. Everyone loves how that story played out, with the two ultimately reconciling at the very end.

How does Patia feel about the deal her grandfather struck with the Gau Drashari? What are Patia's opinions about her grandfather and her family name?

 * Marisha wanted to make her a Kennedy of Avalir, essentially — someone tied to political service in Avalir. Laura's original concept was a politically connected wizard, and while it was initially not Marisha's usual style, she was excited by the opportunity to play a powerful character rather than a scrappy upstart.
 * Marisha, when working on Patia's backstory, didn't develop her parental relationship. Brennan realized, as Patia went to her grandfather's statue as the city was falling, and after she had told Laerryn she was her best friend, how isolated Patia was compared to the other characters, who had connections and families. She had given up most relationships in service to the city. Brennan's assumption then was that because Patia's legacy was so important, yet her parents were nonentities, and because she was so familiar with memory modification, either she or Imyr had modified her memory of them after they had failed in some way.

(To Brennan) What was it like unraveling the Gau Drashari for the first time? Was Matt consulted?

 * Brennan's process of why the Betrayer Gods chose Avalir as a site to attack began with the idea of the primordials, and from there he came up with the idea of an order of druids. Matt came up with the name "Gau Drashari" and pointed out the thematic connection to the Ashari.
 * The process behind the creation of the series was an intense cooperation between Matt and Brennan. The Tree of Names came about because Brennan had a loose idea of an additional barrier against the Betrayer Gods, placed by the druids in Avalir, which had been forgotten by the wizards. The rest was fleshed out by Matt.
 * In a tangent, Sam mentions that his D&D experiences is either full campaigns, or one-shots, so it was interesting to see how Brennan planned out and helped them with character creation for a short series, and he was impressed. They all compliment Brennan on his work.
 * The choice of Asmodeus as the main Betrayer God in the story was also based in a similar thought process, rooted in the worldbuilding Matt had already done: why would Vespin be the right hand of Asmodeus specifically if he'd released everyone? Vespin Chloras is interesting specifically because he's representative of the Age of Arcanum mindset, but he's not the only person culpable in the Calamity; it's just that Avalir's destruction was so total, whereas Vasselheim had enough survivors aware of Vespin's involvement to spread that story, even without the deal Vespin made that his name be remembered.

(To Luis) How did it feel to start with the Lord of the Hells in the very first episode?

 * Travis compliments Luis: Travis had assumed Brennan would start the story with either one of the main Critical Role cast, who were already used to the setup; or with Aabria or Lou, for whom Brennan has DM-ed a number of times. Instead he picked Luis, who had not worked with most of the cast before, and Luis did an excellent job.
 * Luis had actually spoken to Lou, as someone who had worked with Brennan the most, and Lou had told him Brennan usually starts with vignettes for each character, so he was definitely surprised. Luis had also asked that a Betrayer God be somewhere in his story, but had expected this to occur much later, possibly as a final stand.
 * Luis also imagined Zerxus as becoming very close to people very quickly, perhaps to an unhealthy extent; he immediately fell for Evandrin. He had not expected this rapid, "intense" attachment to happen with a Betrayer God in such an intimate way. Luis intended the scene as paternal, but realized after that it could be perceived very differently.
 * The rest of the cast compliments Luis for how he played Zerxus's scenes with Asmodeus. Brennan in particular says that pulling Asmodeus through the destroyed tree made his job much easier.
 * Brennan talks about how he chose to play Asmodeus: the real evil is done by corrupting someone who very much wants to believe in the potential for redemption in everyone, and in letting Zerxus craft the lie himself and just not correcting the misconceptions he had. Most manipulators are very insightful, but don't feel guilt or pain when they hurt others, and he used that to inform his portrayal of Asmodeus.
 * Everyone compliments Brennan for how terrifying and real this made Asmodeus to them. Brennan says that had Zerxus discovered that Asmodeus's injuries were an act, Asmodeus would have said that he appeared that way to make Zerxus like him, because mortals like when people are in pain and hate when people are in power and control. In general, Brennan's process was to make Asmodeus feel as though he was truly justified in his hatred of mortals.

Brennan, did you have any contingency plans, should the end of the world not come about as expected?

 * Yes! Had any of the party raised their concerns to the Septarion, the Septarion would have declared them fugitives.
 * Travis had considered having Cerrit report to his superior, but decided he wouldn't trust them with the Vespin case.
 * Had the party not destroyed the tree, Vespin and the taxmen would have shown up and attacked them at the tree, forcing the damage; had Zerxus not pulled Asmodeus through, Vespin would have brought in more devils and killed Zerxus. A lot of the contingencies were much less elegant than what happened and consisted of NPCs attacking or becoming hostile. Additionally, had Laerryn died before she rerouted the primordials, someone else in the party could have made a very high Arcana check to try and finish her work, and based on the party makeup, that likely would have been Loquatius, which would have been meaningful.
 * Brennan also wants to talk about Cerrit's final roll, which only succeeded because of Nydas's inspiration. Travis agrees - Cerrit had gotten his kids out, killed Vespin, and atoned for his behavior, but whether he would keep his last promise to his family was uncertain, and he only did it because the Ring of Brass made it possible.
 * Travis asks Marisha about the choice to teleport the orb to Maya, and Marisha says that some of the inspiration for Patia was the Library of Alexandria's destruction, and what it would mean if someone had been able to preserve a huge source of knowledge during a catastrophic time.
 * As for whether the orb is still around...that's in Matt's hands now.
 * As an aside, Brennan would love to play Kir or Maya as adults during the Calamity in a one-shot.
 * The final 31 roll Cerrit made bookends Cerrit's 31 investigation check during his introduction in, and there were a number of other meaningful bookends. Laerryn using the Leywright to ultimately save the world, and Zerxus using his power to give Vespin a few last moments of clarity were very important to Brennan to help counteract the potential message that technology or faith in redemption is bad, and instead provide a more nuanced perspective of Laerryn and Zerxus using those same powers and beliefs for good.

Brennan, is Bolo okay? What happened to Bolo from Aeor?

 * Bolo was entirely improvised from everyone - Aabria asked Sam if Loquatius would have a plus one, Sam came up with the name Bolo, and it went from there. Now Matt needs to use Slavic accents for Aeorians.
 * Bolo's future is uncertain, but perhaps she teleported out; perhaps she was a spy who stole some of Laerryn's work and brought it back, ultimately leading to Aeor's destruction; or perhaps she was a dragon who had taken on a human form, and flew away when the city fell.
 * Travis was so shocked by Bolo that Cerrit did not use Unerring Eye, so she could indeed be a dragon.

Closing

 * Marisha wants to shout out Kyle Shire for all of his production work; he oversaw such great details as the marble overlay becoming cracked over the course of the series.
 * Everyone still has more questions! Did Patia's parents know the Raven Queen? More about Bolo!

Quotations
Brennan: All I'm saying is everyone loves it when Matt says two-thirds of Exandria is gone, but when it actually starts to happen and we're making saving throws for an hour of game time...all of a sudden, people got some shit to say.