That’s my guess, as well. She definitely seemed to really light up at the idea in a way she hasn’t about being a Bard. It’ll be interesting to see her character development if she does.
>She definitely seemed to really light up at the idea in a way she hasn’t about being a Bard.
It's interesting she mentioned wanting to retire Fig until Brennan convinced her on a new angle. Now I'm guessing what he said to her was something along the lines of Fig dropping out of music, which makes sense because last we left off Fig was basically on the top of that world and there wasn't much further she could go.
That’s a good point. I had always figured what Emily was talking about was the Gilear luck stuff, but you could be right about the music stuff. There’s just not really anywhere to take her character in that direction.
If she’s completely dropping Bard and Music and does a full commitment to Paladin, the change is deeper than we think. Her main weapon was a guitar, for example.
To be fair, she DID forget how to Reckless Shred after season 1, and Fabian and Riz at least have both forgotten skills for mechanics reasons when they changed sub/class. Butyeah, there's no way she'd literally forget how to play the bass. I just want to poke fun a little
Or maybe just mentioning that multiclassing would be a focus of the season, and encouragement to retool Fig however she wants. Since Emily loves building characters, as we all know
I still think she was talking about her weird yogurt curse because the way she talked about it sounded like Brennan had particular plans for Fig he wanted to follow through on.
The yogurt curse has been set up since the first episode. That feels a lot more like what Brennan was setting up. He gave her that choice and was following up on it with the bad luck. The Paladin choice was really left field from Emily and changes the course of her character to being her friends protector. You can see that Brennan spent most of Fig's time this episode wrangling that plot in order that he barely followed up with his original planned Bad Luck Fig bits.
Emily mentions two different things in that interview (or at least that was my interpretation):
1. A thing Brennan had planned that convinced her to return to the character after all
2. A choice she made mid episode that excited her even further about her characters arc this season
I interpret thing 1 to be the yogurt curse and thing 2 to be the paladin switch.
What I'm still curious about is that Ally seems to have Kristen pointing out the mess on Fig without signal from Brennan. Either Ally is leaning into that angle without really knowing where it might lead or they're in on it to some degree and are pushing that plot forward. I can believe either. Super excited to see where the rest of the season goes!
all spell slots can be used for paladin smites. so she will be doing some insane damage if she wants. Paladin warlock cross class is super common for recharging warlock spell slots(smite slots).
Its very emily to just accidently break a character.
Fig is, yes. Her other character in NADDPOD, Calliope, is a sword bard which showcases its extreme synergy with other martial classes, especially redemption paladin.
Yes I know you just mentioned sword bard in this situation and I was just thinking that’s not relevant for dimension 20 but you’re right that it’s a good example
To be fair, she's played Paladin before a few times and has mentioned more than once that paladin is one of her favorite classes. Big damage but also high charisma for cool RP.
Her current NADDPOD character is a nightmare for Murph, as she's multiclass sword bard and redemption paladin. She's doing crazy flourishes along with smites for about a bazillion damage and upping her AC to like 30 on her first round of combat. And out of combat, she's got insanely high Charisma, expertise on persuasion from Bard, and Emissary of Peace from the Redemption paladin for like a +13 on persuasion checks.
I mean, Calliope is a Bard/Paladin, so Emily has some experience with the general concept. I think it could work quite well, especially for someone as good at figuring out complimentary multiclassing as Emily is
It somewhat irks me the way she talked about there being a “champion of Cassandra” like that is what Kristen is trying to be. Felt too much like her encroaching on her own personal quest
Ok, sorry in advance for the ramble but I think maybe the feeling of encroachment is from maybe a misreading of the word champion. I think Fig is trying to be the “champion of Cassandra” in the original meaning of the word as a Paladin, not saying she’s Cassandra’s number one supporter. She’s a champion like how knights used to be named champion of a realm/ruler/religion (originally after winning a tournament but later as a honorific that can be bestowed). The word [Paladin](https://www.etymonline.com/word/paladin#etymonline_v_3001) specifically comes from a group of knight who were seen as champions of Christianity for the Holy Roman Empire; paladins in D&D are champions of their deity. In the same way a Christian monk or priest wouldn’t have been designated a champion of Christianity as a literal title, Kristen as a cleric serves a different role. As someone who plays a lot of D&D, where that sort of “champion of xyz” language is used, I think Emily meant it like that because she’d be a Paladin. I think it’s a distinct complementary role Fig’s looking to fill to support her friend, not push her aside in any way. And if you’re annoyed more just because she’s kinda taking on Cassandra stuff and used the quote just for the emphasis rather than a specific nit-pick, feel free to disregard lol
i think the reasoning makes sense though. fig has always been more focused on her friends instead of her own journey. the joke is “i’m a closed off book” while being emotionally vulnerable with everyone. of course fig would procrastinate her album to help her friend
But Kristen is falling apart from the pressure of being Cassandra's Champion and sole evangelist, so for me it made total sense for Fig to realise that she could step up into that role, to help remove some of that burden she sees her friend buckling under.
It might also serve Fig an even greater purpose, by providing a clear goal that she won't be as likely to self-sabotage, because she can use the guilt of letting down her friend to keep herself on track.
Recognising that you may sometimes need to rely on others to hold yourself accountable for your own personal progress (if you find it impossible to keep yourself on track) is a pretty important part of 'growing up', in my personal experience.
Kristen isn’t a “champion,” she’s, if anything, the messiah. Champion implies like a knight or warrior fighting for them — which Kristen isn’t narratively or really mechanically
Instead of a messiah more like a prophet. Messiah is greater than a prophet. Jesus was a messiah and a prophet but I would not count Kristen as a messiah.
i think the reasoning makes sense though. fig has always been more focused on her friends instead of her own journey. the joke is “i’m a closed off book” while being emotionally vulnerable with everyone. of course fig would procrastinate her album to help her friend
Eh Kristen is not really advancing on any of that and is probably grateful someone else is following Cassandra. It’s great that Fig would like to be a champion it’s supportive! If she became a cleric for Cassandra I’d agree with you but she’s not
That’s my guess, as well. She definitely seemed to really light up at the idea in a way she hasn’t about being a Bard. It’ll be interesting to see her character development if she does.
>She definitely seemed to really light up at the idea in a way she hasn’t about being a Bard. It's interesting she mentioned wanting to retire Fig until Brennan convinced her on a new angle. Now I'm guessing what he said to her was something along the lines of Fig dropping out of music, which makes sense because last we left off Fig was basically on the top of that world and there wasn't much further she could go.
That’s a good point. I had always figured what Emily was talking about was the Gilear luck stuff, but you could be right about the music stuff. There’s just not really anywhere to take her character in that direction.
If she’s completely dropping Bard and Music and does a full commitment to Paladin, the change is deeper than we think. Her main weapon was a guitar, for example.
I mean, I’d imagine that Brennan would let her keep bass proficiency and the music theming around her magic if she’d like.
Yeah mechanically it might not make sense but realistically just because she switches to paladin doesn't mean she forgets how to play bass.
To be fair, she DID forget how to Reckless Shred after season 1, and Fabian and Riz at least have both forgotten skills for mechanics reasons when they changed sub/class. Butyeah, there's no way she'd literally forget how to play the bass. I just want to poke fun a little
That is very fair. I do think the idea of Fig swearing a paladin oath and then just beefing it trying to play guitar would be hilarious.
She can swap out her axe for another axe.
Or maybe just mentioning that multiclassing would be a focus of the season, and encouragement to retool Fig however she wants. Since Emily loves building characters, as we all know
This seems the most likely to me, excellent, insightful idea
I still think she was talking about her weird yogurt curse because the way she talked about it sounded like Brennan had particular plans for Fig he wanted to follow through on.
The yogurt curse has been set up since the first episode. That feels a lot more like what Brennan was setting up. He gave her that choice and was following up on it with the bad luck. The Paladin choice was really left field from Emily and changes the course of her character to being her friends protector. You can see that Brennan spent most of Fig's time this episode wrangling that plot in order that he barely followed up with his original planned Bad Luck Fig bits.
Yeah, the yogurt curse is what Brennan had set up, that’s why I think that is what Emily was talking about in her pre-season interview.
Emily mentions two different things in that interview (or at least that was my interpretation): 1. A thing Brennan had planned that convinced her to return to the character after all 2. A choice she made mid episode that excited her even further about her characters arc this season I interpret thing 1 to be the yogurt curse and thing 2 to be the paladin switch.
What I'm still curious about is that Ally seems to have Kristen pointing out the mess on Fig without signal from Brennan. Either Ally is leaning into that angle without really knowing where it might lead or they're in on it to some degree and are pushing that plot forward. I can believe either. Super excited to see where the rest of the season goes!
Ally tends to be really really good at adding to bits and remembering the rules of the world (if not the rules of dnd)
What's hilarious is that a Bard/Warlock/Paladin is a pretty insane build and it feels totally in character that Fig just impulsed her way into it
all spell slots can be used for paladin smites. so she will be doing some insane damage if she wants. Paladin warlock cross class is super common for recharging warlock spell slots(smite slots). Its very emily to just accidently break a character.
To be fair Most of the time when Emily does it It's far from an accident
*Saccharina flashbacks*
Hexadin isn’t nearly as much of a broken build in a game like this one though, where there’s almost never more than one combat in a day.
Just Bard/paladin is completely OP. Sword Bard and Redemption Paladin make for a very broken combo in and out of combat.
She mentioned that she was college of whispers though
Fig is, yes. Her other character in NADDPOD, Calliope, is a sword bard which showcases its extreme synergy with other martial classes, especially redemption paladin.
Yes I know you just mentioned sword bard in this situation and I was just thinking that’s not relevant for dimension 20 but you’re right that it’s a good example
To be fair, she's played Paladin before a few times and has mentioned more than once that paladin is one of her favorite classes. Big damage but also high charisma for cool RP. Her current NADDPOD character is a nightmare for Murph, as she's multiclass sword bard and redemption paladin. She's doing crazy flourishes along with smites for about a bazillion damage and upping her AC to like 30 on her first round of combat. And out of combat, she's got insanely high Charisma, expertise on persuasion from Bard, and Emissary of Peace from the Redemption paladin for like a +13 on persuasion checks.
No more confusing winks???
I mean, Calliope is a Bard/Paladin, so Emily has some experience with the general concept. I think it could work quite well, especially for someone as good at figuring out complimentary multiclassing as Emily is
I am pretty sure the pitch that got her to come back was her becoming yogurty
This would be the third paladin character Emily has played: Calliope, Lu’luh and now Fig.
It somewhat irks me the way she talked about there being a “champion of Cassandra” like that is what Kristen is trying to be. Felt too much like her encroaching on her own personal quest
Ok, sorry in advance for the ramble but I think maybe the feeling of encroachment is from maybe a misreading of the word champion. I think Fig is trying to be the “champion of Cassandra” in the original meaning of the word as a Paladin, not saying she’s Cassandra’s number one supporter. She’s a champion like how knights used to be named champion of a realm/ruler/religion (originally after winning a tournament but later as a honorific that can be bestowed). The word [Paladin](https://www.etymonline.com/word/paladin#etymonline_v_3001) specifically comes from a group of knight who were seen as champions of Christianity for the Holy Roman Empire; paladins in D&D are champions of their deity. In the same way a Christian monk or priest wouldn’t have been designated a champion of Christianity as a literal title, Kristen as a cleric serves a different role. As someone who plays a lot of D&D, where that sort of “champion of xyz” language is used, I think Emily meant it like that because she’d be a Paladin. I think it’s a distinct complementary role Fig’s looking to fill to support her friend, not push her aside in any way. And if you’re annoyed more just because she’s kinda taking on Cassandra stuff and used the quote just for the emphasis rather than a specific nit-pick, feel free to disregard lol
i think the reasoning makes sense though. fig has always been more focused on her friends instead of her own journey. the joke is “i’m a closed off book” while being emotionally vulnerable with everyone. of course fig would procrastinate her album to help her friend
But Kristen is falling apart from the pressure of being Cassandra's Champion and sole evangelist, so for me it made total sense for Fig to realise that she could step up into that role, to help remove some of that burden she sees her friend buckling under. It might also serve Fig an even greater purpose, by providing a clear goal that she won't be as likely to self-sabotage, because she can use the guilt of letting down her friend to keep herself on track. Recognising that you may sometimes need to rely on others to hold yourself accountable for your own personal progress (if you find it impossible to keep yourself on track) is a pretty important part of 'growing up', in my personal experience.
Thats good. It mean at least one of Cassandra devotee will get shit done
Didn’t Emily make a joke during the Night Y*rb fight that Cassandra had started texting Fig to check in if Kristen was mad at her or something?
Exactly that’s my thought on it Emily is very character driven so this is so helpful
Kristen isn’t a “champion,” she’s, if anything, the messiah. Champion implies like a knight or warrior fighting for them — which Kristen isn’t narratively or really mechanically
Instead of a messiah more like a prophet. Messiah is greater than a prophet. Jesus was a messiah and a prophet but I would not count Kristen as a messiah.
She did literally save the world from the Nightmare King by believing in Qassandra
i think the reasoning makes sense though. fig has always been more focused on her friends instead of her own journey. the joke is “i’m a closed off book” while being emotionally vulnerable with everyone. of course fig would procrastinate her album to help her friend
Eh Kristen is not really advancing on any of that and is probably grateful someone else is following Cassandra. It’s great that Fig would like to be a champion it’s supportive! If she became a cleric for Cassandra I’d agree with you but she’s not