CriticalSkip

Scene navigation, combat overlay, and optional auto-skip for Critical Role on YouTube.

📍 Scene & beat navigation A draggable panel sits on the YouTube player. Jump to the previous or next scene, the previous or next beat. The text box previews what's coming up ("Coming up: Imogen confronts Otohan") so you can decide whether to skip ahead. Hotkeys on by default — [ and ] for beat, Shift+[ and Shift+] for scene, \\ to hide the panel. 📍 Timeline overview The YouTube progress bar gets a layer of color-coded scene blocks above the seek bar, with tick marks showing beat boundaries. Hover any block to see the scene name and summary. 📍 Combat overlay During fights, an overlay tracks the encounter — who's up, turn order, and what just happened — replayed from the transcript and seek-correct as you scrub. The initiative bar, combat log, and glyph legend are FREE. The depth panels add party HP, conditions, concentration, monster stat blocks, and per-fight damage stats. Covers boss fights, multi-round encounters, legendary actions, counterspell chains, and death saves. 📍 Cast companion (new) Meet the table. A cast rail with character portraits opens a per-character drawer: a spoiler-safe recap of their story so far, their current character sheet, story arcs, and long-form essays. A pre-show screen recaps "previously on" before the episode starts. Everything is spoiler-gated to YOUR watch point — nothing ahead of where you are is ever shown unprompted. 📍 Key moments A timeline of typed, scored highlight moments — the crits, the character turns, the big swings — so you can jump straight to what matters. 📍 Skip categories you control Toggle behavior per category: intro, Sam's ad, Matt's ad, music, recap, break, outro, and combat. Each category can Skip, Speed-through, Notify, or Watch — plus a per-category speed and mute. The default preset auto-skips structural content and lets narrative play. Build your own preset. 📍 Make it yours An in-video settings panel (no popup hopping) with per-surface appearance tuning, campaign color themes, and an optional antique-gold frame style that dresses the overlay like a character sheet. Full gamepad navigation with per-action button rebinding — drive the whole thing from the couch. 📍 Guided tour (new) First time in, a short, skippable walkthrough introduces the panel, the combat overlay, the cast rail, and the wiki — on a no-spoiler sample battle so you can see it work before your episode even starts. It runs itself on install and after big updates; press G to take it again anytime. 📍 Tell us what you think (new) A built-in feedback form (Settings → Feedback, or "Report a bug" from the popup) sends bug reports and ideas straight to us — no account, no email required, with an optional line to reach you and an opt-in diagnostics toggle so we can reproduce it. Nothing is sent unless you press Send. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ WHAT'S DIFFERENT ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ → Core skipping is free. Always. → YouTube only. Watch where you already watch. → Your skip choices are stored locally. Nothing leaves your device. → Spoiler-safe by construction: recaps and character info are gated to your current watch point, and fail CLOSED when uncertain. → Open about the editorial layer — the "scene" data comes from a tagging process; you can disagree with how a scene is bounded. → No tracking, no telemetry, no third parties. → Hotkey- and gamepad-driven for long viewing sessions. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ FREE vs SUPPORTER — and FREE FOR NOW ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Everything you need to skip and navigate is free forever: scene/beat navigation, the timeline, all skip categories, the combat spectator layer (initiative bar, combat log, glyph legend), character sheets, and the cast companion basics. RIGHT NOW, everything through the Tactician tier is unlocked for everyone — combat depth panels, damage stats, key moments, per-section speed, the lot. It's our "Free for Now" launch window while the catalog grows: try it all, no key needed. An optional supporter key — from our Ko-fi, three tiers — supports the processing of new episodes: • Reader ($3) — key-moments timeline, full beat text, bookmarks, per-section speed control, wiki links • Tactician ($5) — combat depth panels: party HP, conditions, concentration, monster stat blocks, damage stats • Superfan ($9) — everything above, gamepad navigation, first access to upcoming features, and our biggest thanks Supporter tiers keep the lights on and pay for processing new episodes. They never gate the core skip experience. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ WHAT IT'S NOT ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ × Not a streaming service. You watch the same YouTube videos. × Not affiliated with Critical Role, Beacon, or any official entity. × Not auto-skipping everything by default. You choose each category. × Not tracking or profiling you. No accounts, no analytics, no advertising. Episode data is fetched from our own criticalskip.com server (a request for an episode includes only that episode's video ID); nothing is sold or shared. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ SUPPORTED EPISODES ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Scene/beat data covers 411 episodes across Campaigns 1–4 (4,419 scenes, 31,581 beats), with a key-moments timeline for 410 episodes, combat overlay data for 272 episodes, and cast companion content for all four campaigns. Overlay data is served on demand from criticalskip.com — so coverage expands as more episodes are processed, without waiting for an extension update. Core skipping is bundled in the extension and works offline; the scene/combat/cast overlay needs a connection to load. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ PRIVACY ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Data stored: your category preferences (chrome.storage), panel positions, an optional supporter key, and a local-only event log of your skip / navigation actions for your personal review. Data transmitted: the extension fetches episode data from our own criticalskip.com server — the episode catalog (no info about what you watch) and per-episode data (a request includes that episode's YouTube video ID). An anonymous per-install key (a random token, not an account, not linked to you) authenticates these requests and lets us rate-limit. An optional supporter key is validated against the same server. Core skipping works offline from the bundled skip data; the scene/combat/cast overlay needs the server. No accounts, no analytics, no telemetry, no third-party tracking, nothing sold or shared. If — and only if — you use the built-in feedback form, the extension sends your message, an optional contact detail you choose to enter, and (only if you tick the diagnostics box) technical context like the video ID and your browser version to our server, solely so we can read and reply to your report. Nothing is sent unless you press Send. Permissions used: • storage — to remember your preferences, panel positions, and supporter key • YouTube host access — to render the panel on Critical Role's videos • criticalskip.com host access — to fetch episode data and validate a supporter key ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ ROADMAP ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Shipped — combat overlay with damage stats, cast companion panel, key-moments timeline, per-section speed, gamepad navigation, in-video settings, appearance themes + frame styles, server-fetched episode data, wiki links. Next: → Live Thursday support — overlay data while the episode airs → Per-character and per-campaign visual themes → Other shows: High Rollers, Dimension 20 (Dropout), Avantris ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ SUPPORT ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Issues, feature requests, and PRs welcome at: https://github.com/AttacktheDPoint-com/CriticalSkip/issues Privacy policy: https://criticalskip.com/privacy.html Critical Role belongs to Critical Role. This extension is a fan project, unaffiliated, and exists to support viewing of their work.