[Spoilers C3E121] The Critical Role Divergence

Or Schism, or Calamity, or.. look, Matt and BLeeM already used all the good words for this but regardless of title, the fact is, the whole of C3 has been controversial. Much moreso than any other part of CR ever I'd say, and it just came to a head beacuse of C3 ending, but it's been a boil festering for quite some time.

I think there's a lot of good conversation (and some bad, some I've contributed to) about it, some circular conversations, and there's a lot of conjecture about like.. what is logical to have happen, or what should happen, or what would or will or might happen.

So I'm not gonna discuss that. I'm going to discuss expectations and the role they've played in getting us to this Divergence (before BLeeM shows me up with his work).

Simply put, the world of Exandria has been shown to be highly connected to, influenced by, and overseen by, the gods. Not just in a 'we will save the world when it faces extinction' sort of a way, but a personal 'I am your god and I'm showing you visions and taking your hand and guiding you along a path and forming a personal connection to you'. Losing that would wreck anyone, I think we can all agree? If you put faith into someone, them suddenly being gone.. it would cause a lot of problems for a lot of people, regardless of losing your magic or not. And Bell's Hells did not acknowledge, nor care, nor take responsibility for, their part in forcing the figures people relied on, and were guided by personally, to suddenly disappear. That's A Problem, and one not truly acknowledged or respected by the ending at all.

But BH themselves are not followers of any god, so perhaps you excuse that as 'not my circus, not my monkeys'. That is incredibly narcissistic, but also, I would counter that they deliberately put a high focus on M9 and VM also, who do have followers to the gods, and the likes of Cad and Fjord had literally nothing told to them from the wildmother, and Cad in particular is touted as a great depiction of a cleric.. which again creates dissonance, that C3's party is allowed to do things to C1 and C2's party members that deeply, deeply impact them, only they have no agency.

But the central, core issue at play I feel is what the past showed us, versus what the present time showed us. And to explore that a little more, let's go into the examples:

1. — Pike Trickfoot sees her holy symbol cracked as a result of executing an incapacitated duergar as Sarenrae lessens Pike's connection to her. The consequences for this were narrative, not mechanical, but it was a clear signal: Gods can and will break ties to mortals that do not uphold their values but walk as symbols of their name, as Pike was a known cleric of Sarenrae and when she strayed, she was called out for it. This shows that the gods watch what their faithful do, and judge them for it.

Contrast this with how Asmodeus did not care that Braius failed him, nor did he do anything about his failure, the god who values life and mortals so much less than Sarenrae. You can argue 'well he will get his revenge later' but in reality, Asmodeus could have smited Braius at any time, and that is what he was asking for by essentially trying to cattily pretend to have pulled a misdirection on the Lord of the Hells. More to the point, this is the end of the campaign. You don't wrap up a character story with 'they have something coming to them vaguely unpleasant later on at some undefined and in an unresolved manner', as they literally spent 6 out of 8 hours resolving character stories!! You can afford to resolve Braius' long term story as well!

1. — On that note, let us look at the closest example we have of someone renouncing their god prior to Braius, with Fjord renouncing Uk'otoa, a demigod and his Warlock Patron. This was epic, and it was epic because of the consequences for Fjord's actions: He demanded a demigod give him his power back, and do as he demanded, or he would walk. And the demigod did not blink, as Asmodeus did with Braius, it did not listen to Fjord, as the pantheon did by way of persuasion rolls from Bell's Hells (btw persuasion skill is officially the easiest way to defeat any enemy up to and including gods in CR now, but that's a whole other thread and A Big Problem for Matt to deal with): He rolled a 23 for his intimidation check, and it did not work. There was no bargaining, no cowering, no negotiating from Uk'otoa. There was a Demigod realizing its mortal follower was exceeding their station, and it called his bluff by stripping him of all his power, and leaving him rudderless, confused, and broken.

And holy fuck what a great story that was. What an awesome moment to allow someone to challenge their own patron in that way, and what an amazing retort by Matt to have Uk'otoa be solidified as a stone-cold badass demigod by leaving Fjord in the dust. That scene—that moment that changed the character's trajectory outright—was excellently played, and character changing. If he had been able to keep his power.. what reason would Fjord have had to ever care or listen to Uk'otoa's nightmares, demands, or threats? None at all. He would have never joined the Wildmother, possibly never have became a Paladin at all, because he had no need. He could browbeat his patron to get whatever he wanted, risk-free.

And that is fundamentally the point of dissonance, and the dissatisfaction, so many people have. And I can guarantee it, because I can show you in the past when there was no lasting consequences for character actions, with..

1. — Jester and her Archfey 'diety' pretending to be an avatar of the Moon Weaver at Traveler Con: Again, you see the gods personally involve themselves with those that challenge and toy with them, their name, what they stand for and try to play at having the same 'power' they do. Jester and Artagan fucked around with the Moonweaver, and found out, and that scene was good, but more to the point: The Moonweaver is aware of a mortal and an archfey lying about them, to other mortals, behind the divine gate, and they took that shit personally. they didn't just say 'hey not cool, don't do that silly fey', Sehanine sent an avatar to pluck an Archfey from the world and boot them back to the feywild, no discussion involved.

The action itself is amazing, right? But the reality was somewhat disappointing—and controversial at the time—because Jester saw her patron diety humbled, and nothing changed about her, or him, or their dynamic. They did not grow. The party acknowledged that Jester did not need him, but Jester herself did not change, and that arc was lesser for it—in my opinion, of course! I am sure others enjoyed it fine for what it was, but the lack of growth there, the lack of true change or consequence from what was ostensibly the most important personal character moment in Jester and Artagan's lives, made it ring hollow, and that was undeniably a point of contention in C2 that has become exemplary and, unfortunately, magnified several times over, with C3.

But going back to the original point, the gods have shown they do not fuck around. Sarenrae. Uk'otoa. Sehanine. These (demi)gods saw mortals trying to fuck with them, and they showed them why you do not do that.

.. Only the gods didn't do that, facing the most tangible threat they've ever seen since Aeor. The gods saw the dog Bell's Hell's had leashed, temporarily, and while it is too weak to break free from Imogen, much less to conquer them at present, they cowered and were brow-beaten into listening to.. to people who don't worship them? Who don't respect them, care about them, or pray to them? Who stand for nothing at all themselves, in actuality?

Why? Why would they ever? They hold their believers--via Pike--to high standards for walking with their holy symbols, casting magic in their name. They will power check their followers if they try to intimidate or negotiate with them, as Fjord showed. The will deliver justice to imposter avatars and false worshippers, by sending Artagan back to the feywild. Most importantly, most directly, they did not negotiate with anyone in Aeor about what to do with the god hammer. they didn't care about Cassaday's pleas for mercy for her son. They wanted information, they wanted the weapon's destruction, and they were going to erase anyone they felt like who was involved with it. Even if the weapon killed them--and they were not going to let it do so without a fight--they were going to make damn sure that everyone who was involved in its creation was dead.

Only they.. didn't.. do that, for Bell's Hells, as they were told at near-to-literal-gunpoint that they could depower, or die to their pet predathos they had freed (also why is it that the moonweaver can see Artagan impersonating her on a random island on exandria at the eleventh hour where only a few hundred people are gathered but none of the gods called Imogen's lies out for what they were when they were all fully aware of where Predathos was, and where Bell's Hells were going, and what they were going to do?).

The Gods blinked. Not even just one, or a few, or only the prime deities. All of them. Asmodeus. Tiamat. Vecna. Torog. Bane. Zehir. Gruumsh. Terrifying figures with impossible amounts of power and a willingness to smite anyone who dares step up to them without offering fealty or other things they desire, and because of Predathos.. they were all bowed and humbled? They had no desire to kill that which was promising to kill them if they didn't do as they said? That looked eternity in the eye and tried to lie to its face and tell it that washing away like the tide is more enjoyable than the immortality they were born with?

The risk of failure for not persuading the gods was never said to be a risk to Bell's Hell's themselves. It was simply a risk they didn't agree to the plan. Can you imagine that? Pulling a gun on someone and the risk of failure is only whether they give you their wallet or make you shoot them to take it from them, not whether they fight back against you at all in a power struggle to take you down with them?

Not does it not align with the gods as they have been shown, it doesn't align with the gods as the player's themselves played them in Downfall not but months ago. Sarenrae and the Dawnfather, the most merciful and kindest of them all, did not seek to spare those responsible in the creation of something that could kill them. They were firm even in that punishment. Only.. not, now, suddenly.

Suddenly, the gods are spineless, powerless, toothless, clawless. The total antithesis of everything they've been shown to be before, with no attempt to explain why that is, or why it is so tonally different from Downfall, where they faced nearly the exact same threat.

Consequences ultimately define what is at stake. You can say "there is no resurrection allowed" and "this will be the most lethal campaign ever" but when Otohan is defeated narratively both times in combat with explosions of power from Imogen and FCG because she would have otherwise TPK'd them from dice rolls and Bell's Hell's opting to fight her when they shouldn't have (the first time, notably), and then they immediately get assistance from someone else to revive the one they lost, the stakes are not actually high. the bumpers are up. When the Archmage is a total non-threat to the party after fighting them four times through simulacrums and with exaltant powers, the stakes are not there.

and that, in itself, would be fine, if they simply said, hey, this is a story we're telling, we know the general end state we want to go to, and we're not gonna let it veer from that path, come join us for this ride. Modules are fun to play and watch--The Curse of Strahd will always be a classic--even though you know the general end result. But they didn't say that. They said it would be more lethal. They said this campaign decides the fate of all of exandria and all the gods. But in reality, a follower of Asmodeus got a vaguely threatening growl from the Lord of the Nine Hells after daring to act like he pulled a fast one over on him, and we've seen Asmodeus do far more for far less impudence from a human who thought they could teach a god a lesson.

And I guess it's to say that I think Matt is a great GM, and I think they are all great players, but I think the lack of consequences for the actions they chose--the things they willingly did in spite of all the consequences they were told about--means that the tone of the game has been lessened, the stakes have never been lower, and unfortunately.. I think it's hard to believe we will ever see the likes of what we saw Fjord go through ever again. And for some, that won't matter at all. they don't care if there's no real threat of consequences, because that aspect of the world, the plot, the characters being held to certain expectations and standards, isn't important.

But for some people, it is important. It is how they enjoy the fantasy of these games, how the pretend becomes more real by adding that touch of realism that actions have consequences. Not because they want a misery simulator, or they want anyone to fail at all, but because they want to know that both good and evil, right and wrong exist, in some ways, as even more real and tangible things in these silly fantasy worlds than in our own—especially at a time where it can seem like bad people can get away with a lot, it's nice to play pretend and know that someone using their power to subjugate, to discriminate, to threaten, and harm others just because they acquire the power to do so would be called rightly evil, would be looked down on, not up to, and would be stopped by those that want to protect others, even those not like themselves at all, at the moment they can not protect themselves.. Not see those people be called Bell's Hells, Champions of the Exandrian Accords.

And that they are can be hard to swallow. There's a schism there between expectation as critical role has been and how it is now—a divergence, if you will—that the consequences that have been seen from messing with ostensibly the most powerful and steadfast 'good' that exists in reality as it is known in Exandria with the prime deities.. no longer does, in fact, exist. And not only does it not, but that perhaps it never mattered at all: Cadeucus, devout follower of the Wildmother, had 0 seconds out of 8 hours and 45 minutes to reflect on the loss of the wildmother (though correct me if I missed a scene for him, because it was a long episode). Pike had little to none. they took hours to wrap up character stories from all three parties, but the story about the fate of the gods saw next to no time spent on the very few people who worshipped the gods they were losing connections with, ironically, besides Vax, the one who made a deal with one, not even a true 'follower' or 'believer', but a bargainer with a god.

It can be a little unsettling for people who have watched these great actors play multiple beloved characters, only to watch them, for several hundred hours, play characters that create dissonance, not resonance, and to see so little reaction from everyone that has come before, and everyone that has been said to support and surround the Bell's Hells in this journey. The problem of creating an army, of course, is that if the army shows no effort to personally defend their god when shown a weapon that could kill them—the weapon they are there to ensure is not freed, that they then saw freed—how good of an army was it, really? Even the betrayer god followers, spiteful and evil, did not bother to try and avenge their gods.

So for those that enjoyed the ending: I truly hope you do enjoy it, and that topics like these do not hamper the enjoyment of, as it's been said, ten years of Exandria. It has been a long, strange trip, but there's been plenty of good moments, too. Robbie, I whole-heartedly believe, will be considered the best thing to have ever come out of C3, and it will be criminal if he is not added as a permanent cast member, and that's not something to be taken lightly--there's plenty of great guest characters, but Robbie felt like a missing puzzle piece that fit in perfectly in a way no other guest characters has before or since.

But I hope you can understand a little better why others might not be feeling satisfied with what conclusion we saw, and why there's so much conversation about perceived flaws that detract from the greater whole and make it lose its luster.

I will personally not likely be tuning into much CR stuff going forward past BLeeM's involvement, but I truly do hope that whether you liked C3 or not, that C4 brings a Smiley Day to you all.