Those Small but Important Rules

[mephnick]

Eagles are Int 2, so no idea how that's happening.

Otoh in the few Critical Roles I suffered through to see what the sadly misplaced hype was all about, they don't actually play D&D. They play funny voices, with some making up of rules on the spot when needed. So maybe that's what was going on.

Yeah I cringe when it's held up as some standard of D&D that we're all meant to achieve.

I'm not sure Matt Mercer even knows what D&D is, but everyone sure likes him.

[alchahest]

He knows just fine. He's just not a stickler to the rules where they would be less entertaining in a long form collaborative storytelling environment. Kind of like how some DMs will adjust the grappler feat so that it doesn't have a dead bulletpoint, he'll adjust rules to make things more entertaining for the viewers.

Regardless of how closely he follows the rules, he very much gets the spirit of the game and communicates it to a broad audience, which has helped boost the hobby a lot. 5E is the edition of "Ask your DM" so the fact that he takes the DM aegis and runs with it shouldn't a: be a surprise or b: be seen as negative.

edit - it's not a standard to be held to, it's just another example of a DM using house rules to best fit the game he's running.

[Tanarii]

Yeah I cringe when it's held up as some standard of D&D that we're all meant to achieve.

The main thing is he runs a boring game. I mean, you can see he is boring his own players! They constantly lose focus and tune out.

I'm not sure Matt Mercer even knows what D&D is, but everyone sure likes him.

Oh, I'm fairly sure he does. I just don't think he cares. He clearly has other priorities. That's fine and dandy and all. But at a certain point, you can't be claiming to play a game system any more.

And he seems like a likable guy. Even if he's inadvertently teaching a generation of DMs to run boring games.

[Astofel]

The main thing is he runs a boring game. I mean, you can see he is boring his own players! They constantly lose focus and tune out.

Oh, I'm fairly sure he does. I just don't think he cares. He clearly has other priorities. That's fine and dandy and all. But at a certain point, you can't be claiming to play a game system any more.

And he seems like a likable guy. Even if he's inadvertently teaching a generation of DMs to run boring games.

Boring by your standards, perhaps. Anyway, imo the boring parts of Critical Role aren't really Mercer's fault. He presents an interesting situation, then leaves the players to deal with it as they wish. What happens then is that several of the players start to talk themselves in circles, getting nowhere, while the players who already decided what they want to do have to sit around and wait for the rest of the group to eventually get where they're going. That, and certain players have a tendency to Angst too long, too hard, too often. On the whole I think it's an enjoyable watch though.

Anyway, on-topic: the incapacitated condition does not give auto-crits, only paralyzed and unconscious do that. A couple of my players have gotten that mixed up, and hoo boy monks would be overpowered if they were right.

[Saggo]

Oh, I'm fairly sure he does. I just don't think he cares. He clearly has other priorities. That's fine and dandy and all. But at a certain point, you can't be claiming to play a game system any more.

Bold statement. What exactly makes you say you don't think they're playing 5e?

[Vaz]

Eagles are Int 2, so no idea how that's happening.

Otoh in the few Critical Roles I suffered through to see what the sadly misplaced hype was all about, they don't actually play D&D. They play funny voices, with some making up of rules on the spot when needed. So maybe that's what was going on.

I mean, I seem to remember you having a go at me for playing RAW only, so I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at.

Back to the gatekeepers with you.