Hi! It’s Annie!
A while ago when this campaign first started, I gave my original impressions of Brennan Lee Mulligan as the DM and every single player at the table and their corresponding characters. Now we’re over a year into this campaign, which is a pretty insane thing to think about. Each of these characters have swapped tables after finishing all of their initial adventures (for the most part), have new art, and have significantly grown since they started out on their respective journeys. I now want to talk about who my favorite characters have ended up being and what my feelings on all of these characters are now after over a year of knowing them! Also, of course, how the players have grown playing these characters too. Let’s get into it!
SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN 4 SO FAR!!!
DM- Brennan Lee Mulligan
It is very clear, especially as the campaign has gone on, that Brennan is absolutely not Matthew Mercer. I do not say that as bad thing whatsoever! Brennan is incredibly creative and has come up with such an insanely detailed world full of lore that we’ve barely touched on so far despite being over a year into the campaign. Slowly the layers of this world get pulled back to reveal fully new aspects of it that I’m always absolutely amazed by! Brennan also seems to be a fair guide through this world in the way he DMs. While he’s much more ruthless of a DM than Matthew Mercer, he also never forgets to throw his players a helping hand when they desperately need it as they deal with what is essentially a cruel and unfair world. I have almost torn my hair out several times while watching the campaign so far due to sheer anxiety, but I feel like Brennan still makes sure to strike a nice balance. A fair, if not sometimes demonic, judge. And oh my god is he so much fun to watch!
Seekers Table (current):
Thimble- Laura Bailey:
Thimble started out this campaign thirsty for revenge and is now firmly at a place where that’s mostly over. While there are still political opponents of high power to take down; she killed the traitor she considered responsible for Thjiazi’s death. She also now can turn big on a whim and is stronger than the vast majority of the party. While Thimble hasn’t lost her enthusiasm for the cause, she seems to have lost some of her own understanding of herself as her thirst for vengeance has cooled. At this point, she’s expressed several times that she doesn’t quite know who she is anymore. It’s kind of good then that she now has Occtis with her on her adventures. The familiarity of the two characters has done a world of good for both and has kept both more positive than I think they would be otherwise. To the point where some wonder if there might, perhaps, be something more to be seen between these two. Either way, she’s still one of my favorite characters to watch and her current battle with her identity has very much struck a chord with me.
Occtis- Alexander Ward:
Occtis has gained a lot of maturity in a very short amount of time. The last we saw Occtis he still felt very vulnerable and traumatized due to the actions that had happened to him at the very beginning of the campaign. We now have an Occtis that has come a lot closer to accepting the horrors of what happened to him and is now more than willing to use those traumas to his advantage. He also comes off as much wiser than he did before. Recently he’s been kind of a wizard/spellcaster mentor to Demodus Blix and has fully thrown himself into being a strategist on the team. However, he still is very wounded by what happened with his family and the recent option for him to try and take over his House really sent him into a spiral. I really don’t blame him; that likely would have been a death sentence. He still has some growing to do, but he seems much happier with Thimble by his side. I do wonder if eventually he will end up forced to take over House Tachonis.
Julian- Matthew Mercer:
Julian started out this campaign an asshole and he absolutely…is still an asshole. That’s not to say that I don’t like this character! I do genuinely believe that he is one of the most entertaining characters to watch! He’s certainly had some character growth with him being much more open and at least kind of nice at times with his party members. His cocky attitude has slowly devolved into more and more self loathing to the point where I do worry about this character’s mental health more than quite a lot of the other characters. It’s been interesting to see who he’s bonded with and who he’s a bit more ok with agreeing with now as it’s gone on. However, he will still leave people to the dust if it’s the easiest way out and he’s definitely not focused on the least amount of casualties possible when it comes to strategy. He still often has the best strategies, however. We still have a lot of character growth to go from here.
Bolaire- Taliesin Jaffe:
I think Bolaire has certainly shown a change in character from the beginning of the campaign, but I don’t think that it’s because Bolaire has truly changed too much. I think it’s because we kind of initially fell for the mask that the mask was giving us. Bolaire is much more vulnerable and also demented than I really took him for at the beginning. He’s kind of an asshole like Julian and also, like Julian, he’s so much fun to watch! Bolaire started out as a wise yet eccentric strategist. Now we know that he’s a lot less focused on the well being of people as he is on his own comfort and performing a good play. When he disagrees with Julian’s apathy for casualties it’s usually because he feels that Julian isn’t being creative enough rather than the lack of empathy. We’ve also seen that a lot of this seems to come from a true lack of understanding of sentient beings and it seems as though he’s trying to learn more. Overall though, he’s still torturing people.
Kattigan- Robbie Daymond:
With Kattigan we’ve begun to see a lot more sides of him and most of them aren’t as tasteful as what we saw initially at the Soldiers table. Kattigan has shown that his past has made him bitter, though not enough to not move on a little. (Get it, Murray!!!) He’s exhausted and he’s just about done with everyone and possibly the revolution itself. He may still be good at getting a quick party breakfast ready, but he’s also just about ready to kick everyone’s asses. His sense of empathy for people is still there, but it’s also not as compassionate as it once was. He’s become just as likely to laugh in a party member’s face about their emotions as he is to comfort them about it. His direct cynicism that has only grown over time has also amounted into him seemingly caring less about the members of the party and he frequently sets them apart from himself by holding himself in a sort of moral high ground. Now it feels like it’s only a question of when he’s going to snap.
Vaelus- Ashley Johnson:
Vaelus has had some of the most interesting changes so far. This after many people accused Ashley of not talking much and barely playing, which I feel is unfair and I once again feel as though a lot of men are trying to point fingers at the women in ‘Critical Role’ for unfair reasons. Recently, those accusations have been completely smashed as we’ve gotten her entire backstory and the realization that her jaw is made of metal. She also sacrificed her family for the greater good and has still remained one of the kindest characters in the campaign. Vaelus is gentle and would take a bullet for any one of her party members as well as give them advice if they need a shoulder to cry on. She’s become more confident and the face of what true resilience looks like in this campaign. She’s lost it all, but she’s become more compassionate because of it. A truly comforting character to watch!
Schemers Table:
Murray- Marisha Ray:
Murray has also changed a lot. She’s one of the best schemers in the campaign and she’s lost whatever little she had. Like Kattigan, this has resulted in her becoming more cynical and also less empathetic. While Kattigan has felt like he might leave the revolution at any time, Murray has felt more like a general waging war but with a little less mind for the casualties. Murray seems to operate under the assumption that if she’s lost everything, everyone else might as well too. It’s been a truly fascinating transition to watch and she recently kind of learned her lesson from it. What is a general if the general doesn’t stop to care about her troops? It seems like Murray has recently also found her way into some self loathing which seems to be catching within this revolution. They all really need to start taking care of their mental health!
Hal- Liam O’Brien:
While Hal has become more harried over the sessions, he’s also one of the least changed. For good reason! He’s a father with kids he has to look after and an entire group of people under his employ! In fact, I think it’s pretty commendable that he’s remained one of the most stalwart people in the revolution. With many characters becoming more cynical, his optimism is one of the things that I think is keeping the Schemers moving forward. He’s also become even more of a cool head amongst the drama. It’s absolutely helpful to have someone emotionally intelligent on the team. It’s also interesting to continue to see his ongoing family dynamic, especially as his daughters become more restless to join the revolution. I do think because of this we’ll see a crack in his demeanor soon. After all, he arguably has the most to lose.
Azune- Luis Carazo:
Azune has been a soldier up until this point. He takes orders, usually from Murray, and he carries them out at whatever cost to himself. Recently we’ve seen him learn that not every order is worth his life. This was a really recent revelation for him so it’s hard to say where he’ll go from here, but he also might have more than he thought to lose in the city now as well. However, Azune has definitely developed a more human quality to him than he had before, now being self aware of his weaknesses and having more of an ability to stand up for himself as well as others. I definitely foresee him becoming even more of a leader as things go on.
Tyranny-Whitney Moore:
I have, throughout this campaign, had a hard time picking a favorite between Thimble and Tyranny. While I still don’t know if I have an answer, I will at least say that Tyranny is the most interesting to me at the moment. Tyranny went from not believing in herself at all and barely feeling as though she had a personality to being a great protector and much stronger than she knows. Tyranny has always been fun, but Whitney has imbedded her with incredible depth and something to really relate to. Several people (mostly men) have been accusing Tyranny lately of being annoying, but I feel as though she’s made some of the most relatable and human choices of anyone at the table so far. And now Brennan has handed her one of the most interesting roles in the game. She is secretly the reincarnated demon princess of love, essentially. And Tyranny thought she wasn’t royalty for a hot second there. Tyranny now has one of the biggest toolboxes to help the revolution and she’s finally beginning to feel like she’s strong enough to do it. I can’t wait for her to become even more of a badass!
Wick- Sam Riegal:
Wick is the other half of the dynamic that I feel is most interesting at the table so far and, like Tyranny, he’s also had some of the most development. Wick went from yelling “HELP!!!” and feeling very weak to being one of the most cunning schemers at the table and a literal beacon of light for many. His confidence is also growing, even as he’s still confused by his seemingly holy aura that apparently doesn’t have as much to do with his family as he originally thought. Wick might get the award for having changed the most of any other character as I don’t think any of us thought he would be a good schemer when he originally joined the second table. While he’s flubbed in areas certainly, partly because he’s more confident about showing his loyalties, he’s proved that he’s one of the most powerful people at either table. He just needs more time to realize it.
Soldiers Table:
Thaisha- Aabria Iyengar:
While I love Thaisha, we can’t really say how she’s changed. Aabria has taken some well deserved leave and we have yet to see Thaisha at another table. However, we do have confirmation that a full Soldiers table will come back featuring Thaisha and a bunch of guest players. I’m very intrigued!
Dead:
Teor- Travis Willingham:
Unfortunately, we lost Teor at the end of the first Soldiers Table run. While he didn’t say much, he was still a comforting presence and it’s sad to see him go. It hasn’t been confirmed whether or not Travis will be returning to the table as of yet. I love Travis as a player but I do understand that with so many players they might end up just deciding to let the deaths naturally tick the player count down. Brennan has talked about back-up characters so I’m not sure about that though. Maybe we’ll join up with a new Travis character at the Soldiers table when it returns! I do not think that this will be the only death we’ll see from the campaign. I genuinely feel like we still have a few more to go, even though I really really don’t want to see any more character death. Especially when it comes to a few choice characters. Brennan, have mercy!!!
I really love how the characters are changing and how we’re really seeing how they’re reacting to the stress and horrors of war. I think the DM and each player are doing such amazing jobs and I will not tolerate the bullying of anyone at any of these tables. Once again, I’ve noticed that the women at these tables have been seeing a lot of bullying in comparison to the men and I’m really tired of seeing it. I really think certain people in the fandom have to check their prejudice and realize that these people are just having fun and playing their characters as true to them as they possibly can. Everyone’s been doing such an amazing job and I really do think this has been one of the most entertaining campaigns we’ve gotten so far! I can’t wait for more!
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
