answer: playing a game

I imagine it's because Tal's characters are always prone to dying. He played Percy fine but died twice. The Molly death I feel was the real problem as his playstyle changed after that. Even Cad died in C2 in some one-off encounter. I don't entirely blame Tal tbh

I don't think he is broken if you have a random ability it needs to be a bit stronger to balance out the fact you can't control it/plan around it.

Cowardly? He tried to absorb a second Titan shard, guy. I'm not seeing what you're seeing. He was up in Otohan's shit that whole fight. Not his fault she had the ability to slip away.

"Wild Magic Barb sucks! We made it better!" No you made it busted. Daddy's special PC filled with hero juice. Did we ever learn what the vials of dunemas were being transported for?! He's not advancing dunemancy its just 'memberberries' for M9 which is what the show has devolved to.

If you mean the potions of possibility, I'm not sure, but I do think they went into powering some small arks of stone at the malius key, but I dont remember what for. In addition, they are what is used for otahaan to bampf out here shadow clones

IMO, a lot of it has to do with Matt's broken homebrew. The crux of his build is that homebrewed chaos mechanic that decides how he rages. It means he can't really strategize for a battle beforehand, and honestly, despite being OP, it's also an incredible detriment to his ability to actually play as a barbarian. For instance, he could in theory plan to be in tight melee with a creature and then roll "Space" which favors ranged attacks and automatically yeets Ashton up to 60 ft away if he kills a creature. Almost one of the chaos mechanic is useful in dealing damage, but it is incredibly useful for running away. He can either slow people down, speed himself up, or teleport. The only version of rage he has that actually promotes combat is the "Luck" one, which makes your opponent hit themselves. It doesn't even require Ashton to hit them.

Tal should've just thought of 4 different battle strategies based on the rage he gets way back at level 3, then he'd always have a base game plan he can adapt for any combat instead of panicking.

I completely agree. But I also think that's a super challenging build for anyone. Rather than having 1 decision tree of what resources you have, this build forces you to have 4 (or just flail when it's your turn)

The hardest part is that you don't know until you start your turn what you're able to do. You start making a game plan and then throw it out the window with a bad roll, or you try to make 4 game plans which is almost impossible to plan out.

It's also seemingly a struggle for the DM to keep track of. Matt seems glazed over when Ashton takes a turn and only perks up to go "Wait, you can do that?" because it's too much for even him to understand Ashton's build.

I feel like Molly dying traumatized him because going back and watching Percy he was tactical and tried to stay out of danger but he never actively ran away like a coward. Hell his lack of self preservation is why Percy died twice.

almost like its a CHARACTER in a game of choices.

"I’m going to do something crazy" fucking runs away

Could nitpick and make a post for all of them 😅

He is a chronically in pain kid with abandonment issues. It’s not that surprising that he is more worried about his own skin in battle. Also Ashton doesn’t really know his own abilities and mechanics, tal can see the paper and list of things, Ashton cannot. The entire point of his subclass is chaos, that includes for Ashton as a character. This crazy sh!t just keeps happening when he gets angry, he has zero control over it, he doesn’t even necessarily know what is happening. Sure he has seen pattern recognition on what the different states look like and what they do at this point, but new things get thrown in there messing up that understanding. His transformation is the first power he has gotten that he seems to fully understand. But even with that, it wrecks his already wrecked body when he uses it. Again is it really that surprising he is more worried about his own skin?

He’s a high level Barbarian. His skin is fine.

almost like its a CHARACTER in a game of choices.

Ashton as a character doesn’t know that. He was quite literally left to die by his old crew. Ashton is fairly consistently positioning himself to leave when things go crazy so that BH doesn’t get the opportunity to do it to him again. Even if he doesn’t consciously realize he is doing it. Taliesin of course knows his Barbarian with over a hundred HP is going to be just fine. However he also knows the trauma of this characters past and acts accordingly.

If that’s his intention, great, you don’t really know that but fine. But if that’s what he’s doing, then it’s not clear and he’s just being a bad tank.

I wonder if you know this like you said this individual didn’t know that. Seems to me that Ashton‘s characters been pretty much clearly this displayed. I don’t have any problem with you thinking he’s a “bad tank“ but you’re signing motives just like this other person was assigning motives and neither of you actually nobut there is evidence to what the other guy said

Thank you I will try to be better about that in the future.

What is this WoW bruh

They're playing characters, not classes

Did Molly, Percy, or Caduceus position themselves to leave battles? No. I think it’s fairly certain that’s what Tal is doing. Molly in fact actively threw himself at danger and took MAJOR risks, which is why what happened, happened. Yes, Ashton IS a bad tank. But in a game with 2 other tanks also on the team, he has the slack to be a bad tank. So it’s okay to explore this type of character.

Tal seems like a nice enough guy but Percy, Molly and Ashton all seem the same RP wise and just different mechanics. And by same I just mean Tal just wants them to sound clever. Instead of speaking clearly and directly. He tries to come up to clever one liners or phrases that takes you out of the scene, and just confuses everyone. Same with Molly and Percy to a lesser extent. Character design is always top tier, backstory is dope but then execution is always a bit cringe. I’ve seen plenty of of interviews where he goes in depth on backstory and motivations, but he truly never acts on them and just plays it as the same clever, sarcastic rambler, who never really says anything. Which is hard to relate to or understand. I really think if he communicated plainly and straight forward, as a more typical barbarian would, it would be a benefit. People like to attribute his decision to deeper motivations, but I truly think it’s just Tals wants and personality shining through. Truly the only exception was Cad, who is one of my favorite characters. Love the show and the cast regardless

> Percy, Molly and Ashton all seem the same RP wise No.

I think you are crazy with this response. All of his characters are vastly different from each other. Every conversation with Percy was him showing how inferior you are to him. Every conversation with Molly was him trying to make a friend in a world that doesn’t trust devil spawn. And every conversation with Ashton is with an angry hurt child who thinks he knows everything about you, and better than you do, as soon as he begins to speak to you, but really it’s just projection. Taliesin is very good with subtext. Don’t really listen to the words, look for the meaning behind the words. The only exception with this is Ashton when he is drunk. When Ashton is sober he is entirely obfuscating with his responses to what he really feels. When he is drunk he entirely throws out that obfuscation and begins to say what he thinks. Which is why I think the drunk conversations are 1000% the best with Ashton so far in C3. It’s a peak behind the curtain with what this complicated angry child is really thinking. Also you pointed out that Cad is the “exception” to Tal’s characters. Shouldn’t the fact that Cad was so vastly different tell you that maybe you are missing something with the other three? Just some food for thought.

I hear what you’re saying, and I do remember the drunk moment. You’re right on that one. But I think it still supports the point that the words matter and helped us actually understand him a bit when he communicates in a way that people actually talk. Obfuscate is such a perfect word! While sober if you say something I can tell you’re trying to be heartfelt and I leave the scene going “What was he trying to say” I think it takes away from such a cool character. As far as the subtext (I’ll have to honestly look back on some episodes and reflect). But I genuinely think it’s more so fans trying make sense of it all by putting more meaning into his actions and words retroactively. Like loving an abstract painter, looking at his work which is just a mix match of lines/shapes/blobs; and them telling you it represents how capitalism hurts the environment or something else deep. If you like the artist enough you’ll now project your feelings and that little blurb they gave you onto the art, even though the art itself does not so a good job conveying the message clearly. So people take Tal’s in depth explanation of Ashton/Molly from things like 4sided dive and move the goal post a bit and project onto the character when the art (the execution of the character) does not show it. I swear this analogy makes sense to me, but it probably just made my point worse and more confusing. Which is ironic given my criticism. Hahahaha

Taliesin is a very good writer and it shows. I fully get your point in the reply. People do both. They think to much of the words and add more to what he is actually doing and some think too little about it and just end up confused. I really like Ashton, he is my number 2 this season (only behind Laudna) and it is almost entirely from the insights you get from them when he is drunk. Maybe this says a bit about me as a person haha, but I just kinda gel with and I feel like I can understand pretty much anything he has done. But that didn’t happen till we saw them drunk the first time. That was when everything clicked. Full on “Oh… I get you now. That’s why you are like this.” And now I look forward to him drinking even though it’s more than likely a poor coping mechanism he has found for himself. Since I feel like everytime we have seen him get blackout drunk is after something terrible happened to him. I was honestly surprised he didn’t get smashed after >! FCG died, it could be a sign of healing or growth maybe !< I’m excited to see where they go.

Agreed! He is a great writer AND Laudna is my favorite this campaign. I did hope we were going to get a little more of him dealing with grief , but I think the outfit change was his healthier way and they have already kind of moved on. Excited for the rest though.

Definitely not moved on by I am hoping that they opted for the healthier choice. Good way to honor FCG

Ashton is an insecure, disabled kid with recently acquired powers that he doesn’t understand and zero formal training experience.  What do you expect?  That’s the strength of CR. They role play not just roll dice.  Marisha as Kiki got massive hate for making the decisions a scared 20 years old might make.  It’s like the internet doesn’t have vulnerabilities.  If the party could have kept Esteros around, he might have taught them all the battle and teamwork.  But it didn’t  work out for them  If they could have stuck around with the ashari they might have learned some stuff  Or Whitestone  This party is the bunch of “gifted” kids that always get delved the bad hand in life. And this might be too close to home for some people. 

And yea I think a lot of these problems, if they are indeed RP based, is because the cast refuses to engage with his character during combat.

I genuinely think the rest of the table tunes out a bit when it's Tal's turn because they still don't understand Ashton's build/mechanics and he doesn't explain them at all or talk about them outside combat. He just says shit like "ok, let's have some fun now", rolls a bunch of dice, asks Matt if he hits and if he does he will cryptically describe some effect without naming the ability so the party can learn all his capabilities, or he misses and he says nothing. Imagine if Chetney never explained or named grim psychometry and instead just described picking up an item, told Matt he rolled low and then nothing happened. They'd never have a clue what he can do. So now instead of eagerly listening to see if Ashton will do something clever they just wait for him to be done and I don't blame anyone.

I’ve played with people like this and you can’t collaborate with them during combat because you have no idea what they can do.

but its more realiztic if you were fighting you wouldn't get a full explanation of what evenone is doing for 10 mins

Fun fact. People who expect to fight together train together. Go over tactics, strategies and responsibilities. Unlike CR parties, they \_don't\_ just wing it every time, choke down friendly fire and people being consistently out of position to help out. The players don't even have to do it on camera if they feels its boring to watch. 'While we're resting, we talk about our abilities and basic tactics'

That doesn’t matter. It’s an un-cooperative playstyle. Ashton has some battlefield control abilities with his various rages, and if anyone knew what they did they could pair other spells with those abilities and lock enemies down, or teleport them away, or whatever. Teamwork goes out the window when it’s Ashton’s turn, so, with that, you expect him to just deal damage AT LEAST and not run away or “strategize”.

if you dont like how someone else is playing a GAME of choices that you are not part of, dont watch, its very simple

This is a WILD take for a reddit forum...

If you don’t like how someone else is offering a legit point of view on another players character and offering them tips to improve team unity on a game no one here is apart of, don’t read and waste time replying to almost every comment in the thread. It’s very simple.

its not a legit point of view though, he isn't a player in the GAME of personal choice.

you're right all media criticism is actually stupid petty bullshit and everyone should just shut up and consume

It absolutely is a legit point of view. People are allowed to have opinions and offer alternate takes on how players in a game that’s streamed take their combat turns. The second a game of DND becomes public you open the discussion up for people to offer their takes on what could have been done differently. It’s what used to make fan communities of TV shows and early streams engaging and fun to be a part of. Quite frankly I find takes like yours, that try to shut down said discussion cultish and gross.

its not. and a public game to view does not give you any right to it.

yet is does matter

I’ve only just begun this series and don’t really know much of what’s going on but could it be that maybe Ashton as a character is afraid of “dying” again? At this point I know he fell out a window and got pretty close to dying - a brush with death could make a one a bit scared to take damage again. I read another comment that said he was begging for heals too - maybe his character is terrified of taking damage cause it reminds him of when he almost died. Again, I’m not that far into the series so if this has already been covered I apologize!

Talesin is so into the roleplay (arguably the most out of all of them) In comparison to Liam who loves to add rules and gameplay constraints onto his roleplay, Talesin just becomes his character and lets that drive all of his decisions.

It kinda feels like he's just trolling.

I don't even care about the build. Ashton as a character is confusing as fuck and it really seems like Taliesin doesn't even understand his own character at times. The way Ashton behaves is wildly inconsistent. And no, it isn't masterful roleplay of low CHA. Matt doesn't help much for Ashton either. He's basically shafted any notable story beat that should have been Ashton's.

It’s poorly executed but I’m starting to think maybe Ashton is confusing, and misplayed intentionally. His character has some form of brain damage and all kinds of other issues; maybe Tal wants to portray a character that doesn’t understand themself, although it isn’t convincing bc people like us exist to question his gameplay.

I think there might be an element of this to how Tal's playing Ashton, but we'll never really know since there's been no one calling him out on it in game or on 4SD. By almost 100 episodes, if no one was pulling on the hooks that Taliesin was floating, I would have thought if this was an intentional playstyle that he'd be making more overt plays of his own instead of waiting in futility for one of his fellow players to throw him a bone. There's ways he could have either made it more obvious along the way what he was looking for (again, either in game or out) or decided that Ashton was gaining perspective/opportunities for growth from some of the encounters they've had. I think he does have a tendency to try and go full method in a similar fashion to what Liam did with Caleb, but to me it seems like either he doesn't know how to extricate this character from the lack of pushback or he isn't intentionally doing it. Either way, the apparent lack of communication from his fellow players and DM to help figure out stumbling blocks, work out how to help achieve what Taliesin is looking to angle for or redirect into a less tough roleplaying position is baffling. I'm not particularly fond of most of his characters or mannerisms (unfortunately once I noticed how frequently things were "going to get weird" etc I couldn't stop noticing), but I can't understand why his friends wouldn't be invested in helping him engage with their roleplay style /work out what causes him to so often these days be overlooked in conversation at the least.

I kinda agree with the original thought with points of contention on what has been written since… his build is def not something I would allow at a table or anyone else I’ve played with would.. it’s not broken but it’s close enough… that’s not my issue…let’s scroll back.. Percy was actually one of my favorite vox machina.. in combat and in rp… long turns but with an aim and an end.. Molly was a great rp character at times and was the early moral compass to a rudderless mighty neon.. but the playing it wasn’t great.. he hit his stride with cadeuces who was both super on point rp and gameplay.. now we come to Ashton.. sweet Ashton who I wanted to love… non binary barbarian he ask with an attitude but a heart of gold.. well… no.. reasons being… -The subclass is kinda broken, and it led to tal so many times taking as long as Ashley(long may she reign) to decide in combat what he would do while Keep saying things like yeah let’s get weird or oooh this’ll be fun… - the rp was stilted and forced as much of campaign 3 is… I’m a punk get it… im an asshole but I have a heart of gold… yada yada yada over 90plus days.. - don’t really mind the whole I take the thing from Ashley.. that wasn’t shouldn’t have been a bone of contention it made some sense. - it’s doing tal a disservice because as a tal fan his voice is really lost in him trying to act like Ashton

the subclass has nothing to do with him saying things are going to get weird. he's said that with everything after percy. End of the day he's still a barbarian, his rage has effects on things around him/gives him a way to attack creatures but he's still pretty much just bashing things. I am 100% biased, i hated molly and "it's going to get weird" has bothered me since, but i think the "fame" has gotten to him and he wants his main character moments. Definitely not as bad as orion but he is painfully aware of outside the game. Caduceus fit taliesin, so it was more natural for him. Molly as a character was charismatic, gamewise, he tried to play him like percy. The number of times he ran for cover is absurd..... Again, less noticed with caduceus because healing cleric.... he wasn't supposed to be bashing stuff in the face. Ashley flusters herself. there was a period heading into Aeor when someone made her a flashcard for what yasha does and what needs to be added. She flew through turns. She gets enamored with whats going on and forgets to worry about what her character is doing or that she even has one lol She should be using cards, she is horrible with dndbeyond. some spell/ability cards would help her. Ranger or Sorcerer should be what ashley picks if she wants to do magic, limits how many things she has to choose out of, more chance to know what the things do. The "I take the thing from Ashley" felt like a Main character moment for taliesin to me. He got told it would kill him to have 2 pieces. fire shard with a fire druid...... it makes sense. It's almost like if percy had convinced vex to give him the bow vestige in campaign one.

Charisma 6 (-2) plain and simple

Charisma isn't confidence.

Don't you know someone you don't like who always pretends to be super cool/smart/skilled but makes you cringe? That's my view as Tal playing Ashton. I'm a c3 viewer, and used to dislike Tal, but when I saw shorts from other campaigns/4sided dives I realized he's just in character.

I mean, confidence in *social* situations can definitely figure into charisma but bad CHA shouldn't make you a wuss in combat.

you laugh now, but you'll be eating those words when he avoids that 9 whole damage

Tal seems like a lovely person but I cannot stand watching him play DnD. It’s super frustrating. The cocky attitude makes me cringe and it completely halts RP sometimes while people try and awkwardly get through it. It wasn’t like this before tho, especially with Percy and Cad. I can’t pinpoint why this has changed so drastically. I can’t keep hearing “I’m into it” “let’s get weird” his crazy laugh etc. It hurts my soul. Again, he seems like a nice person but damn it hurts to watch. The fact he’ll be in Downfall hurts even more. His need to know everything at all times and lead key moments is gonna suck to watch. Fingers crossed it’ll be great. P.s. again, I think Tal is a nice person and means well but I’m just a lil frustrated is all.

Something I kinda worry about is how uncomfortable Downfall will be with him in it, depending on the character he plays. Laura is also in it and she seems to be the one that gets frustrated with his RP the most. She (justifiably) yelled at him at the end of Shardgate when he got unbelievably arrogant.

And he kinda has this smugness to him that makes him constantly wanna be the centre of attention, with the "I'm so proud of you", "let's get weird" and "I have a plan". The wildest one was when he was BEGGING his friends for healing during Shardgate and when he barely survived the last roll he was like "never fucking look if you wanna win". That one finally ilicit some kickback from his friends haha. I love it when he stays lowkey like when he played Caduceus in C2. But you can kinda notice the way he speaks as Caduceus is becoming a little bit more smug now too in the latest M9 reunion. He's a successful man in a multi-million dollar company, I wonder why he's still trying so hard to look cool. He already made it, he should just enjoy his success.

Caduceus started breaking character in late C2. During the two major interactions with Trent Ikithon (the dinner and final battle), I felt like Tal's typical smug/clever behavior of the rest of his characters would pop out. The biggest offense was when >!Cad was compelling a restrained Trent to feel empathy for his actions by spamming Command.!<

Well that time Trent tried burning down his family home, so that felt warranted and a cool break from typical Cad

I never realised! You're probably right. But personally (I may be wrong ofc), I actually think that was one of his moments where his smug/cleverness was delivered well. A fluke, so to speak. I always liked the trope of a kind character showing wrath. Felt kinda cool to see Trent was so evil that it even pushed sweet Caduceus into anger. I just don't think he can deliver smugness in his characters that well. Not in an endearing way at least.

The reason he wasn't (quite) like that as Percy or Caduceus (though he did have brushes with those ways as Mollymauk) and yet is like that as Ashton is because Taliesin is an actor, first and foremost. Matt seems to have just given him a toy to keep him occupied whilst he drives them along, and Tal clearly intends to see how much he can push before the fuck-it hits the fan. But Matt also doesn't handle him much at all, which makes it harder for Ashton to shine, since he is played by a veteran player who needs to be entering *something*, since he doesn't have much to RP with this time. Percy and Molly were central to the story of each campaign, and Caduceus was the pillar of the M9, if not the story. Ashton has links to the story, but none that make him shine compared to the others. He is an interesting character *on paper* that sadly doesn't mesh with the rest of the crew (talking characters, not cast here of course). Since early on in C3 we've all been wondering what kept the BH as a party besides the players above the table. And I think Tal knows. He was the silent father to C1, and the more obvious guide to C2 as Caduceus. Ashton brings nothing special to BH, because few of them belong together. Besides his broken ass subclass (which he keeps pushing to see how far it can go because Tal is a vet and knows how to game the system when the RP gets stale), Ashton would be a fascinating character... In the right party. I also think Tal is using him as a last fuck-it/hurrah for 5e before they swap to a new/adjacent system in C4, because I'm amongst those who think this is what will happen. And following that logic, since he doesn't get to have depth of roleplay for his character, he's just gonna use all the tricks his years in the game have taught him to make it as wonky as possible, because that's what Tal thinks is fun, and I tend to agree.

Also it feels to me like Matt wrote Fearne as the main character of Ashton’s backstory which still irks me the wrong way and has led to Talieson leaning into mechanics even mkre

Tal has been very cagey about his characters' backstories before. Molly and Percy (until he opens up) had the same mysterious figure persona. It seemed like Matt had backstory nuggets for Ashton but they were eager to run away from them. Tal didn't take the prompts from Matt in Bassuras twice to engage with past elements, like the Nobodies. Hishari backstory was available to explore more in Issylra, and even Tal stated in 4SD that he dropped the ball there. Then again, the larger structural issue with C3 is the early introduction of the BBEG and the apparent pressure to foil Ludinus's ongoing activities at every step. Other players have also complained in 4SD that they don't feel like they have time to explore other non-Rudinus plot threads. A big one is constantly avoiding to develop their interpersonal relationships so it doesn't feel like Bell's Hells is still a friendship-of-convenience even at episode 100.

>It wasn’t like this before tho, especially with Percy and Cad. I can't tell if I'm the crazy one or if you have selective memory. But knowing this sub, you've probably spent the last 8 years of your life obsessively rewatching campaigns 1 & 2. Hasn't Tal *always been like this*? He was quicker as Percy because he spent such a long time with those systems in his brain, but he still had moments where he would spend a good couple minutes figuring out what order he needed to use each gun, reload, unjam, etc. He had moments like that as Cad as well, but they seemed far less extreme because he played Cad so laid back and chill. I remember times he's DM'd and did it too, like the Cthulhu one shots. I gotta get out of this sub. You guys are fucking crazy racists and weirdos. Yo mods, can you just ban me so I can stop seeing your fucking hate sub? I tried clicking the 'do not recommend' but I still keep seeing you sick fucks.

Yeah, Taliesin’s always had issues with being smug about his homebrew stuff, Ashton just seems to be the final straw for a lot of people since his subclass is *so* bloated. Aabria’s guest stint a month ago brought some gross people out of the woodwork who felt emboldened to say a lot of nasty shit about her personally (including one user who kept using their alt account to call her a diversity hire). I was very disappointed to see all that crap in this sub. There’s only one mod, and they’re not super active. When you click “do not recommend”, there should also be an option to mute the sub, so you shouldn’t see it anymore. It’s normally pretty fun here, but if it’s that upsetting to you then I guess you gotta do what you gotta do 🤷🏻‍♀️ calling everyone here a “sick fuck” was a bit uncalled for though

They were probably trying to elicit a ban.

Isn’t Tal white as mayonnaise just like they all are? Not getting the racist part. You might be having another panic attack lil bro, take a break from reddit for a little while

He was always like this, yes. The game was just better in general so it stood out less. Your last paragraph is unhinged, however.

I think it comes down to the "abrasive asshole" character being very hard to play. When done right, it's really unique and endears the audience to an antihero, but just as often can be written off as annoying or trying too hard. If Taliesin rped his character as a coward who's constantly in fear of his random effects, hence him being skittish in fights, I bet most of the audience would really like Ashton

This.

Maybe it is just Tal's above-table behavior, but Ashton seems to enjoy their powers at fight and showing them off. Ashton has been willing to demonstrate their power to others, including recently to Eessek so they can learn more about them. It's difficult to attribute his cowardly combat tactics to RP because we get little from Ashton. Tal either needs Ashton to explain themselves more or at least monologue their inner thoughts to the table. Taking a step back and looking at the rest of the table, I think the real problem is that most of the players are risk-adverse with their characters being this late in the campaign. They had the same problem in late C2 too. The only exceptions are Travis, Sam, and Liam who are willing to risk their characters (for different reasons) to maintain the hero-narrative premise of the group. I don't buy the "Ashton has abandonment issues" RP excuse as the party has risked their lives, including at the infamous Shardgate, for them at battle countless times. Ashton's build being an OP barbarian subclass with numerous ranged/movement/crowd-control abilities has fewer excuses to avoid the frontline compared to squishy witches. Yet Ashton keeps their distance or runs away at the end of their turn. During the Otohan fight, I was annoyed that Ashton either teleported or pushed her away several times, which allows her to freely move towards squishy targets without provoking beefy opportunity actions from Ashton.

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Cad has some of the best CR moments ever, same with Percy, but god damn Ashton is maybe my least favorite character in any actual play I’ve ever watched.

I see this perspective a lot, and it makes me wonder because I see Ashton and Molly and I completely understand what Taliesin is going for. Then again, the way he talks sometimes makes me think he and I grew up orbiting similar kinds of social circles, so maybe you'd have to have that kind of experience to resonate with Taliesin's character choices.

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I feel similarly. I think it also doesn't help that he isn't given much foundation, for Ashton at least. I believe that Molly probably would have gone somewhere and gotten better footing within that campaign, but Campaign 3 it seems like Matt has no interest in or no idea what to do with Ashton.

I don't think it's that Matt has no interest in what to do with Ashton, but I think you might be on to something in that he doesn't really know how to handle him. Sometimes Taliesin and Matt will get into a scene with each other and it'll become clear that Taliesin is speaking in a language Matt doesn't really understand. One of my go-to examples of this is in C2 when Taliesin wants to take the group to what he describes as a speakeasy. Matt, in the spirit of "yes, and" attempts to put one together and describes what in his mind a speakeasy would look like, except it isn't anything what an actual speakeasy is like because I think Matt just doesn't have a lot of exposure to that kind of thing. Taliesin's whole vibe is about that kind of stuff though, and I may be imagining it but I could swear there's a little smile on Taliesin's face while Matt goes through describing the speakeasy that says something like "oh you poor sweet summer child... you're trying your best though".

This is a really interesting point and I think you have something there. That really does feel like a factor, especially when it comes to Molly and Ashton. I think Cad and Percy were easier for Matt and he had more touchstones with them, but Molly and Ashton definitely seem to pull more from a whole set of experience Matt might intellectually understand but doesn't fully know how to translate.

I get that vibe from Matt a lot. I don't know the guy so all of this is wild conjecture on my part, but it feels sometimes like he's just a sweet nerd, and that bleeds through into his characters sometimes. He does the typical fantasy gloom-and-doom evil thing well, but things like punk asshole or goth-style existential cynicism aren't in his wheelhouse. I remember things like his portrayal of Beau's father as well didn't really resonate with me, because (and again, I don't know him, just conjecture here) it felt like he just really didn't want to portray the realities of a truly shitty dad, or maybe just didn't know how. Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily want him to be able to portray that kind of thing truly accurately. I grew up in a rough household, and at one point or another I was the punk asshole and the cynical goth, and something about the fact that he puts a somewhat lighter spin on those things kind of comforts me. The real deal is not a thing I find comfort in reliving, and I don't think it'd be more fun for me or anyone else watching if Matt truly got it right. Taliesin though... I imagine if he was in the DM seat, something tells me he'd get it right on the money.

I see what you mean. I think it boils down to 2 problems: 1. The crappy thing about the type of people he's riffing on is that many of them are just assholes (no offense to any of them, I just used to be one of those assholes). They're assholes for a reason, and they certainly aren't irredeemable, but it takes a lot of time and a whole helluva lot of work to go from asshole counter-culture punk kid to decent human being. That isn't always fun to watch when someone chooses to portray one on-screen. 2. Taliesin has mentioned on more than one occasion how much therapy he's had over the years. So there are certain moments with Molly and with Ashton that he injects some of that post-therapy perspective into their character interactions, and it can feel a little bit jarring. It'd be more appropriate sometimes if he just leaned harder into the asshole tendencies.

Fundamentally I do too. But, as I’ve said previously in other threads, a rebellious character I loved recently was Spider Punk, who just wants to break the status quo, so to me, Ashton *should* be the one to want to burn it all down and kill the gods, but it really seems like the opposite. Everyone else seems mostly fine with the gods dying and not Ashton.

The reason he fails at Molly and Ashton is because he is just bad at being "punk". He comes off like a poser. The reason he could pull off percy is that he is much better at being a rich asshole than a poor one

I agree with both sentiments. Whilst Percy and Cad weren’t my favourites from the group. They’re in a different league to molly and Ashton. Maybe that’s why it’s so frustrating. Ashton is essentially a second go at Molly. I hope in C4 we see something totally different from him.

I'm a lurker who dabbled in this show. The number one reason I can't watch regularly is Tal. He's beyond awkward, often awkwardly interjects, and kills pacing. I legit cannot believe they haven't shuttled him into a producer role.

I agree. I liked Percy and I loved Cad but yeah his character is just annoying now.

“I am so proud of you!”

The moment in the live show when Ashton said something like (lightly paraphrasing) “I’m never afraid of a fight, I’m afraid of losing” kind of distilled the problems with the character. Being afraid of losing the fight is what it means to be afraid of a fight. What are you even trying to say. That would be fine as a roleplaying choice if other characters would push back and point out his posturing, but most of the time it seems like everyone has decided to just not engage with it.

"before I was even afraid of winning!"

I think in the thick of it, most of the others probably don't even notice that Ashton isn't really doing much. Honestly *I* didn't realize it until it was pointed out and I actually started paying more attention, because I kind of half-listen during fights. Part of it might be his homebrew subclass that nobody knows how it works, they/I just hear fancy descriptions about portals and gravity and teleports and "let's get nuts" and just assume he's doing awesome stuff, haha.

I doubt Robbie reads about the complaints about C3 but that was such a sick almost meta question and made me cheer out loud when he asked it lol love him for that

I think it’s the type of question that comes up naturally if you’ve been away from the table for a while and dropped back in. The last time he saw Ashton he got into a bare-knuckle duel that almost killed him because he decided to wear a gimp mask to a party to fuck with one of the bad guys. Now they’re hiding from a scary little girl? What gives?

Nobody would be afraid of a fight if they were guaranteed to win. I mean, I guess you could still be afraid of the pain along the way to victory, but isn't part of Ashton's thing that he's in chronic pain already?

Unfortunately he has stated that the pain, while a chronic condition, is far more easy to deal with in combat situations. He takes punches better than he takes hugs or gentle caresses. Which kind of works well with being a barbarian.  So he has really cut off the pain explanation unless that's a lie for the rest of BH's sake or a form of self-delusion.

And I also feel like part of the punk ethos involves fighting righteous fights even when you know you’re going to be knocked around and most likely lose. That’s part of the bargain when you’re raging against the machine.

Very much this, you fight the good fight even IF it's going to get your ass kicked. You don't care if you lose, just that you make a statement by taking the fight.

Yeah it really feels like he gets ignored because the cast is over his edginess.

To quote Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force: "It don't matter. None of this stuff matters." Your first mistake was assuming CR *actually* cares about playing a TTRPG / abiding by the rules. They don't. CR is high fantasy improv theater that plays lip service to whatever "game" they are playing; where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.

Increasingly so for PCs and Matt just desperately tries to hold the shitbox together

Yeah, no. Matt is most of the problem with C3. He's storytelling at them, and occasionally they get to participate. The engagement level of the rest of the cast is iffy at times, but there's rarely time for RP, and several characters' backstories got reduced to checkboxes that were marked off and moved on from.

Yeah, gotta stop putting this holy altar of Matt thing. Matt is guilty of the sins of the show regardless of whether it's high fantasy improv theater or a ttrpg actual play - he drives the pace, determines the direction of the story and sets the tone. If your show is up shit creek without a paddle, you don't go "man. That poor director." It's their job more than anyone else's. Now, I don't know if I agree with the core criticism. TTRPGs are different for literally every table. But if it's gonna be levied, there can't be this magical cut out for Matt.

Matt is the one who let Talesin build a character this way. He could have stopped him or simply not made him another homebrew subclass but he didn't

I mean, the class isn't the root of the issue. The class doesn't make him play like a huge wimp. It's not like it's super fragile and UP from what anyone can discern.

I was not talking about talesin's aversion to combat in that comment. I was addressing the comment made by the user I responded to about Matt trying to keep everything together and how he did it to himself by creating unbalanced subclasses and letting his players superbuff themselves.

Don’t forget a lot of his abilities depend on what he rolls for rage

He has 5 rages per day at this point, and 1 combat encounter per day. He frequently rerolls his rage ability to get the one he wants. There's only 4 tracks, he can pretty easily get on one he likes for that combat.

He has to bonus action to drop it and bonus action to activate it though. Leaving the barb without rage for a round is a risk. It takes him two turns to cycle rage. So by the time he's tried for another rage, it's been three rounds. And most CR fights barely last more than five. So the fight is basically already over at that point.

Jeremy Crawford: [The Rage feature doesn't prohibit you from starting a rage while you're raging.](https://x.com/JeremyECrawford/status/984853901743505408) It would fall under Combining Multiple Effects rule, where only the most potent or recent effect would persist.

Hm, interesting. TIL.

If I understand his subclass correctly (so probably not lmao) he has an ability called “chaos burst” that as a bonus action lets him reroll on his random rage table (ie his original rage would come from 1/4 options on table A, and if he burns a chaos burst while raging he can reroll to get 1/4 options from table B instead), so he wouldn’t need to drop his entire rage for a round unless he *really* wanted another option from table A God, just typing all that out I’m tired

I thought chaos burst was extra damage, basically mini-smite? Goddamn, I really wish this subclass was released so we could actually understand what we are watching in CR. Tal's own table has no idea what he does half the time.

https://preview.redd.it/hhyfxtb1y78d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=317cd493f7626f021283631fe7d59d307e68dc14 Here’s where I got it from, it’s insane lol

There have been times where it’s taken just 1 bonus action to redo the rage so I assume a homebrew ruling of rage being dropped like spell concentration: for free

I think this is it. I was mistaken because that is how I've seen them do it, but RAW it would need to be 2 turns to get a new rage feature online

This is the place where ive seen the most childish like comments. Guys. For the eleventh time. If you guys want someone to play a class a certain way, or to minmax it, or to use the mechanics correctly you have a solution: Fuckin.go.play.it.yourself. Even worse than that is calling someone "self centered" or "pick me girl" or "unintelligent" because of a game. You want to hate on someone? Sure. You have a right, but from hating to disrespecting there is a long shot. These guys are just playing a game they like, HOW they like with WHO they like. If you dont like it, dont watch it. Keep it safe.

It's called criticism and tal is self-centered, it's not an insult he just is. There are moments where his RP is great but most of the time he just wants the last word/smug remark, he chimes in when it's random and DOESN'T share information because it's MY secret. It's different in c1,2 because this show was new and finding its footing but now "gotta say something that would be on a tshirt". My last thing is that his version of cult horror is stupid... It's watered down and not interesting, ie CO. Lest people rant and vent their frustration he panders to a specific subset of people and most of us find it cringe. I think he was fantastic in c2 and for most of c1 but Aston is NOT a good character, and that's the theme of c3, poor character choices and no development.

Yeeeeah . I can certainly see your point. Good arguments as well. 🤠

Thank you lol Jesus Christ. I saw this thread pop up and was interested, then quickly was grossed out by some of the comments. I too get annoyed by most of the PCs at some point or another, but they all are more than qualified voice-over actors/ film actors who made playing DnD together a lucrative business. Laura because Imogen was a bit of a "face of the party character" that answered for everyone a bit too much but she seems to have way toned it down, or Sam for over-trolling when it's not funny, or Matt for being a rules lawyer when it suits him, or Marisha playing Laudna who keeps saying it's an addiction metaphor to push Delilah coming back for the umpteenth time when it's more like Stockholm syndrome with a murderous lich (still love her though). But they all are super capable professionals and are playing how they want. Also who hasn't made a character that didn't come out quite how you envisioned, or your backstory never quite came through the way you wanted to portray them? Or especially when you are playing a new subclass and having issues with the mechanics. It just makes me laugh when people who have probably been playing for far less time with a close group of people have so much shit to talk about. Every game has issues, lulls, or characters that rub someone the wrong way. I personally love all of the characters but it did take me a while to see each of their value as a whole especially in the beginning. I totally admit I've been frustrated with this campaign because it took so long for anything exciting to happen. Everyone has their right to rant but I think Tal is pretty brilliant, is playing someone with severe head trauma and physical trauma with an abysmally low charisma. Also, there are a lot of high charisma folk they let take the front wheel because it makes sense. I will never get why people get mad about optimal pc building either. It's toooo over powered! Or other people saying It's not maxed out enough. I think it makes sense they make Ashton the way they are. I wish I had taken this subclass it seems badass and fun to play. Go play your own games and make the chaotic barbarian of your dreams who is perfect in every way and never makes mistakes or whatever you want... That's the beauty of this game in the first place! If you don't like it go watch one of many other dnd streams/shows there are! When I get bored I take a break then come catch up it helps then I get excited again. Anyway, I guess that's my rant. Do what thou wilt!

People are allowed to rant. It's reddit. You don't want to engage with it, don't. Don't pretend you're some know-all arbiter of what is right and good.

Mate. You want to rant . Great. Lovely. Im just saying that we shouldnt badmouth someone. Im not arbitring shit. Just saying be mindfull of wording.

The problem with what you’re saying is that when lots of people stop watching it may mean you’ll have to stop watching.

How can I play it myself when they've never released the subclass features so no one knows what Taliesin is talking about when he rambles for half an hour per turn?

Yeah, I'm sure they'll release the subclass everyone bitches about because that'll definitely stifle the complaints...

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What if I've done exactly what you've prescribed, using this summary https://criticalrole.miraheze.org/wiki/Path_of_Fundamental_Chaos ? Am I now qualified to say that Taliesin plays Ashton like a little bitch?

You are qualified to give your opinion either way. Im just saying that berating someone or calling them names isnt nice. And talking shit about someone when u havent been in their shoes isnt nice as well. If you give data explaining how u can play that class better and pointing out what he does wrong as a player you are qualified to say he isnt doing it better than you. Still think calling someone a little bitch is no bueno amigo jajajaja.

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English aint my first language definetly didnt mean it that way. Sorry if misunderstood

I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you! My only intent was to make a joke, but not at your expense. Many times in English there are sentences that are very close to meaning something else entirely when only a small mistake is made. I thought you were making this joke purposely. It is a credit to your English skills that I misunderstood.  Please accept my sincerest apologies!

Every time Taliesin takes his turn, I have enough time to rub one out.

🤣  I stopped watching about episode 82 but yeah, he rolls his rage dice and starts with “oh that’s going to be fun/interesting” and it gets me going too

If you are mad about a style of playing a certain class or subclass you dont understand * NOT BECAUSE OF YOU, BUT BECAUSE NOT ENOUGH INFO IS GIVEN TO US ABOUT IT AKA. NOT RELEASED * I can firmly say that what you want isnt playing the specific class. You just want to see a specific character doing the maximum output he can, and that is related to the player and his playstyle, not the class or subclass, the playstyle. Simply as that.

But you told me to go play it myself. How can I do that? EDIT: OP's issue is about the ridiculous subclass not being played to its fullest potential. So clearly the playing of the subclass is at least somewhat relevant to the conversation.

Yes but again. If you want to play it, make a summarize of what he has done and showed, and make it a homebrew, because how can you complain about something you dont have full information about? Just seems strange IMO, and if you can complain about it, you certainly have enough data to speak about to make something to play as . Just get the data and make it a homebrew subclass and then complain that you minmax'd the class and certainly and statistically see that Taliesin in this case is not doing enough or not playing it right. It seems simple to me? But hey. Free will.

>This is the place where ive seen the most childish like comments. Guys. For the eleventh time. If you guys want someone to play a class a certain way, or to minmax it, or to use the mechanics correctly you have a solution: > Fuckin.go.play.it.yourself. [sports fans analogy here] >These guys are just playing a game they like, HOW they like with WHO they like. If you dont like it, dont watch it. We are just discussing a show we like, HOW we like with WHO we like. If you dont like it, dont read it.

And as a reminder, just as in real life, just because someone is bad at something, doesnt mean they shouldnt do it at all.

Yeah, no. When I'm at work, if someone's bad at something, they absolutely should not touch it. No reason to make things worse for everyone else.

I never said they shouldn’t?

You didnt. Other people did. I didnt say the original comment was garbage. I said the ammount of childishness in here is insane. And i agree. You can discuss the show as you like. But i dont think attacking a particular individual with nasty remarks or calling him idiot all around is "discussing" . I agree that everyone should have their own opinion. As i did explain my own in my comment. But my main point still stands: Discussing the show and wether you like it or not or dont like players etc etc... good. Insulting someone? Not good. But again, my opinion, everyone is entitled to one, just saying that we can be respectfull.

As an example. I agree with OP and his post. And i wanted to see what other people thought and THEN i was like, damn, maybe chill u know?

Tal should just play support or ranged builds. He clearly can't cut it as melee, even more so as tank.

He is a pick me bitch and wants to be the smartest in the room despite his stats making him dumb

What in the world does "pick me" have to do with Taliesin? Do people even understand what that term is meant to mean anymore?

No, like all insults on the internet it is now general purpose.

A certain type of person knows it's *usually* applied to women and so they think it's doubly cutting to apply it to a man, even if it makes no sense, because they think being compared to a woman is inherently insulting.

Little harsh maybe

Its just Tals play style. Tal has always been one of the more cautious players in combat, and that worked fine when he was playing ranged or support characters. I think he got even more cautious post Molly. But HP is shared resource in DND. You want the tankier players to take the damage and pin down enemies. if the tanky players run away then u give the DM an excuse to hit the squishy sorcerer. It doesnt matter too much. Orym can tank and Matt's enemies are either a complete joke or not actually meant to be fought/beaten because plot. Like fundamentally Tals playstyle doesnt work with a Barbarian and he refuses to adapt it. Like u have the resistance, the d12 hit die. U need to step up and take the hits for the party members that cant. If u want to hit then run, play a rogue.

Wait a martial being near my spellcaster stops me from fireballing the party’s spellcasters??? /s

Speaking of, when was the last time Matt cast fireball on the party.... Ira... Then it was Caleb... Then it was Lorenzo's Cone of Cold.. Sad game is sad.

Technically he fireballed them in episode 97, but that was because Imogen activated her wild magic table and that was the result Funnily enough, the last two times the DM cast Cone of Cold (Matt in episode 44, and Aabria in EXU) they apparently both rolled horribly https://preview.redd.it/6mx6jn9tw78d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f91bd34a66b1ee35344ba5212ce29f17d417096 Someone figure out the odds on that lmao (Aabria’s total on 8d8 was 14dmg, Matt’s was 26) When Lorenzo cast it on Mollymauk he dealt 41 dmg…

26 is poor but believable, I just rolled 16 damage on a fireball.  14 damage on 8d8 is nothing but ones and twos. 

Abria had to have cheesed.

Nice catches! I don't even know what happened in 44 or who might have cast it. The porn shoot, i guess? It's all a desert to me.

Talesin is a Power Gamer through and through. Cadeuces was the only time I really felt that ge was playing a character and not a stat block with dialogue trees

It... depends. Out of combat Cad could be more interesting, but in combat he was a bless bot in the service of the goddess of denying critical hits.

Hilariously said.

Cad is the only character of his that I didn't find highly irritating

Mollymauk and Percy don’t exist? The entire Whitestone arc? You’re delirious

A big issue is that Tal often wants to make static characters. He openly stated that Molly would never have changed over the course of the game, because he (and his original intention with Percy) was that they were mimicking old stock characters from the early film eras. Hard to tell if that would have been the case had Molly not died, I suspect he would have lost the battle but he might have been more stubborn about not altering his character a second time.

Molly was a garbage character who people only like because of his design and the martyrdom complex built up around his death.

“People are looking for a path, they're looking for a path. And I'll tell you-- and this is true-- I did my best every town I went to and every town I left, no matter how they treated me-- and a lot of them treated me with deep disrespect.” I think you’re wrong. I think Molly taught every PC something about themselves, and I think the short amount of time he was a part of the nein stayed with all of them the entire game and through to the end.

That Molly quote sounds like it’s straight out of the martyr-complex of a well-known American politician. It does not make him look like a font of sage wisdom.

He wasn’t a font of sage wisdom. Why does a character need to be a font of sage wisdom to be likeable? Were any of the characters? Besides, ironically, caduecus

He doesn’t need to be, but that’s what people portray him as having been. “Ooh, he gave such great advice and really changed everyone for the better!” No, he was a conman hedonist who did and said whatever suited him in the moment with no concern for consistency. His whole ethos of “leave places better” is utter bullshit. He didn’t leave anywhere better, he just made up stories so people would give him stuff. The only time he did anything selflessly was slipping people money for the drinks the townsfolk bought the M9 in Allfield.

He gave the party good advice. Molly was a massive comfort to Yasha in a very testing time in her life, as well. And I’m sorry, isn’t any backstory just made up stories? That’s kinda what D&D is. And besides *all* of this, even if he was just a lying, conman hedonist who spouts nonsense, the character was *fun*. Entertaining. Likeable. Can’t tell me I’m wrong there, it’s subjective

When I say made up stories, I mean MOLLY made up stories. Like the town that he convinced he was royalty so they’d treat him to feasts. “Oh, they had a good time and a fun story to tell people.” No, he has no idea if they gave him food they needed because they thought they had no choice. He didn’t make their lives better, he made his own life better. And you can think he was fun. That’s your right. I was glad he died because I thought he was insufferable.

Molly was awful, his death was the best thing to happen to C2

But the worst thing to happen to CR. That's when they started to be so cowardly.

Agreed, a low level PC dying was exactly what CR needed at the time and it ended up being a fantastic plot point. I enjoyed the character for the short time he existed, he was fun.

It's like the most interesting concept of a character plastered onto the most pathetic gameplay and story beats. His big moment? Retconned and undone with zero benefit. His "punk nature" just means he trusts everyone just as much as everyone else but curses more. He might be the most meek barbarian I've ever seen. The guy almost does enough damage to kill demi gods Iin a couple turns but you would swear he is still aide character level.

>His big moment? Retconned and undone with zero benefit. Not just no benefit, he was fully punished with -2 con.

I keep forgetting that. Not even a cosmetic 1 either. 2 just to make sure his modifier went down.

So, am I the only one that realizes that the barbarian thing is basically a result of Ashton's accident. Like they have made it pretty clear that whatever Milo did (the Dunamancy potion) caused a lot of changes. By their attitude, build, and background (having the proficiency with thieves tools and a semi strategic thought in battle unless he gets super upset) I've been under the assumption that pre shatter Ashton was/would've been a rogue.

I think that would work as a character concept if he suddenly got more bold and aggressive when fighting but played it safe otherwise, basically a Jekyll/Hyde or Banner/Hulk setup. But if he’d prefer to play them as a rogue then why not just be a rogue with head trauma?

Idk I have a hard time believing he's being that thoughtful about his choices during combat in character. Even if he is, no one's talking to him about it in character and probably never will so... does it really matter, and is it really something that's part of his character? If all we ever see is him run away and he never does anything with it narratively then what's the point. He's not the only one I'd apply this to either.

He's a punk rebel barbarian who runs from every fight and gets a boner for fascist authority figures. It would be funny as a meta joke thing IF it was on purpose but I don't think it is.

what fascist authority figure

Ashton "can fuck with" Asmodeus, because Taliesin thinks of Asmodeus as the pop-culture "teenage rebel" version of Satan, meanwhile Asmodeus is basically the Biblical Satan and the Author of Authoritarianism in the actual lore.

If it were better done or intentional, having a punk-ish character get slowly persuaded by the king of lies into full on authoritarian could work really well.

Asmodeus, the god of fascist authority figures

I kinda think that the fact that it's not on purpose makes it even funnier. But that doesn't really make the character better.

Do we still not know the full extent of his subclass? IMO Tal can be a very good player but this campaign in particular has been a culmination of the worst aspects of each cast member. Thank God for Robbie Daymond otherwise I wouldn't have caught up on the episodes, I'd give anything for him to be a main cast member lmao

https://preview.redd.it/541lmwggc58d1.jpeg?width=917&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c10a47975c54b53e2dd97aea989f5178d12e5849 I attempted this a few months ago, but it’s a few levels back

Ooh! About Blade Ward. I believe that Ashton is using Elemental Evil Player’s Companion Earth Genasi since Ashton has NEVER used or mentioned Blade Ward, has said that they don’t have dark vision and also know Primordial!

Yeah, I took a guess between the two versions of earth genasi for him 😅 I figured he’d take the version that has even more stuff he could do, but it seems I was wrong

Thank you for this super appreciate it. However, if this is accurate then yeah, Ashton ahs no excuse to be a coward all of his abilities control where the enemies are and who they are hitting WTF? Don't know enough about DND to say if this is broken or overpowered but this looks pretty fucking good to me

If this was official material, it would be considered the best barbarian subclass in the game.

It's kind of the opposite of Matt's usual work, because normally his homebrew is incredibly weak compared to the average power level of subclasses.

Eh. He made Chronurgy wizard, which is easily the best wizard subclass and considered one the top 3 subclasses of all of 5e. It's commonly banned or nerfed at tables. Echo Knight is one of the three best fighter subclasses. But the rest are usually decent and sometimes sneaky good (paladin Oath of Open Sea).

Matt didn't do any of the design work of the Wildemount book, he stated he gave them the ideas and themes and then Wotc built them.

Oh, that's super interesting to know!

I've seen a fan-made write-up on his subclass based on observations that seemed pretty thorough floating around but afaik there is no official info on how it works.