Hi! It’s Annie!
I started watching campaign three when it first started airing, but quickly fell off because of things getting busy in my life. I couldn’t always watch the four hours every week; but more and more has encouraged me to actually catch up and start again with this campaign. Of course, one of those reasons is absolutely the amazing Robbie Daymond. He’s been one of my favorite voice actors for a while (I fell in love with his work after he voiced Prompto in ‘Final Fantasy XV’), and I was ecstatic when I realized that he was bringing Dorian to campaign three. I loved watching him in Exandria Unlimited and thought he would be a perfect addition to the regular group. On top of that, the campaign began to blow up all over the internet for several reasons and I haven’t seen all of the actors in ‘Critical Role’ this happy with their characters and character dynamics in a while. Everything about this campaign seems to be just clicking for everyone. Including the closer connections to campaign one. So I’m going to talk about each of the characters and the differences and similarities from past campaigns that made these characters just click! LIGHT SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN THREE AHEAD!!!
Robbie Daymond as Dorian Storm:
I’m going to start with Dorian since this is Robbie’s first full campaign with ‘Critical Role’. Dorian Storm is an air genasi bard that comes from a rich family and, despite his love of performance, actually suffers from stage fright and social anxiety. This dichotomy makes him one of the most interesting characters as well as one of the most hilarious characters. Robbie is excellent at reactions! When anything happens or another character says something weird, I always look at Dorian for his reaction because you can rest assured that it will probably be hilarious. Dorian is also extremely charming despite his anxiety, meaning that he attracts more people than he would like to. Because of how open Robbie has been about portraying Dorian with anxiety, he received instant recognition for being an incredibly relatable character. Robbie knows how to be likable and make any character kind of adorable; Dorian Storm is no exception. Even though Dorian is only in fourteen episodes, he made a massive impact. All of us are already anxious for him to come back and hopeful that he may eventually. And Robbie officially is the longest guest appearance on ‘Critical Role!
Travis Willingham as Chetney Pock O’Pea:
So we all know that Travis had a hell of a time being the absolutely chaotic Grog; something that he hasn’t quite tried to recapture since. Fjord was the exact opposite of that. A lot of the players for campaign two decided to try out something very different from what they had been with for so long, which makes sense! Fjord was more of a leader type character who dealt mostly in strategy. On top of that, Fjord ended up in a romance thanks to the persistence of one Laura Bailey, that made it so that Fjord was so completely different from Grog that it was almost an unrecognizable change. This time, Travis seems to be wanting to get back to the non-romantic chaos that he missed. Shocking everyone, Travis decided to play a gnomish blood hunter who is very very old. He effectively has removed himself from a potential romance and made himself chaotic in a different way that’s just as endearing. It seems that Travis is having a hell of a time playing this character and he seems content to be going a bit crazy again.
Marisha Ray as Laudna:
Marisha was fairly newer to D&D than many of the others when she first started out as Keyleth and, to make up for that, created a character that felt just as nervous and insecure as she did. Keyleth was an amazing character, but towards the end of the first campaign it really did feel like Marisha was eager to break out of the Keyleth shell and try something else. Beau seemed to be right up her alley, but she quickly found playing a monk very frustrating. My sister has played a monk before and liked the experience about equally to what Marisha seemed to. It’s not a very hard hitting class when you look at it. Marisha seems to have hit her stride with Laudna. And this is even more clear now that Marisha’s talked about her persistence with Laudna in more detail. Laudna is an unknown humanoid creature that’s probably an undead and a warlock. Though she is very sweet, her mannerisms and way of talking just come off as very creepy. She’s very unsettling in the most hilarious of ways and has an incredibly protective streak. She’s become a fan favorite in not much time and, after Marisha received so much undeserved hate for Keyleth, I’m so glad that Marisha is finally getting the recognition she deserves.
Liam O’ Brien as Orym of the Air Ashari:
Liam has tried several different types of characters and has seemed very happy in whatever he plays. Vax was a more roguish character who was far less social and definitely more edgy. But as Liam comes up with more characters, it’s starting to seem like he really loves the wholesome aesthetics. Caleb had an extremely tragic backstory, but was a very kind, introverted, and wholesome caretaker of his group. Orym seems to be similar in that regard. Liam likes to be a good caretaker of his group and he does it very well! Orym is a halfling fighter from the Air Ashari, meaning that he is apart of the same group that’s currently under Keyleth. Orym was also in Exandria Unlimited and was a part of one of my favorite comedic scenes when he pretended to be the child of another character. Orym is probably one of the most wholesome characters I’ve seen and that’s coming from having already seen the super sweet Caleb. He’s just there for everyone else with his short sword and shield. One of the most loyal and the most unfathomably kind members of the group. This is right in what Liam seems to be loving playing lately and I highly appreciate it!
Laura Bailey as Imogen Temult:
Laura has been known for her characters with dramatic and entertaining personalities and they have all been very different. She seems to have enjoyed each character equally with Vex being a smooth talking badass and a fan favorite while Jester was the adorably sweet and sometimes crude absolute fan favorite of campaign two. Jester was absolutely the most popular character of the second campaign and also the common crush of almost all of the party. It was hard for anyone to resist Jester. Now Laura is trying out something completely different with the more reserved and almost geeky-intelligent Imogen. She’s interesting from the get-go because of her telepathy, but she’s also been more and more interesting as a pure heart and the seeming emerging leader. Imogen is a human sorcerer with an adorable southern accent and rapidly increasing powers that remind me a little of the Scarlet Witch. Either way, this is going to prove to be really interesting. Especially because she seems to be the current moral center of the group.
Sam Riegel as Fresh Cut Grass:
Sam always goes for the comedy in whatever role he plays. In his first campaign he went for the traditional promiscuous bard, and we can all agree that his songs are hilarious and better than most. He’s so great at improvisation! Sam admitted to getting a little tired of Scanlan for a while and even played as a different character before eventually bringing Scanlan back. Sam made Nott, a goblin woman, for the second campaign. The scratchy voice became tiring for him to do really quickly, but it was hilarious every time. This is one of my favorite Sam characters. FCG is a Aeormaton Cleric that mainly deals in empathy. They are another moral center of the group that is hilarious in their adorable innocence. They eat copper, store liquid, and even have another secret side that we’ve only recently figured out about. But otherwise, FCG is just a hilarious as all of Sam’s characters have been and Sam seems to be having just as much of a blast with this one. We all must protect FCG.
Ashley Johnson as Fearne Calloway:
This is the first campaign where Ashley has been able to be here all the time and we’re all loving it. We’ve already seen so much of her as both Pike and Yasha, but I can never get enough of Ashley. Pike was so sweet and such a comfort whenever she came in and her friendship with Grog was nothing short of adorable. Ashely expressed that she had some issues with Yasha going in because she loved Pike and had played her for so long. Yasha was a lot more reserved and Ashley couldn’t completely connect to that, which I understand. I’ve done that to myself before in my own games. I have never seen Ashley have so much fun as she seems to be having playing Fearne. Fearne is a faun druid, making our ladies in this campaign an amazing witchy trio. I love it so much! Fearne is one of the least moral of the group as she has no problem stealing or killing and often does things out of selfishness. She seems sweet on the outside but she will often say something rather startling and she is now known as the epitome of chaos. She’s one of the fan favorites in this campaign for a reason and balancing all that with a character who can still be sweet is an impressive feat!
Taliesin Jaffe as Ashton Greymoore:
Taliesin has always been masterful when creating his characters. Taliesin probably had the fan favorite of the first campaign with Percy, who everyone loved off the bat. A slightly selfish character who was also unapologetically intelligent and very cool under pressure. He barely got any time to play Mollymauk, a character that he had in the works for a long long time. But Caduceus seemed to fit him and was kind of like comfort within a character. Though the character of Ashton seems to make it clear that we got too little time with Molly. Though Ashton is different, he also has a similar charisma to him though he is a lot more people adverse. But just like Molly, Ashton is so much fun. They are a barbarian that keeps their distance at the same time they get easily attached to new people in their lives. And I absolutely love the stealing friendship between Fearne and Ashton as well as the way that Ashton looks out for FCG. Another warm and charismatic character that can be slimy sometimes, and I’m so glad to see a character like this again. I love them!
It’s interesting how this group of characters really feels like the knowledgeable experience of the group. It feels like they all know what they like now and are having so much fun together playing that out. And the characters seemed to fit perfectly together from the very beginning. It’s such a cute group from the get go and definitely one of my favorite groups to follow from any D&D show ever. Though I think Campaign Two still holds a very special place in my heart. Seriously, go check out this campaign already if you haven’t. Every character is so much fun!
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 