This clip comes to you from Critical Role's EXU: Calamity Ep. 4.
SPOILERS! You have been warned!
Brennan proceeds to open an unholy can of whup upon the party for a scene of devastation I have yet to see replicated! Not only that, but Brennan manages to do this with his patented smirk emblazoned on his face =)
Check out the ORIGINAL videos on Critical Role's YT page or on Twitch for the full episodes in all their goodness!
YT: / criticalrole
Twitch: / criticalrole
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Want more Critical Role goodness?
Have an itch to see what Exandria Unlimited: Calamity has to offer? Take a gander at my Calamity Clips playlist!
• Calamity Clips
Have you enjoyed the Legends of Vox Machina animated series? See how it compares to the original streams in the Critical Comparisons playlist!
• Critical Comparisons
As always critiques and comments are welcome! What did you like, what could use some work? Still relatively new to the YT creator world and I want improve all around so let's have a chat!
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When Aabria laughs at 'He counterspells it with a ninth-level spellslot', that's a DM basking in another's work right there.
Also her "YES" at 4:07
The “oh, I’m playing beyond Legendary level?” movement
Aabria's a terrible DM, though.
@@staceygram5555Totally agree with you on that one.
The turn at "...and I didn't do anything wrong" is some Emmy-level stuff
1 year late but can you imagine if they one day make an animated show out of Calamity?? This moment would be so cool!
I got so fucking giddy I damn near had to pull over when I was listening to it. I had been waiting for the shoe to drop for so long - what a perfect reveal.
@@frameddonut1056i mean they are making a might nien series on top of the legend of vox machina which already scored its next season so at this point its just a question of do they go to the next campaign or do they have some quick fun on a one of movie featuring the calamity.
“My last heart break, is that when I have collected every last mortal soul into my pit, I will *only* have eternity to punish them” I do not see enough people talking about this line, it’s so dark and so incredible to show Asmodeus’ character. Eternity. Forever. Infinite time, is not enough for him. It’s terrifying and made me love Brennan that much more as a DM
An amazing line, but my favorite one is when he tells Xarxes: "The difference between you and Pelor, god of the sun, is that he is slightly more humble" (paraphrasing). Telling a mortal he's more arrogant than a god is rough.
To a God, even eternity is nothing, I guess cause at that point they’re already over it and without something to do day after day it’s just another “mundane” aspect of their existence, I guess its their own version of the phrase “I don’t have enough hours in the day to get done what I want to get done”
For me, it's the "You said you would help me confront those who did this to me. Wake up Xarxes, you did this to me!"
Asmodeus' motivations really remind me of AM from "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", I wonder if Brennan was inspired by that at all
the entire performance is.....mwhah, perfection. I sometimes dream of it.
I just realized that the cleansing touch is what brought him to his monolog. That is his "purest" form
Yup it's like vegeta in dragon his pure heart to go supersaiyan is ego
I love how he captures just how obscenely powerful Asmodeus is. Just casually eviscerate a PC, then break the laws of time. TWICE.
One if the best things D&D did in their editions was to stop giving statistics for gods. They can all just do whatever the DM says.
@@elbruces Honestly that is also a great way of going about it when they give out "port folios" for the gods as well as a clear understanding of what said god's believes are, as that gives you plenty of understanding towards what type of spells and sort said god would be interested in.
Man broke the rules of Time Stop with NPC magic (PCs can’t cast time stop in a time stop, and Asmodeus can casually break that limitation)
@@elbruces If you stat it, they will kill it
hey man he's ment to be the king and rivals only the dawn so makes alot of sence- thoe i love that of like what the hottest place hell or the sun and its just that debate between the primes and the betrayers-
When Asmodeus dropped the “because I didn’t do anything wrong” the first time I actually leaped out of my chair. Such a great moment.
The rest of the party at the beginning of Xerses's turn: "Man it sucks how we're all dead right now..." The rest of the party 15 minutes later: "Oh thank God we're all dead right now..."
Meanwhile, Cerrit: "Man, the group chat has been kinda quiet."
@@CrownofMischief 😂😂😂
I LOVE BRENNAN'S VILLAINS, I'M SO GLAD HE CANONICALLY DEPICTED ASMODEUS
His portrayal of Asmodeus was well thought out and delivered amazingly
Yo, when the bass dropped and the demon voice came out, lighting struck outside my house. This was terrifying
That's some crazy ass timing, totally meant for that to happen! @_@
Voice changer
4:04
@@nickbruno1363 Maybe not. I'm able to do a similar voice naturally
I got some fucking cold chills and jumped. I'm a 30 year old man lol. I love this.
He looked at D&D's Satan and said "I can fix him" and it was glorious
Brennan or zerxus?
@@alexanderkazantzis8019 Zerxus.
@@alexanderkazantzis8019Pretty sure it was Xerxes.
The fact that this god actually makes the players feel “mortal”, like they are toys in the hands of a higher power, is something that very rarely works, but was perfect for this scenario.
And this, my friend, is why the Divine Gate is a necessity. Because this is what happens when you give Gods a sandbox.
I think it works here because Xerxes let Asmodeus in. This whole beat down is a consequence to player action; he opened his heart and soul to THE devil thinking a friendship speech would heal a wound that was oozing when the universe was new. I'm not really big on the "the gods can just do w/e." style of play in D&D but in this case you paid for the ticket with plenty of opportunities to realize just what kind of ride you were signing up for.
@@drbeard4505But they are gods. It's not like an ancient dragon, or a level 20 archmage-turned-lich. It's the literal Lord of the Hells, in full form. Gods should be basically impossible for PCs to affect, unless special circumstances occur (such as it being a fragment of the deity that the PCs are trying to send back to their realm.)
What I love about Brenans portrayle of Asmodeus is that he doesn't play him like a high level monster. The way he describes his form shifting, how he is breaking the reality (time stop in a time stop) and that most of what he does is not rolled but just happens. This is what a god is supposed to be! Something unthinkable and impossible to Understand
The absolute I don't even give a fuck energy of that counter spell is so good.
"You want to use magic against me? I AM MAGIC"
Yep, that’s why it’s very hard to fit godly level stats into a stat block in D&D. A FRAGMENT of Tiamat, typically considered a LESSER DEITY in comparison to some others, has 30 strength and constitution, which is literally the highest the game system is built to allow. They’re on an entirely different level.
its is the black unfathomable eons of the eldritch terror. what if i am less than the vermin that preys on an ant? what if this is one of the movers and shakers of various looms and skanes of destiny? what and who am i on the fractal infinity of endless dreams? none know. not evem the dreamer.
@@Achridian Yea. Built Different on such a fundamental level it is a horrifically unfunny joke to think a mere 4th level resilient sphere would have stopped THE LORD OF THE HELLS for even a *moment.* these things are quite literally beyond anything else on this world. No competition, not truly.
Shoutout to Lou having war flashbacks this whole time, knowing full well the kind of hell that Brennan was about to release. This man has seen Pandora's box get opened before and he was preparing for history to rePEAT xD Man this show broke me good ;-;
The thing is, I think that foresight actually works against him because he's just full of dread the whole time
@@stevenboelke6661 Exactlyyyyy, IDK if it’s just me but I love seeing those kinds of things with other players/DMs. Like, for me with my home games, it’s like a little “I know your cues and it’ll kill me but I love it” kind of recognition between buds. Tis me love language
His anticipation and reactions gave me life throughout the whole series
and on top of this, Lou would likely have already been aware that a horror season of D20 was on its way and that this was even more of just a prep round
The way you articulated Lou's rePEAT is hilarious
“You wanna know what I’ve always hated about mortals” gave me flashbacks to a Crown of Candy 😭😭😭
“Here’s to a future you can’t ruin.”
LITERALLY I mean I was half expecting him to say “You’re so damn lucky…” next 😅
50% of that choice was to give Lou flashbacks.😂
@@hiti6753 I'm convinced that one of Lou and Brennan's love languages in their friendship is being intentionally antagonistic to each other during campaigns.
The "Bad Frist Draft" line doesn't get enough love. The rest of the monologue was incredible, don't get me wrong, but the delivery on that raw fucking line always gives me shivers.
I wonder if that is a shout-out to the idea of God being depicted as a writer in Supernatural.
@@scrapper3494 Doubtful. The idea of the gods being “writers” is not new and didn’t originate with Supernatural, and Brennan has degrees in both philosophy and screenwriting so it’s likely something he’s thought about before
Serious Joker energy.
Reminds me of Ultron almost in the delivery, I'm not sure why. Absolutely killer either way
Reminds me of the Steve buscemi line in Spy Kids…”do you ever thing God stays in Heaven in fear of what he created???”
Only two beings in Critical Role history have used a 9th level spell slot for counterspell: - The first is the Lord of the Hells Asmodeus - The other is Scanlan Shorthalt
One is one of the most powerful beings in existence. The other is Asmodeus.
And it perfectly encapsulates what that spell means. The former, the absolute power of judgment and wrath upon the hubris of mortals. The latter, the absolute power of defiance and hope in mortal hearts in the face of impossible odds.
Brennan traumatizing lou gives me so much serotonin
What a weird thing to say
Lou knew what was gonna happen. Look at him. He knows Brennan too well
Lou knows when something dirty is afoot!
Matt Mercer: *describes delicate details of how you're wounded and mentions a toothy maw* Brendon: He slams you on the ground and breaks your spine. Just the fucking state the factd and move on is brutal!!
Brendon?
@@DiscoSamurai Brendon Leeb Mulbigan
why use a rapier when a chair would work better?
"he grabs the back of your head and rips the skin off your skull". Done, let's get on with it
Both have their place, but something so brutal and so instantaneous, should be narrated quickly to invoke the proper shock.
Not sure how I ended up here. Not a DnD fan, but HOLY MOLY, the story telling is amazing. Can't believe I got so invested in minutes.
The algorithm works in mysterious ways! Either way, welcome! Got some fun stuff here and perhaps we shall cross paths again in the future!
Brennan is magnetic isn't he?
Brennan lee mulligan is the reason I got into dnd and storytelling in general tbh
Honestly one of the best DMing examples ever. Knowing the outcome of the story but playing to the characters weaknesses and convictions, and then giving the player a choice that only now makes all the sense in world. Its like railroading with style that only a professional story teller can pull off and giving the player a powerful illusion of choice.
The power of Brennan Lee Mulligan to be honest. I wasn't a D&D fan until my friend showed me a fucking 2-hour long video of a bunch of comedians telling a story about candy people in a GOT-type world. A few days later I was texting her in all caps at 3 a.m. actually sobbing over a fucking chocolate bunny.
Striving to Redeem others can be toxic too
Yep, like brennan said he didn't see the path from everyone can be redeemed to I can redeeme everyone 😀
@@lexisdemeyer4857 not only is Xerxus a classic though beautiful iteration of “Paladin betrays the Party in the name of their oath” trope, but also Asmodeus was right, his stance of “I can redeem anyone” is a display of pride and arrogance that could be expected from a Lord of the Nine Hells, let alone a Paladin
@@manticorephoenix It's not "right" in its definition, but it is amazingly well portrayed for the emotions you'd expect from this kind of dude.
And yet I find it brilliant how his beliefs on redemption are also the thing that pushed him to give Vespin a few more moments of lucidity, which then gave the entire group the opportunity to stop the primordials from being freed and join the Betrayer Gods. I think that, at the end, Zerxus wasn’t able to atone himself through his own actions, but that of all the others he previously looked down upon. The people of Avalir, the city he wouldn’t call home, fought together to protect his son. The leaders and upper class of the city stood behind to help the common citizens escape. Laerryn’s scientific hubris he previously admonished used to save the entire world from certain doom. Zerxus may not have been able to redeem anyone, much less himself, but his actions pushed others to strive to be better. In a way, his failure was what led other people to redeem themselves.
Bro tried to atone satan himself 💀💀
Lou KNEW, Lou knew the entire time! you can see it in his eyes! he was like "Ooooooooh FUK Brennan is about to go ham"
"To reach a hand down to somebody, they need to be BENEATH YOU. And I'm beneath nobody" I just had a bonner in this part
The betrayer god so clearly uses zerxes parental instincts against him, it’s so evil and terrifying. Brennan plays dark and evil so amazingly. His ability to play adorable little kids and then do something like this makes for no dull moment when he DMs.
I love how Travis is like, "Look at Lou! Outwardly expressing what we're all feeling! Whew! Glad that's over." And Lou's just like, "You sweet summer child, I'm hiding down here because I know it's _not_ over. I've played at Brennan's off-screen tables, to say nothing of his Dimension 20 campaigns. This is the calm before the storm."
his expression at 4:12 is so perfect for this 😂
@@thefinalfrontear Everyone else is reacting to the moment, while Lou dissociates.
No Party without Xarty. From an RP point, Mace of the Black Crown is one of the most fucked up thing you DM can give you.
It's hiding underwater in the Shattered Teeth in my current campaign. Cerrit's decendants are watching over the site like the knights watching the Grail in Indiana Jones.
@@jordanpeterson5140 Better keep it there, we use a modified cursed version that wont stop annoying me in my sleep, demands souls on the regular or i get exaustionpoints from now to then if i dont feed her by bonking things to death. Which is quiet bad with a cleric that is the only really good one in the group :D
@@Cpt.Str4ng3 honestly, I have no idea where the party will end up (we're still early in the campaign). That's one of the very few things that's in place should they head that direction.
@@jordanpeterson5140 oh we are too,.we got, chronologically, took on a research quest in a steam punk city,get our asses kicked by by a white dragon, fell into the underdark, fought mushroom godzilla, aduccted a small mushroom,("maybe made a deal with a high level fiend),bonked dwarves, got out there, got our asses kicked by slads,nearly crashed an airship while half of the group was high in the kitchen, got back, fought sever moskitos and a giant shrimp(and nearly nuked the city), got drunk, stole coffee in a bar, rode another ship, fought a green dragon and manticors in basically a pokemon arena fight, won a columbian drug farm, had a dinner with a undead dreadknight and are about to have a discussion if its worth to kill 3,5k people to bring back one of our players that is also the brother of one of our chars. and that was lvl 5-9 so far.
I love that line. You are trying to atone me...and I didn't do anything wrong.
I love 4:04 because if you pay attention to Brenans face. Theres a complete 180 of intent. He goes from being completely benign to bringing absolute malice into being in a fraction of a second. Its absolutely beautiful.
Brennan as Asmodeus is much more terrifying in his own voice. The artificial demon voice is actually less scary.
you have link or something?
@@rainbowcookie5598 pretty sure this entire series is on youtube
@@B0K0691 yeah just found it. just started watching dimension 20 and are binge watching the unsleeping city so didn’t knew about the channel
@@rainbowcookie5598 this is from exandria unlimited calamity
ppl always hate the idea of railroading but if im being honest it worked incredibly well here and in most dnd games, but here being a show first and foremost it works wonderfully well.
The trick is to make the players forget that the railroad is there. Rollercoasters are on rails, but they're still exciting. The real problem is when the DM and the players have different ideas of the kind of game they want to play. If the players are expecting action and the DM is hyper-focused on political intrigue and romance sub-plots, suddenly the railroad isn't fun anymore.
Brennan is a master of railroading without rails.
Technically every D&D game, unless played like a sandbox, is railroaded. You all know what the end goal is for you at the start. Get the mcguffin. Kill/friend the BBEG. Stop the revolution. Topple the government. It's all about how a GM is able to mask it, their ability to paint it with believable storytelling. Many times in Calamity, despite knowing their future as players, the characters made distinct, unique and impactful decisions which lead to the same outcome. Cerrit saves his kids and his lineage. Loquatius ends up sending thousands of people to a brighter future. Zerxus is given a second chance to protect and heal his allies. Laerryn stops ancient primordials from wrecking even more havoc. It all ends with "The Calamity". Many times they also felt like they made a decision when in reality, it was the only decision they could make. Like blighting the tree or even experimenting with reality tearing. Choosing to sympathize with the literal Devil. Brennan played into each character's weakness to make them "follow the railroad". Which, the takeaway here is that Brennan is a phenomenal GM able to play into who the characters are and what the players want to do with them. That is all to say that session 0's are REALLY important too! Expectations are the blueprints for the rails of which players are put on.
It's not railroading exactly. It's just that the story cannot come to another close. There is no other way. They could have made any decision at any time, the end of it was determined before the campaign even started.
I mean you say railroading, but in all fairness Asmodeus is basically a god - he can do whatever he wants.
8:01- Jesus Christ how the hell does Brennan even think of such a metal line!
he has an infinite amount of them stored away in his mind-vault. if Matt has an infinite amount of sound-effects, Brennan has an infinite amount of metal lines/insane speeches
He once said somewhere (I don't remember where) that it takes considerable effort to *not* talk like this normally on a daily basis, man's a walking Shakespeare character
Lou standing up and trying to swim away from the situation is a forever mood
Brennan was literally the perfect choice to DM Calamity
"You gotta cut this shit out man" -Lou
"My last heart break, is that when I have collected every last mortal soul into my pit, I will only have eternity to punish them” i love how everyone at the table's eyes go wide at the same time lmao
Luo's face this whole time makes me so happy. He is just so accepting of his upincoming death.
I will NEVER get over this speech Brennan in 4 episodes cemented his legacy. What an incredible storyteller
Every time I hear Brennan say "in this moment" or "it's at this moment" I just lock right into the narrative.
Personally, I find the edited Asmodeus voice lose some of the rumble and growl from the original voice. And also some of the loudness. But I guess it can't be helped.
I agree wholeheartedly.
It’s annoying and unnecessary. Kind of ruins the whole thing
@@mrdrprofsteve4455 Completeley, Brennan creates enough atmosphere by himself
@@supladosoul-jar5722 Brennan is atmosphere
Yeah legit the gravel and depth Brennan had in his voice made him honestly scary in that moment. I couldn't tear my eyes away.
as much as i love this edit, i do feel that something is lost in making brennan's voice deeper
True, the original sounded pretty damn good. But for this I wanted to alter it to sound more demonic considering he's portraying big daddy Asmodeus, Prince of Hell and Lord of Lies, so I just dropped his pitch an octave or two to bring it a bit deeper. For some it works and others it fell a bit short, but it was different and that's what I was aiming for =)
@@JudgementFishI kind of like both for different reasons and honestly it makes me wonder if we could layer it so one voice is over the other but slightly synced if that would make it sound more alien and godlike or just ruin it.
I like it
"Brenan your line was 'Thank you for redeeming me''"
7:00 is so easily the best line for me “WAKE UP XERSES, YOU DID THIS TO ME”
Call me crazy, but it kinda reminds me of the “Think, Mark” bit from Invincible.
This scene gave me chills. Brennan is a master.
god that was the longest second in history
I love Lou's "No thank you" dance. So quiet, so visceral.
Lou was me the entire time this was happening during the stream
If he spits on the notion of a mortal teaching him anything, then how can he say in the same monologue that mortals "did something" to the prime deities? It speaks to his arrogance and entitlement that he thinks he is above even them, even as he is crawling out of a pit they put him in.
This seems similar to a kid that is angry that their sibling locked them out of a room after they were asked not to play with the toys in a destructive manner.
I mean there might be systems in Exandria that we don't have in the real world to explain this, but even if not... I mean he IS Asmodeus so... the arrogance checks out in either case
If anyone would be supremely arrogant and hypocritical, it would absolutely be Asmodeus.
I need to see this animated in some form. This needs some more views as is!
"My greatest heartbreak is that when I have collected every last mortal soul and all of my siblings into my pit, that I will *only* have *eternity* to punish them." "The only difference between you and the *Dawnfather* .... is that the Dawnfather, is a little more humble."
This is a great edit, that demon voice would be hella creepy in a normal show, but somehow Brennan using his normal voice just creeps me the fuck out in a whole another level 😳
One can safely assume that somewhere deep inside Brennan lives something demonic just waiting for him to let it loose
The "WHO AM I" actually gives me chills
The screen shake & the voice filter makes this beyond epic level greatness. Awesome work!
There's a filter? I thought it was just brennan
@@quincyhotchkiss4775 in the official version it's just brennan, but this video puts a filter on it
@@quincyhotchkiss4775 yeah there's a filter, it's why Brennan's Asmodeus voice doesn't sound as raw and angry as it did in the actual mini campaign.
Thanks Douglas! Yeah its just a simple pitch drop an octave or two IIRC
I find it makes the scene less dramatic and a bit silly tbh
Gahhhh, I just neeeeed all of these people who play D&D together to write a book. I need the DM's to build the world and the players to make their choices. Like a MUCH bigger game but with just a couple of Stenographers in the corner just going crazy.
Lou feeling the slightest of victory in the passing of a second is just the best thing ever.
Its so important to rewatch these moments to focus on lou completely
After calamity, seeing what Brennan did to the players, i started watching dimension 20. One of the best discoveries of my life.
All of these scenes need a dedicated Lou camera. Just seeing his freak out is fantastic
I really really want Calamity to get animated as like a mini one-season series or a full length feature animated film
this was one of the craziest moments of exu! Ur edits only increased & accentuated it's epicness bravo 👏 I say! bravo 👏👏👏👏🌹
The more I watched this edit the more I liked it, thank you for this!!
One of the main reasons I love Dimension 20's DnD campaigns: this. Right here. Brennen Lee Mulligan is a SADIST when it comes to DMing, AND I LOVE IT. It makes everything so fun, and you KNOW if you die, you'll die GLORIOUSLY!
Loved the voice modulation and the added graphics. The closeups were very well done too!
Thanks Mark! Glad you liked it!
better without the voice adjustment. who did that?!?! some of the best voice acting ive ever heard, how dare you change it
I haven’t watched this series but I’ve seen a handful of these clips. I love this one, and I think I like it even more when it’s Brennan’s natural voice
The voice edit is awesome and fits perfectly.
I need to watch the whole thing. That was intense, and gave me chills.
That voice change makes Brennan sound like Koh the face stealer from avatar: the last airbender And I love it 🤩
I love this edit. It makes it so GOOD!!!!
This now lives rent free in my mind, thank you
*In The First Age, in The First Battle.. When the shadows first lengthened...*
Burned by the embers of Armageddon, his soul blistered by the fires of Hell and tainted beyond ascension, he chose the path of perpetual torment. In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Umbral Plains seeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged him. He wore the crown of the Night Sentinels and those that tasted the bite of his sword named him... the Doom Slayer.
Brennan DMing and narrating for Mats world is just pure perfection ❤️🥰👌
All of this is just so raw
I feel like after seeing "infinite immortal hatred" that there would be a sanity save
Every line that Brennan spits out, I imagine that gif of the guy writing fire into paper. So many things can be quoted from ExU Calamity.
This is dope!. Great editing
This is incredible. Like literally incredible acting and insane DMing
6:35 “Casts time stop again… no no no, he casted the first time stop within the first time stop”
amazing edit
Yo, you need to make sure to tag these guys in this edit. It's great!
chills. every time.
Omg this edit is so good
Thanks Patricia! I'm so happy that you enjoyed it! =)
Kudos on the edits, as a first time watcher of this scene, I was mighty impressed :D
so amazing, can't even describe how well this is done.
Thanks MHLS! I deeply appreciate that!
This is so good! The voice change is awesome!!!
Anyone else think of this? "Im scared..." "Don't be scared because you're on scare tactics!"
"I want you to get to your purest self." Poor choice of words.
This is so good
The reaching out a hand down to someone and the I didn't do anything wrong to atone for parts got me
This is so freaking raw. i love it so much.
Brennan Lee Mulligan is the primary reason I’m able to watch hours of DND play…I’ve never once come across game
Travis looking at Brennan like he just stepped into an exorcism.
"Um, and he pulls the back of your head and rips the skin off of your skull 😊"
editing of the voicee woahhh.....
great edit
I appreciate it Dakota! More on the way!
Damn Brennan, that was awesome!
AY YO WHAT THE FUCK THE CHANGE OF PITCH 😭
Great job!
That voice change filter is something i never knew I needed, and I can't unhear it. Beautiful.
The audio edit is a nice touch.
the love the home run bat sfx when brennan snaps his finger on the time stop spell, very satisfying and even the smallest touches can make an impression