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Same as in the Player's Handbook: 10 copper makes 1 silver, 10 silver makes 1 gold, 10 gold makes 1 platinum. Electrum (worth 5 silver) and platinum are rarely minted by modern nations, but ancient Cael Morrow minted electrum coins.
There is no map of all of Exandria, but you can check out the map gallery for the best maps we have. That page also has descriptions of oceans, the tropics, etc.
Some fans have made speculative maps based on apparent time zones and climatic zones.
I think the practice is to put characters in the "New" section when they haven't appeared before, even if they've been mentioned.
As for reporting mistakes, there are a couple things you can do.
If you're fairly confident about a change that needs to be made, just hit the Edit button and make the change. If you're right, you have the thanks of other editors, and if you're wrong, you're unlikely to do damage that can't be undone easily.
If you're unsure about a proposed change, you can add to the Talk page for that article. (Hover over the button with the three dots, scroll down to "Talk", and click. Make sure to sign your contribution with the "Signature and timestamp" button next to the Italics button.
Some people use the comments on the article to point out issues. It would be better to use the Talk page, because the comments will be visible to casual readers long after the issue is resolved one way or another.
Thanks for keeping an eye out! We can always use a fresh set of eyes.
There is now a page dedicated to this special, too.
There are a few ways you can do this research for yourself:
Search the Wiki. I'd suggest starting with the organizations and societies that have a lot of magic users, like the Cerberus Assembly and Avalir.
There is a website where you can search CR transcripts: https://kryogenix.org/crsearch/ Type in "archmage".
If you have electronic versions of the sourcebooks, you can search through them for the word "archmage", just in case they haven't been marked as such on this Wiki (I know of a couple).
I'm agnostic on the question of whether the term "archmage" is notable enough to merit its own page on the Wiki, but we do have additional examples from Downfall now.
I just now watched Taliesin's comment, and you're right, this is not supported by what actually happened in-game:
No, I think it was out of desperation the same way of, "Well, you know, we're going to war, we're going to need some materials. There's a bunch of people living here. What if they just weren't?"There was no evident plan to eradicate or evict the locals. They hadn't become violent toward the locals at all.
I think anchoring on the first story they heard is part of it, but there was more to it. They worked themselves up into hating the temple. Then, after they slaughtered the guards and cleric, summoned a demon to help kill an angel, watched the surviving civilian Pelor-worshipers get shackled, and stood by as one young person was pressured into converting back to the local majority religion, they had to do some mental gymnastics to justify what they'd done.
If anyone needs a recap to understand why I think they worked themselves into a lather, read the italicized section below.
Matt pointed out that the big temple stood out like a sore thumb and had a couple of guards be gruff with them on the outskirts of town. Team Issylra took it from there, asking the herbalist leading questions about the temple being "oppressive" and not listening when he tried to explain that there was only some tension.
When asked if the temple was force-feeding them religion, he denied it: "They haven't been aggressive, forcefully, but at the same time, the people feel less and less safe."
When they asked the herbalist whether the milling felt "intrusive or invasive", he only said that according to Abaddina, "There has been a bit of a discontent from some of the land spirits when the Silvercall Mill has taken more than what was agreed upon, you know?" Suddenly Aimee/Deni$e exclaimed, "Oh, I fucking hate these people" and Marisha/Laudna agreed, and the players were off to the races, taking the worst possible view of the temple at every turn:
When they heard that the guards had in the last few months started patrolling in the streets, trying to listen in on conversations, Deni$e declared them bullies and said she hated bullies.
Later, Orym characterized the temple's few additional guards as a "maybe draconian response to lock things down" and speculated, "Maybe they're trying to bend as much faith as possible to their guy."
And Marisha/Laudna somehow got the idea that the temple was holding a bunch of villagers prisoner.
It seems they were caught in a runaway process of uncharitable assumptions to demonize the target.
The fact that all three of the guest players disliked the gods from the start made a confrontation much more likely. Deni$e said "fuck them", apparently because she thought the gods never did anything for her. Bor'Dor, who had every reason to stoke a conflict, said, "It's hard to support them when we can see how much damage is being done in the name of god in your town." (What damage?) And Prism didn't like that the gods "seem to choose favorites," whatever that means.
The temple and the village had coexisted tolerably for 20 years! As the apogee solstice approached, Vasselheim slightly increased the number of visible guards and sent a couple of Judicators to Hearthdell, and they seemed nosy and intimidating, but still not actually injuring or jailing anyone, just looming and causing anxiety. (At the same time, the Loam & Leaf people were sending spies into the temple, so it seems like both sides were getting nosy.) The temple had peacefully converted a small number of people to the church of Pelor, but they were still a distinct minority in a village of 1,000 people. Vasselheim had plans to buy more land and build more temples, notably including a temple to Melora, which is not generally what one does when one is hoping to harmfully exploit the wilderness. Indeed, after 20 years of having a new and improved second mill, the forest in the area was still overgrown, not despoiled.
Maybe Matt had tilted things so they were more likely to hear the Loam & Leaf side first, but there was nothing inevitable about the way they approached the temple.
Abaddina explicitly told them there were no commitments in going to the meeting; it was the PCs (starting with Ashton) who decided that just attending the meeting meant they were "in".
At the meeting, when the players heard some villagers had unfounded conspiracy theories about the temple abducting the people who disappeared, instead of Team Issylra defusing the theories, Prism actually whispered, "Some of us share that conspiracy."
And as Flameguide Kiro pointed out, they approached the temple unannounced under cover of night and plied her guards with alcohol, instead of sitting down, listening to the other side of the story, and having a conversation. So they put themselves in a position that required them to make their case in brief. Orym started by saying they had a common enemy, but then accused the temple of "putting your boot on the necks of farmers" and gave them hours, not days, to pack up and go to a different continent, based only on his word. Condemnation and ultimatum are not the most diplomatic way of trying to resolve the differences between the two groups.
After the battle, suddenly there was a new detail about the temple taking tithes from the populace, according to Abaddina. I don't know why that wouldn't have been mentioned before the fight, or how a handful of guards could tax a village of 1,000 people, with the whole Valley Coalition behind them, but I guess she was supposed to be telling the truth?
At any rate, there was nobody left to tell them they'd read the situation wrong. The part about the temple of Melora should have caused some cognitive dissonance, and Hevestro did mention that Abaddina had a radical Primordial-irredentist past. Once they learned Bor'Dor was a member of the Ruby Vanguard, they should have wondered whether he had helped lead them into a fight that undermined their cause.
By episode 65, the players had invented additional details to make the temple sound like it was crushing Hearthdell, and they were minimizing their own responsibility for what happened.
Laudna claimed the temple of Pelor was built on "sacred land", when it was just some land that was for sale. (Granted, after the battle, Hevestro claimed the whole valley is sacred, but it's at least debatable how seriously one should take any idea of "sacred" that amounts to "you can sell the land as you please, but not to infidel foreigners.")
Laudna also said the acolytes of Pelor "more or less took over" the village, and Orym claimed the temple was "clamping down" and "trying to enforce their [something]".
Ashton promised FCG that they'd "politely asked them to leave" and merely "appealed to their sense of moral judgment as holy people."
Then Ashton and Laudna invented this story: "We just saw a fucking god trying to wipe out the last of..." "The eidolons." "It was an attempt to destroy."
Incredibly, Ashton and Laudna both assured Imogen, "It was a land grab," and Ashton said of the Pelor-worshipers, "It was very much, 'This is ours now, and you either leave or die'," which Laudna emphatically confirmed, "Yes." And that reverses the roles pretty much exactly: their own plan was to demand Pelor's faithful to immediately leave the land they'd bought two decades prior, or else! Remember:
LIAM: No, we're just going to ask them to leave and if they don't go, we're going to--
MARISHA: Fight.
LIAM: Yep.
TALIESIN: Definitely.
EMILY: I feel like we should hide out and be ready to attack from all angles because this parlay, no offense... is not going to happen.In short, they remembered things that did not happen to cast themselves in a better light. It would have been hard to admit, even to themselves, that they had eagerly let their characters get drawn into leading a pogrom.
Is this question about the Prime Deities or the gods in general?
Here's what I think: the good gods are good, the neutral gods are neutral (but more inclined to fight on the side of the good gods against the evil ones), and the evil gods are evil.
Predathos eating the gods would, on net, be a terrible thing for Exandria, even if Ludinus were removed from the equation. There was probably a good reason the Primordials cooperated with the gods in sealing away Predathos during the Founding, and I lean towards the prediction that before the end of the campaign, the gods and the Primordials will strike a bargain to re-banish Predathos. Team Issylra could have started the process of bringing the two sides together if they'd listened to Vasselheim's side of the story in Hearthdell, but instead, partly under Bor'Dor's influence, they deepened the wedge between the two sides and badly damaged their own standing with Vasselheim.
(Edited by Durandal's Fate)
I've started the page for the Bradley episode. Feel free to contribute to it.
The most obvious trump card Lucien has is the antimagic cone of Vigilan. It actually dispels instead of suppressing arcane magic, so it isn't a pure Antimagic Field spell. It also doesn't affect Lucien's other abilities, so he can just blast enemies inside the cone's area. Because Vecna is so dependent on spellcasting—indeed, all his known legendary actions are spells—the antimagic cone gives Lucien a shot in the right circumstances. (Like, preferably, this takes place outside the Astral Plane, where the supremely intelligent Vecna would have a blistering 90-foot movement speed.) If Vecna's movement (flying/hovering) is dependent on arcane magic, the lich is in much more serious trouble from the start.
Ideally, Lucien would be able to quickly lock Vecna within the antimagic cone. But it would probably suffice to just keep Vecna close enough in the early rounds that Lucien never ended his turn with Vecna outside the cone, so Vecna could only force Lucien to use one legendary resistance per round, while Lucien could potentially force Vecna to burn multiple legendary resistances per round, until Lucien could lock Vecna down and blast him at will, or even stack nine eyes on Vecna and take over.
What are the best ways to force Vecna to burn his legendary resistances?
The Neo-Somnovem can make a multiattack with eye rays, and gets another ray as a legendary action. Start with Culpasi, because if Vecna fails that saving throw, it could start a death spiral as the lich gets disadvantage on the rest of his saving throws. Vecna can't afford to fail a saving throw on the Luctus eye, because a Slow effect would seriously compromise his ability to cast spells or move far from the cone and would make him easier to hit. And the Elatis eye would keep Vecna from moving far away and would start stacking eye "tattoos" on him. We don't know what Mirumus does, but that might be effective. (I presume Vecna can't be charmed or frightened, so forget about Gaudius or Timorei.)
The Cognouza Incarnate form is in a tricky situation in the initial round or two: Vecna can't be allowed to target the separate Vigilan eye, which doesn't get its own legendary resistances and has low enough HP to die to one big spell. So Lucien has to burn Vecna's legendary resistances fast with four other eyes, with the Will Aether ability, and with lair actions, and under no circumstances bring out Vigilan until Vecna is immobilized. Once Vecna starts getting restrained by Will Aether or grappled by Absorb Flesh, the lich is in real trouble.
If absolutely necessary to keep Vecna close before the Vigilan eye comes out, Cognouza Incarnate can hit with a weapon attack (not too tough with six attacks) and apply a Brand of Castigation/Tethering, which Vecna can only remove with a Dispel Magic, which will cost him an action. Or maybe more than one: if Vecna doesn't burn a 9th-level spell slot on it, he might even fail that attempt.
Ironically, if this is a one-on-one duel, both combatants get fewer legendary actions because they can only be used at the end of another creature's turn. Lucien would prefer more legendary actions, all else equal, so he can burn Vecna's legendary resistances faster.
If Lucien slays Vecna rather than taking over, then the trouble is ensuring Vecna stays dead. Ghostslayer blood hunters have some abilities that could help with tracking down a lich's phylactery, and Lucien has some scrying ability if he can place eyes on the right people, but Vecna is the best at keeping secrets. Maybe if Lucien used his Aeor connections to find or reconstruct their god-killing weapons...
(Edited by Durandal's Fate)
Linking to things the cast shared publicly on social media does not violate their privacy. You're good!
And thanks for helping with your edits; for example, I'd been hoping someone would come up with a source for Pike switching to the Life Domain for a long time.
For single recommended updates like this, I would recommend you just make the edit yourself.
I don't know if this was caused by the redesign somehow, but on the Time Line page I just noticed that for the "Guide ref" and "CR ref" template, the "more" parameter now creates a messed-up footnote. Look at the URL that pops up when I hover over footnote 199, for example.
Nah. One of the things that I wished had been different about C2—especially in the first arc—is when the characters were too opaque. Like with everybody in the party being cagey about their backstory, or, as I mentioned earlier, the long stretches of Yasha being so reserved and so absent that we don't really get to know her—and a lot of her character development had to be condensed into the DM suddenly thrusting the spotlight on her. Moreover, because of Yasha/Ashley's absences and silences, we miss out on her interacting with Molly so we can learn more about him.
Campaign 3 has fortunately had ways of short-circuiting the temptation to be mysterious. There's some initial secrecy (like with Dorian and his family), but there's also FCG entreating the party to be honest with each other and Ashton getting everyone to play "WTF is up with that?". And there are existing relationships between all the party's initial characters, so they have people they trust and who encourage them to open up.
The character choices also help. Fearne is active and expressive. Orym isn't burning with shame. Laudna is happy to talk about her dark stuff, even when her patron would prefer she not. FCG is all about getting people to talk. Ashton doesn't spill all their business, but they don't seem terrified of people discovering some secret about them. And Travis keeps playing outspoken, funny characters. So the conversation flows freely.
You can learn a lot about characters when they're bantering and not waiting for some heavy heart-to-heart to reveal something.
(Edited by Durandal's Fate)
@SeiverEl: You definitely misread me. I was, tongue firmly in cheek, characterizing what FreckledMcCree said about C2 as "the characters don't express themselves, so the story doesn't go anywhere". I said that was harsher than anything I said about C2.
@SeiverEl: "When there's more of a focus on interiority and reflection and character growth, as in C2, (where also, many of them are healing from trauma which is often two steps forward, two steps back), the story is *more* circuitous, not less. Meaning, C1 story goes somewhere more quickly and presumably is more linear in storytelling, has more action, etc."
What part of this do you think I was disputing?
@FreckledMcCree: Well, considering that you accused me of pushing a "hard line 'this is the one to skip'" when I was explicitly talking about my own preferences and advising everyone to consider what they personally enjoy, I guess we're both talking past each other today.
@FreckledMcCree: "there's something appealing about the specific structure of introspective storytelling that doesn't appeal to everyone, but is much appealing for those who are into mirroring, reflection, and emotional interiority as a basis for more of circuitive story structure."
I think "the characters don't express themselves, so the story doesn't go anywhere" is harsher than anything I said about C2, but as I said: "Consider what you enjoy."
I watched beginning to end, and enjoyed it that way. Consider what you enjoy. Campaign 1 had more of a heroic arc, and it had higher highs and lower lows than Campaign 2. Campaign 3 is off to the best start.
Campaign 1 has a classic epic adventuring feel, and several of the players are clearly having a ton of fun. Sam and Travis especially get to do funny, playful things all the time, and I don't know that we'll ever see Taliesin do more with a character than with Percy. Fans have strong differing opinions about certain other players' characters. The story has clear arcs and pays off with some powerful moments, including one moment of genuine emotion I'll never forget. That said, some viewers get caught up in how the first bunch of episodes are rougher in production quality and feature a player who does some grating things, but it doesn't last and you can skip the first 14 or 15 episodes without getting lost. You don't see Ashley for big chunks of the campaign.
Campaign 2 is more morally and tonally grey, and the traumatic backstory and distrust got turned up across the board. So the characters don't bounce off each other as naturally, especially in the first stages of the campaign. Again, Ashley is gone for a big chunk of the campaign, and her character is so taciturn that she often disappears into the background. On the other hand, Laura gets to do more with a more mischievous character, and Marisha is a noticeably better player by the end of the campaign than she was at the start. If I had to skip one of the main campaigns to save several hundred hours, this would be it.
Exandria Unlimited is not essential viewing, but "By the Road" is a great bottle episode you can watch on its own, and Ashley and Liam getting to be much more active with happier characters is a revelation. I wanted to see the guest players come back and play with Matt as DM.
Campaign 3 so far is much brighter than Campaign 2, and you can tell they're back to having tons of fun, laughing and clicking with each other more easily. Basically everyone seems to be playing to their strengths with the characters they've built.
I've operated under what I thought was the conventional wisdom that if a character speaks or is physically present in a scene, they "appear", but if the DM or a player simply talks about that character, they are "mentioned". I see some new edits suggesting that if someone speaks from afar (e.g. through Message or a Scroll of Telescription), they're only "mentioned", and that doesn't seem intuitive.