I usually don’t mind inconsistencies at all, because as people we are never realistically consistent 100% of the time, we aren’t always in character, so to speak. But some of this feels inconsistent with what has actually happened and is happening, with the text itself, so it feels so jarring. Anyway, I understand if you don’t want to post this, just happy you can put to words what I have trouble articulating myself. 2/2

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Hi anon, thanks! Yeah…I don’t actually mind Laudna having conflicting feelings about Bor'Dor, but she doesn’t know Orym’s underlying motivations (I don’t actually find the lack of intervention to be remotely fucked up. Nod kind of is, but I think that’s the other thing. We’re just guess at who she’s lashing out at, if anyone in particular.

I think. if I may, the reason all this discussion of Laudna’s weaknesses as a character is coming up now is because it was always an issue, but between how much stronger her concept seemed during the Team Issylra arc, the return of Delilah (always a weak point) and the fact that the story itself has hit its stride and a number of other characters have sharpened their focus while she’s in many ways taken a step back, conceptually.

I think as others have pointed out, it’s 65 episodes in and Marisha’s answer in 4SD to any questions about the character concept is still “nightmare about creepy girl.” Like, that’s fine as a starting point, but what is Laudna trying to achieve? What are you exploring with this? What is she going to do about Delilah now? Will we get any sustained payoff of her grappling with the fact that not everything is fine, or will proximity to Imogen continue to act like a rapid dose of sedative?

What did she do in 30 years, because all we have is “made Pate”, “got kicked out of a bunch of villages but also this hasn’t been consistently backed up by people’s responses to her during the campaign so it feels off”, “and got to Marquet” (NO understanding of how she got here, which is pretty egregious). Again, the comparisons that keep being drawn in a matter intended to bolster her relationship with Imogen constantly keep detracting from it - Fjord and Jester had known each other for a few weeks or so prior to the campaign and it felt like it, as did Caleb and Veth’s several-month friendship, as does even FCG and Ashton’s vague cohabitation of convenience. There is simply no sense of knowing each other for two years. I talked about players who are masterful with negative space recently, and this is the opposite - the missing pieces do not suggest a shape we cannot fully discern. They just fall unused onto the floor.

Even the mechanical build feels mostly designed around a directionless aesthetic. Like, genuinely, why is her base level warlock if she showed signs of magical talent prior to Delilah possessing her? It’s not even particularly mechanically superior for her to have done this! Warlock/Sorcerer isn’t a strong multiclass anyway, and leaning into sorcerer in a party with a different sorcerer whose engaging with that thematically far more, and not really doing any other work into her opposition of Delilah makes it worse. When you add in that Pate is both one of the more recognizable aspects of the character but Marisha at one point said she had no original intentions of taking that third level in warlock (the one that granted him existence), it all becomes more baffling. And to be clear, characters can take unexpected turns; but there wasn’t work done within the story that indicated a level of warlock would make sense (and in fact it would have made more sense to have fought it harder!) There’s such a passivity to her warlock side - it’s not even an open embrace of darker power, despite what she’s said, it’s just losing control, which to be honest destroys everything interesting about it, while simultaneously making the stakes of her breaking that pact low. Like, oh, you lose 3 levels and you still have 7 levels of sorcerer? Why haven’t you done it then. You were level 7 like a month ago. You’ll get better.

I know this all sounds harsh but I think the most recent episode just showed that, pun unintended, there is a hollowness to the characterization and when significant changes to the status quo or thorny philosophical conversations occur, there isn’t a solid enough foundation to support the improvisation. There’s no sign of intentionality beyond the initial “be spooky.” Like, why bring in Whitestone and never consistently explore what it was like living under the Briarwood occupation as a commoner, or what it means to have Delilah in your head? Every piece of the arc feels like it’s dropped and picked up when convenient and stops existing when it’s not. Like…I don’t dislike Laudna, and she has good scenes with characters other than Imogen, and there have been characters I have disliked either for a stretch of episodes early on, or for their entire run, but it just feels like an unprecedented lack of thought into how this character will actually exist and do things for a full campaign. I can’t dislike her for her personality or ideology because there’s not enough of it to dislike.

do i think going for a walk in a cemetery that’s open to the public 24/7 with a footpath and garden and everything is fucked up and immoral? no??? what the fuck???????????