All the CRITICAL ROLE Campaign 4 D&D House and Homebrew Rules

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The latest campaign of Critical Role has introduced some unique twists to gameplay with its new homebrewed rules. When the team announced they’d continue using Dungeons & Dragons for Campaign 4, they mentioned adding these custom rules alongside the official 2024 ruleset. While it’s still early days – only one of the three player groups has been featured so far – we’re beginning to see these homebrewed elements appear in recent episodes. It’s currently unclear if players are utilizing custom character classes, but the campaign is definitely incorporating some new, player-created content.

Death Saving Throws

During episode 8, Sam Riegel’s character became the first to roll for death while actively in combat. While two other characters had rolled death saving throws earlier in the campaign, those moments were part of planned sequences or flashbacks. Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan also revealed a new rule: players making death saving throws could choose to help their team, but at the risk of staying on the brink of death if they failed.

Here’s a new optional rule: If a player passes a death saving throw, they can give a teammate within sight a benefit called Heroic Inspiration instead of getting closer to staying alive. Heroic Inspiration lets any player immediately reroll a die. This means a player facing death can either help themselves avoid dying, or they can help a teammate still fighting. This adds a new option to the game, giving players more control when their characters are on the brink of defeat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBgjcSc9QOw

The new rules for avoiding death are a bit more forgiving for players. This is partly because magic in Araman is now more unpredictable and risky, ever since the gods died. Teleportation is especially dangerous unless it’s over very short distances, and currently, raising the dead isn’t possible – though Occtis’ surprising return at the beginning of the campaign hints that things might change.

Because divine intervention isn’t an option, a player who narrowly avoids death on their first saving throw can immediately stabilize themselves, pulling them back from the brink. If a player continues to succeed on these throws, they can choose to either stabilize and recover, or keep passing out to grant a bonus to their allies.

Desperate Measures

So far, the only custom rule revealed for Critical Role‘s Campaign 4 involves death saving throws, but more are coming. During the explanation of these rules, it was mentioned that a set of ‘Desperate Measures’ will activate when a player is ‘Bloodied’ – meaning they’re below half their hit points, as defined in the new 2024 D&D rules. It seems Brennan Lee Mulligan is giving players extra options during combat, probably to help them survive since resurrection magic is limited in this campaign.

Players have had the option to use the ‘Desperate Measures’ rules throughout the campaign, but haven’t needed them so far. However, with the characters frequently finding themselves in difficult situations – like Tyranny almost turning to stone at the end of the last episode – it looks like they’ll probably use these rules soon.

Potential Critical Role Campaign 4 Homebrew Subclasses and Species

Critical Role has a few opportunities to introduce custom game elements. Several characters haven’t fully defined their class specializations, either because they’re mixing classes or haven’t revealed them yet. The show could create a unique class option for one of these characters, and Taliesin Jaffe’s character, Bolaire, is a likely candidate. Because Bolaire is a sentient mask, he’ll probably have special rules to govern how he’s played, though we don’t know what those rules are yet. One possibility is that Bolaire could change forms to match whoever is wearing him, or the show might even create an entirely new character race specifically for him.

While a few characters aren’t typical D&D races, the game seems to be following established rules for them. Travis is playing a Nama, a lion-like character, and is using the Lionin rules from the Mythic Odysseys of Theros book, which originally combined D&D with Magic: The Gathering. Similarly, Laura Bailey’s pixie character uses the Fairy rules from Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.

When it comes to potential player subclasses we haven’t seen yet, a strong candidate seems to be inspired by Matt Mercer’s character, Sir Julien Davinos. Davinos is often described as being afflicted by a curse that manifests as a shadowy follower. This could be a clever way to hint at the Echo Knight, a powerful fighter class from Mercer’s world of Exandria. Alternatively, it might be a completely new subclass being introduced specifically for Campaign 4.

Skill Checks

Mulligan isn’t using any custom rules, but he’s demonstrating a particular way of running games as a Dungeon Master, especially with how he handles skill checks. He frequently uses tiered successes for checks involving knowledge – meaning the amount of information revealed depends on how well a player rolls. While tiered successes aren’t unusual in Dungeons & Dragons, with official adventures sometimes using them, Mulligan does something different: he tells players upfront what they need to roll to achieve different levels of success.

This approach makes challenges more exciting because players know exactly what they need to roll to succeed. It also lets them decide beforehand how much help they’ll use to guarantee a good outcome. Players already have options like Guidance or asking for assistance, and this style encourages them to think carefully about using those resources. By clearly setting the difficulty and letting players plan, it creates a more thoughtful and engaging experience.

As a player, I really appreciate knowing what’s on the line before I roll the dice. It just makes every roll feel more meaningful and helps me understand how likely I am to succeed or fail. Plus, I love that the system isn’t just about pass or fail – having different levels of success feels much more realistic, especially when my character isn’t perfectly suited for a task. It gives me more interesting choices and outcomes!

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2025-12-16 22:34