In this installment of Critical Hit – A Major Spoilers Podcast: How did Oversight come to be? It’s story time on this week’s episode.
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38 Comments
OMG! A gold star for SimonSimonForYou for calling it right last week! ALL my theories were way off, but that’s okay. I really enjoyed the story. Then again, for all the answers it provided, I have a million more questions!
For example, when the Aasimar were looking for sentient life on other vertices to mingle with, why didn’t they run into Bahamut, Corellon, Asmodeus, etc. I can only presume that their travels predated even those gods?
When TQRD said that the Aasimar stripped away everything and cast it into the void and became the Deva, I was wondering if she meant the Void with a capital V? Probably just a coincidental word choice, but I thought it would have been interesting if what they stripped off of themselves evolved into the Void gods themselves.
Also, the pre-show ad got me very psyched for Volo’s Guide to Monsters. I don’t use Role-20, but I’m looking forward to getting the book, which I preordered using the Major Spoilers Amazon link!
I had the same reaction to the mention of the Void. But I also tend to think that just as the other vertices have their own versions of the Feywild (hence Orem’s weird transformation), they have their own gods, and this vertex’s pantheon isn’t every vertex’s pantheon, and this vertex’s moon isn’t every world’s moon.
Besides, my understanding of D&D gods is that they reflect and define aspects of the world, like civilization, greed, or tyranny. I would think you’d need for those things to exist before you can have those gods in place, so you’d need some form of thinking being to exist for the gods to come into being. If Asmodeus existed before any intelligent mortal life on the material plane, he’d have to create some to crush beneath his iron heel, and he clearly didn’t. Given this cosmology, the gods may have come into being as part of the process of the devas downloading life onto all worlds, but I don’t think there’s any reason to believe the gods were always there, just impatiently waiting for someone else to create a world for them to watch over.
Am I forgetting something from the cross-planar travels that would imply the same gods exist in other vertices?
I totally understand what you are saying about the gods, because that makes a LOT of sense, but I always assumed the gods in this fantasy world came first because they not only seemed to be around before space and time was defined, so I thought the predated humanoid civilizations and perhaps even created them?. Gods manifesting from the minds or souls of sentient people or elevated versions of them is intriguing too. In a way, I’m actually okay with this being a bit of a mystery, as religion should be. I do want an update on the Astral Sea soon though.If the gods of The Bloom are so powerful and intelligent, they HAVE to have some idea that this is going on, no?
Yeah, I’m just spitballing here, certainly. I’m eager to see whether the podcast eventually reveals Rodrigo’s opinion about all this. If nothing else, Asmodeus has a spy in the party, and if he didn’t know about all this before, he may now. If it’s true that the Coil’s big weakness is a lack of vision, that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case for him, so I wonder how this will affect his plans for the future.
Okay, the secret pre-history of the universe was fascinating and all, and I’m going to have to come back to this episode again because it’s SO dense with information and world-shaking reveals.
But at the moment, what’s sticking with me more than anything is Orem leading the party in a sardonic round of applause for Sekhar. A++++ sarcasm!
You know I was fully expecting a total no sell on Sekhars reveal.
“I am half-Vampire”
-Sparkle- ” OH SO THAT’S WHAT IT WAS! I knew it was something like that”
Randus – “Yeah I’ve worked with your blood for years so I kind of figured that out a while ago.”
Ket – ” I can see souls so yeah, I knew the second we met.”
Orem- “None of you said anything?”
“Didn’t seem relevant I guess….
Hehe. Loved that.
I would have loved that to happen. XD
I was really looking forward to storytime, and I really, really loved it. Such a cool way to give the universe an origin story, without actually doing it.
The universe just got a step deeper, without losing it’s mystery. Brilliant writing. So good.
Congratulations for solving one of those mysteries!
The Critical Hit multiverse has become so deep and mysterious that I feel like I can’t get enough of it now. Now I want to know as much about every corner of it that I can. I admit I’m becoming rather obsessed. The idea that there’s something big going on in the Western Continent that we haven’t even seen yet is so intriguing. Also, I could swear there was a mention of the Northern Continent.
The best part of the world building is that we get to go along for the ride. While Rodrigo comes up with the base, the players are contributing heavily to it is a wonderful creative process. I feel like this fictional universe is so rich that it’s on par with the Star Wars and Game of Thrones universes. If you knew how obsessed I am about those two franchises, you’d know that is high praise.
We need to petition for Rodrigo and the crew to create a book when this whole thing is over, although I don’t want it to end!
What was the “evil” race called? It heard it almost like they were Rakshasa? Which is my favorite monster from D&D!
Sounded like “rakshasi,” the female form of rakshasa. “Rakshasa” means “demon” in Sanskrit, and they’re kind of the big bads of Hindu mythology, but there were heroic ones as well. Like so many things in Hindu myth, they had a lot of forms and faces, and could represent a lot of things. But in Buddhist philosophy, they’re change agents, doing evil to create challenges that help define and purify those on the path to enlightenment.
Did you see the Pixar animated short “Sanjay’s Super Team”? The many-headed demon in that is specifically a rakshasa.
All of which is to say that they’re a really cool foundation for an epic myth about the creation of Critical Hit’s multiverse.
It’s Rakshasi. And Rakshasa are the enemies of the Daeva in 4th Ed lore :)
YES!
QRD: “In just under a century, they had gone from bronze to steel to mithril to puritron mesh — you guys will get there eventually.”
Randus: “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.”
He *did* tell his assistant to take notes…
Per Sam’s comment…from D&D4 Wiki:
Deva is a player character race in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons[PH2:8], known in other editions as Aasimar.
In appearance, devas are very similar to humans, but with an unearthly beauty and uncanny stillness about them. They are almost as tall as dragonborn, but much more slender.
Statistics
Average Height: 6´ 1˝–6´ 6˝
Average Weight: 175–280 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom, and either +2 Intelligence or +2 Charisma[Dr397:2]
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common, choice of two others
Skill Bonuses: +2 History, +2 Religion
Special
Astral Majesty: You have a +1 bonus to all defenses against attacks made by bloodied creatures.
Astral Resistance: You have a resistance to necrotic damage and radiant damage equal to 5 + one-half your level.
Immortal Origin: Your spirit is native to the Astral Sea, so you are considered an immortal creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.
Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes: You can use memory of a thousand lifetimes as an encounter power.
Favored classes
Avenger
Cleric
Invoker
Wizard
Psion
Race specific feats
Astral Renewal (11th level): When Astral Resistance reduces damage, get +2 bonus to next attack roll.
See alsoEdit
Dragon Magazine 374, Ecology of the Deva, page 41.
Okay, so if the Rakshasi is the ancient enemy here, I’m calling somebody we’ve met earlier have been in disguise either through the whole story.
I’m calling Little Sparkle’s friend or Orem.
And can we also talk about how amazing it is that what the Aasimar put into their mega monoliths was kind of all of the D&D 4th edition books?
It’s like Rodrigo brilliantly made the whole universe fit the system. It’s kind of abstract, but I really feel like there’s a connection.
After the worlds were ended, the different vertexes now form a d20, the basis of every outcome of almost every choice in D&D. Or at least a substantial part of d&d.
I have been using roll20 for a little over 4 years now. I have used it to play DnD 5th edition, Shadowrun, Pathfinder, and now I am running a game using the new Star Wars system.
I really enjoy roll20 as a platform, it is flexible enough to support both theater of the mind as well as in-depth battle maps.
When Orem is asking everyone if they have anything they can put on the table…no one looks to ket? I mean, Asmodeus? I realize you don’t want to owe Asmodeus a favor but it is an option.
I was thinking that too, like no one thinks to use this while thing as a moment to leverage a little info out of Ket? Cmon guys
Giving the God of Tyranny and inside track to the megalith seems like a bad idea. I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own at some point, but even Ket must realize getting him involved is scarier than the Coil, especially since he’s probably powerful enough to actually use the megalith for his evil purposes without destroying all the vertices?
I hope they ask QRB if she ever found out what happened to the drow.
That is a great point!
I use roll20 every Monday night for a dnd 5e campaign. I looked locally through game shops and meetup groups online for a few months with no luck. After a couple weeks of looking for games on roll20, I found one. It’s been going strong once a week for 3-4 hours for the last 2 months.
Alright peoples. I just listened to episode 5, “In The Streets of Moonhold”. Just listen to the first three minutes.
Either it’s a coincidence, or Rodrigo is a genius.
Always bet on Rodrigo being a secret genius…
I felt like the whole rescue of Lek went way too fast, so after it went the way it went and the QRB and everything: He is a genius.
You also actually mention at some point in the episode or the one after that you want to be a cobra.
I’m writing that down as a coincidence.
Well, the cobra theme has been pretty consistent for me since about 1998 or so…
I was trying to make a funny. It was actually pretty funny to listen to the inception of Torq while being pretty familiar with Sekhar, who has turned out to really be an interesting character.
Ha, nice catch. As evidence for Rodrigo’s pre-planning stretches further and further back through the history of Critical Hit, I expect to eventually hear that he’d dropped clues about where this story was going back in the unrelated games he ran in college. Possibly even earlier. Anyone checked with his family to see whether his first word was “aasimar”?
I’m pretty sure he came out of the womb with the words “Any dang way…”
That or “I see.”
*coughXel’nagacough* XD
I’m listening to this episode for the first time, and I must say that I find it hilarious how much Sekhar’s coming out about being a vampire kinda sounds like someone coming out about being gay or something. “In all the ways that matter, I’m no different than any of you.” “Random people do not taste– well, some… NOT IMPORTANT!” “I came close to telling you, but…” “I wasn’t sure how Warden du Thane would respond.” “I knew it was a mistake to tell you! But I do feel better about it now.” “I didn’t choose to be a were-rat.”
I normally wouldn’t leave a comment on an old episode, but being gay myself, this touches close to home, and I just love that I could laugh about this whole scene. So thank you guys for this. XD
This is the best thing I’ve read all week. Thank you for sharing!
OK, I know I’m a SERIOUSLY far out future person, but I just wanted to say that I loved this episode. I listened to it twice just trying to make certain I didn’t miss out on any of Rodrigo’s world building and foreshadowing.