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* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Tal'Dorei's history under Drassig Dynasty is rule is marked by devil-worship, racism, and tyranny, while in modern times, it is an enlightened republic that serves as the home to heroes who fend off ancient evils and fight for the forces of good in the world. Since so many of the dungeons and monsters you'll face in ''Dungeons and Dragons'' come from the distant past, in some ways the campaign guide is setting up adventuring parties to serve as champions for Tal'Dorei's democratic present against the infernal legacy of it's imperial past.
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* MagikarpPower: The Runechild sub-class is unable to use it's signature feature at 1st level because it requires Sorcery Points, which Sorcerers don't get until level two. Even then, Sorcerers have only as many Sorcery points as their level, so the Runechild's signature feature can only be used a couple of times per day at early levels and even then it comes at the cost of not using any of the other Sorcerer features that require Sorcery Points like Font of Magic and Metamagic. However, once they reach higher levels and have up to 20 Sorcery Points, a Runechild is able to reduce massive amounts of damage to ensure they can maintain concentration on powerful buff spells while still having points to gain extra spell slots, split spells in two, and at level 18, enter their Arcane Exemplar Form. In this form, the once-fragile Sorcerer takes half-damage from all spells, heals every time they cast a spell, and even gains an incredibly rare +2 bonus to their spell saves in a game where a +1 bonus signifies a shift to a new tier of play.

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* MagikarpPower: The Runechild sub-class is unable to use has all of it's signature feature at 1st level because it requires features heavily tied to Sorcery Points, which Sorcerers don't get until level two. Even then, Sorcerers have only as many Sorcery points as makes them able to use their level, so the Runechild's signature feature can abilities only be used a couple of times per day at early levels and even then it comes when they only have a couple of sorcery points. Even then, they can only reduce damage done to them by 1d6 at the cost of not using any of the other Sorcerer features that require Sorcery Points being able to use spells like Font of Magic and Metamagic. However, once Shield or Counterspell for a round, when those spells can potentially reduce all damage done to the Runechild. Yet, by the time they reach higher levels and 18th level, not only do Runechildren have up to 20 Sorcery Points, a Runechild is able to reduce massive amounts pool of damage to ensure they can maintain concentration on powerful buff spells while still having points to gain extra spell slots, split spells in two, and at level 18, enter power their Arcane Exemplar Form. In this form, abilities with, they also gain the once-fragile Sorcerer takes half-damage ability to halve all damage they take from all spells, heals heal themselves every time they cast a spell, use magic, and even gains an incredibly rare +2 bonus to most powerful of all, raise their spell saves save DC to 21 in a game where the normal maximum is a +1 bonus signifies a shift to a new tier of play.19.
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* SuperMode: When they reach 18th level (of 20), the Runechild's sub-class can enter their Arcane Exemplar Form, where they become "a being of pure magical energy." As with a lot of supermodes, they gain the ability to fly, a bonus to the power of the spells, a regeneration factor, and enhanced durability (specifically to spells.)
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* MagikarpPower: The Runechild sub-class is unable to use it's signature feature at 1st level because it requires Sorcery Points, which Sorcerers don't get until level two. Even then, Sorcerers have only as many Sorcery points as their level, so the Runechild's signature feature can only be used a couple of times per day at early levels and even then it comes at the cost of not using any of the other Sorcerer features that require Sorcery Points like Font of Magic and Metamagic. However, once they reach higher levels and have up to 20 Sorcery Points, a Runechild is able to reduce massive amounts of damage to ensure they can maintain concentration on powerful buff spells while still having points to gain extra spell slots, split spells in two, and at level 18, enter their Arcane Exemplar Form. In this form, the once-fragile Sorcerer takes half-damage from all spells, heals every time they cast a spell, and even gains an incredibly rare +2 bonus to their spell saves in a game where a +1 bonus signifies a shift to a new tier of play.
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* FantasticDrug: A sidebar called "dangerous contraband" details three magical and illegal substances that have mind-altering effects obviously modeled off real-world drugs.
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* AwesomeButImpractical: Mythcarver is one of the signature weapons of a character from ''Critical Role'' and is notable for allowing the one who wields it do a number of things very few items and abilities allow in this edition of ''Dungeons and Dragons''. The magical longsword deals damage that almost no monster in the game resists, allows it's wielder to do as more attacks in a single turn than anyone but a Fighter of the highest level, and most notably of all, forces enemies to make saving throws with disadvantage, all but assuring that they will be unable to successfully resist whatever spell was cast on them. However, the item was clearly written for the character of Scanlan Shorthalt in mind, making it difficult to use for other characters for a variety of reasons:
** First of all, only a bard can use the weapon's magical properties. Since Bards are a spellcasting class, the longsword's bonuses to damage and the number of attacks you can make are largely going to be unused since even with the sword's bonuses, most Bards are going to be better off casting a spell than using Mythcarver.
** Second, Mythcarver is specifically a longsword, a weapon that relies on Strength for attack and damage rolls. The problem with that is that Bards rely on a different attack stat, Dexterity, to determine how hard they are to hit and how to use nearly every other weapon with which they are proficient, so most Bards are going to have a lower Strength than Dexterity and are going to be less accurate with this legendary weapon that with a standard shortsword.
** Third, Mythcarver's most powerful feature, being able to impose disadvantage on saving throws, can only be activated by using the Cutting Words feature on the enemy. Cutting Words is a feature only available to one of the seven published Bard sub-classes, making Mythcarver's signature feature unusable by most Bards. What's worse is that Lore Bards are perhaps the Bard sub-class that is the worst at using weapons and the best at casting spells, meaning they'll do more damage casting spells than using their legendary weapon passed on by master bards for generations.
** Lastly, the final upgrade to Mythcarver, the one that let's you make four attacks in a single round, also gives you a point of exhaustion. Exhaustion is a mechanic which gives you disadvantage on ability checks, which wouldn't be terrible except that Bards are the JackOfAllTrades that have several of their features dedicated to making them better than anyone at ability checks. In particular, the first and last powers of the Lore Bard sub-class are dedicated to making them really good at ability checks, meaning this weapon designed for a sub-class makes them worse at what's supposed to be their greatest strength.
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** The Dual-Focused feature comes as a result of strenuous mental exercises and allows a spellcaster to focus on two different incantations at once.
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* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: The Thrown Arms Master feature makes it so that any time you miss an attack with a light weapon, it will always return to your hand without fail.
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* MagicIsMental: Some of the features in this book that allow characters to break the rules of spellcasting are described as being the result of intense study, meditation, and focus.
** Flash Recall allows spellcasters to violate the normal rules of VancianMagic by using their keen memory to prepare a spell in an instant rather than having to spend hours right after waking up preparing a whole list of spells.
** The Spelldriver feature allows a character to cast a spell of 2nd level or lower as a bonus action and still cast any level of spell as an action due to "intense focus, training, and dedication," even though such a thing is impossible in the base rules of ''Dungeons and Dragons''.
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* InstantRunes: Runechildren are born with magical glyphs hidden under their skin that begin to glow whenever they collect enough magical energy. In addition to the runes on their body, Runechildren also have the ability to make any hidden magical writing glow if it's close enough to them.
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* NemeanSkinning:
** The Armor of the Valiant Soul is breastplate armor made from the scales of a green and black dragon and is ironically possessed by another dragon, J'mon Sa Ord, implying he slew members of his own kind.
** The Ashari Firetamers wear armor made from red dragon scales, a testament to their role in preventing red dragons from escaping from the Elemental Plane of Fire and their historic battle against the red dragon Thordak.
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* CastFromHitPoints: The Blood Domain Cleric has an ability called "Sanguine Recall" which allows them to instantly recover a spell slot by injuring themselves.


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** When awakened, the Pyremaul can be used to cast the AreaOfEffect spell Burning Hands and can knock enemies on their back when it lands a CriticalHit. It does even more on a critical hit when it's exalted, dealing an additional 3d6 fire damage on top of the 6d6 fire and 2d10 bludgeoning damage it would normally do.


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* EvilMakesYouUgly: The Circlet of Barbed Vision is a magical item created by an evil spider-goddess that morbidly twists the appearance of anyone who wears it to amuse the evil goddess. In practice, this means only characters who aren't good can use the Circlet and when used, it reduces the character's Charisma by 2 points.


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* GradualGrinder: The spells of the Blood Domain Cleric sub-class mainly inflict StandardStatusEffects like poison, sleep, enfeeblement, madness, slow, and paralysis that allow the Cleric to wear down enemies over time rather than focusing on healing allies or blasting groups of enemies. The Blood Cleric's final feature emphasizes this role even more by giving them a 30-foot radius DamageOverTime effect that slowly chips away at the health of hostile creatures.


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* MagicalAccessory: The Kiss of the Changebringer is just an emerald connected to a silver chain, but when worn, it provides a bonus to every saving throw, immunity to up to four status conditions, the ability to enter another dimension, and even the ability to manipulate fate.


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* ReducedToDust:
** The legendary hammer Pyremaul incinerates any creature it kills, leaving nothing but ash and making it nearly possible to bring them BackFromTheDead.
** If the Remnant Chosen reduce a creature to 0 hit points with their Withered Hand, the creature's body is disintegrated, much like the spell of the same name. Since the attack does 57 damage on average, it's a real risk when facing the Remnants.
* ResurrectionSickness: One of the optional rules called "The Taxing Returns" offers a mechanic to represent a person's body deteriorating each time they come BackFromTheDead. Each time a person is revived, their Constitution score (which determines a creature's hit points) is reduced by 1, and once they reach 0 Constitution, their body is too frail to sustain life and they cannot be revived again.


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* ShieldBash: The legendary shield Honor's Last Stand has a special feature that allows it's wielder to immediately shove anyone who misses them with an attack, presumably using the shield to knock them down right after using it to block an attack.
* StoneWall: The Path of the Juggernaut is a Barbarian sub-class whose features mainly involve making the Barbarian immune to status conditions, imposing status conditions on enemies, and destroying environmental hazards rather than increasing the Barbarian's damage output in combat.
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* LivingLieDetector: The Cobalt Soul sub-class for Monks has an ability where they can attack the PressurePoints of a creature and use KiManipulation to make it impossible for that creature to tell a lie for a minute.

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* LivingLieDetector: The Cobalt Soul sub-class for Monks has an ability where they can attack the PressurePoints [[PressurePoint pressure points]] of a creature and use KiManipulation to make it impossible for that creature to tell a lie for a minute.
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* BarrierWarrior: The sorcerer sub-class Runechild can manifest magical runes on their bodies that they can use to reduce any damage they take. At higher levels, Runechildren can transfer these runes onto others or use them to cause all spells to do half-damage to them.


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* LivingLieDetector: The Cobalt Soul sub-class for Monks has an ability where they can attack the PressurePoints of a creature and use KiManipulation to make it impossible for that creature to tell a lie for a minute.
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* FourElementEssemble: The Ashari are a collection of four tribes dedicated to guarding four portals to different dimensions, one for each classical element. In keeping with that theme, each tribe has developed elemental magic corresponding the portal they guard, as reflected in the stat-block each Ashari has in the end of the book.

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* FourElementEssemble: FourElementEnsemble: The Ashari are a collection of four tribes dedicated to guarding four portals to different dimensions, one for each classical element. In keeping with that theme, each tribe has developed elemental magic corresponding the portal they guard, as reflected in the stat-block each Ashari has in the end of the book.
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* FourElementEssemble: The Ashari are a collection of four tribes dedicated to guarding four portals to different dimensions, one for each classical element. In keeping with that theme, each tribe has developed elemental magic corresponding the portal they guard, as reflected in the stat-block each Ashari has in the end of the book.
** The Zephrah Ashari are known as Skydancers and can fly using artificial wings known as a sky sail.
** The Terrah Ashari are known as Stoneguards and have a special ability to turn their skin to stone as a reaction, halving all non-magical damage against them.
** The Pyrah Ashari are known as Fire Tamers and can actually grow into ten-feet tall behemoths made of fire.
** The Vesrah Ashari are known as Wave Riders and can transform into sharks or octopi in addition to being able to talk to marine life.
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* PrisonDimension: The setting's equivalents to {{Hell}} were initially created to trap evil gods who had betrayed the pantheon and despaired of creation. They were imperfect prisons that the Betrayer Gods managed to escape, only to be banished again and then permanently sealed away by the Divine Gate, which prevented any god from leaving their home dimension. This essentially turned even the good afterlives and {{Heavens}} that the good gods dwelled in into furnished prisons for them.

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* PrisonDimension: The setting's equivalents to {{Hell}} were initially created to trap evil gods who had betrayed the pantheon and despaired of creation. They were imperfect prisons that the Betrayer Gods managed to escape, only to be banished again and then permanently sealed away by the Divine Gate, which prevented any god from leaving their home dimension. This essentially turned even the good afterlives and {{Heavens}} {{Heaven}}s that the good gods dwelled in into furnished prisons for them.



* SealedParagonInACan: The good gods of the setting are unable to leave their divine homes and enter the mortal plane, only able to aid their creations by sending small amounts of power to individual champions. Any attempt to free them is futile, as doing so would also release the gods of evil and end the world.

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* SealedParagonInACan: SealedGoodInACan: The good gods of the setting are unable to leave their divine homes and enter the mortal plane, only able to aid their creations by sending small amounts of power to individual champions. Any attempt to free them is futile, as doing so would also release the gods of evil and end the world.
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* AlwaysChaoticEvil: In Tal'Dorei, goblins are the mutated creations of a god of hatred that are only kept from devolving into wild beasts due to the tyrannical orders of higher goblinoids. They build no cities, breed like animals, and only respect the "kill-boss" who lead them on their deadly raids against men, elves, and dwarves. Just about the only thing all three races can agree on is that goblins are horrid and inhuman.
-->''"Goblins are like vermin."''


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* CulturalChopSuey: The book briefly summarizes other continents and cultures in the world apart from Tal'Dorei and lists at least two or three real-world inspirations for the architecture and life-style of each place.
** Issylra is populated by Norwegian cities if they were built around Mesopotamian artifacts.
** Marquet is a blend of Turkish metropolises and smaller Palestinian villages.
** The Shattered Teeth is a series of Japanese islands run by the a fantasy-equivalent of the British East India Company.
** Lastly, Wildemount is a continent of gradient inspirations. The closer to the center of the Dwendalian Empire you are, the more the continent resembles 15th-century Russia, while the Empire appears more and more Spanish the farther towards it's borders you get.


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* ProductionForeshadowing: The book included a sub-class for Monks called the Way of the Cobalt Soul just three months before a player character on ''Critical Role'' was introduced as a monk trained by and working under the Cobalt Soul.

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* LuckManipulationMechanic: The Fate-Touched Background comes with a unique benefit, Fortune's Grace, which allows a player character to re-roll one of their rolls on a d20 once per day. This is meant to express the character's ability to manipulate destiny and adds to the pool of re-rolls a character gets from the "Lucky" feature available in standard fifth-edition ''Dungeons & Dragons''.



* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it touchee

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* PrisonDimension: The setting's equivalents to {{Hell}} were initially created to trap evil gods who had betrayed the pantheon and despaired of creation. They were imperfect prisons that the Betrayer Gods managed to escape, only to be banished again and then permanently sealed away by the Divine Gate, which prevented any god from leaving their home dimension. This essentially turned even the good afterlives and {{Heavens}} that the good gods dwelled in into furnished prisons for them.
* SealedEvilInACan: The gods of hatred and tyranny were once trapped in dimensions constructed for the sole purpose of containing them, but these evil gods corrupted the prisons to their own purpose and used the gateways that the good gods used to escape into the mortal realm. After a great battle, the evil gods were thrown into their prison dimensions again and now are unable to escape due to a powerful barrier that cuts off all divine access to the mortal realm, forcing the both evil and good gods to only influence the world through emissaries and champions.
* SealedParagonInACan: The good gods of the setting are unable to leave their divine homes and enter the mortal plane, only able to aid their creations by sending small amounts of power to individual champions. Any attempt to free them is futile, as doing so would also release the gods of evil and end the world.
* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it toucheetouchs.
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* AlternativeCalendar: The book includes the calendar used in ''Critical Role'' which is an eleven-month, 368 day solar calendar. The book mentions that the names they use for months and days are the elven names, which are apparently commonly used throughout Tal'Dorei, but regional variants do exist.
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* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: Instead of being the results of bestiality or demonic rituals, the minotaurs of Tal'Dorei were artificial beings created during the Age of Arcanum to guard the great treasures in elaborate labyrinths and mazes.

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* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: ALoadOfBull: Instead of being the results of bestiality or demonic rituals, the minotaurs of Tal'Dorei were artificial beings created during the Age of Arcanum to guard the great treasures in elaborate labyrinths and mazes.

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* DeathIsCheap: The book identifies this trope as an element of high-level ''Dungeons & Dragons'', where characters can die and be brought back at the cost of a bit of gold. The book offers a few optional rules for Dungeon-Masters hoping to avert the trope in their own campaign by playing into tropes like CameBackWrong or ResurrectionSickness.
* DispelMagic: The Remnant Chosen have an ability called "Eye-Seeing Eye" which allows them to instantly dispel any illusion spell of 4th level or lower. They don't need to know the spell, they don't need to roll anything, they don't even need to use their action to do it, they just destroy the magic with a glance they learned from Vecna himself.



* EyeBeams: The Cinderslag Elemental has a form of heat vision that not only burns whoever it gazes it at, but also causes one of their possessions to either melt away or turn to ash.
* HyperactiveMetabolism:
** One of the optional character features presented in the book is called Rapid Drinker, and as the name suggests, it allows you to rapidly chug a drink in the middle of combat while still having an action to throw daggers, cast spells, or run at full speed without a second thought.
** An optional rule in this book allows every character in a setting to chug drinks on their turn without spending an action, allowing characters to fight without any encumbrance from drinking copious amount of healing potions. The rule is explicitly meant to make healing potions useful for games with a large enough number of players that drinking that potion may be one of two or three actions you take in combat, making rapid mid-combat chugging an AcceptableBreakFromReality.



* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it touches.

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* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: Instead of being the results of bestiality or demonic rituals, the minotaurs of Tal'Dorei were artificial beings created during the Age of Arcanum to guard the great treasures in elaborate labyrinths and mazes.
* OverusedCopycatCharacter: The adventure hook "A Lesson in Tropes" pokes fun at the D&D cliche of making a character based off the fantasy hero [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]]. In it, a dark elf ranger with a panther pet turns out to be a heartless spy hoping to assassinate an elven official with little more than a dashing smile and his beautiful eyes, much unlike the heroic Drizz't.
* PokeInTheThirdEye: The Remnant Cultist enemy has a trait called "Unknowable Secrets" which causes any attempt to read their mind or magically monitor them to fail while the telepath or spellcaster takes about 20 points of psychic damage. As the followers of a self-proclaimed god of secrets, it's a very fitting ability.
* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it touches.touchee
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The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[CaptanErsatz gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for D&D players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.

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The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[CaptanErsatz [[CaptainErsatz gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for D&D players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.

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The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[WritingAroundTrademarks gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for D&D players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.

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The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[WritingAroundTrademarks [[CaptanErsatz gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for D&D players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.



* CaptainErsatz:
** All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is called "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."
** The cultists and minions of the [[OurLichesAreDifferent one-eyed, one-handed wizard Vecna]] have a few stat-blocks in the book. However, because Vecna is licensed by Wizards of the Coast, these cultists that each have one eye and one hand are instead just following a guy called the Whispered One.



* EnemyScan: Cobalt Soul sub-class published here allows a Monk to spend a ki point to force an enemy to roll a Constitution saving throw if the Monk hits the enemy more than once on a turn. If they enemy then fails, then the Monk must can choose to extract knowledge of one aspect of the enemy's game statistics. This version of the ability is notably more complex than later versions Creator/MatthewMercer published online, which he developed after having one of his players pick up this sub-class.



* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it touches.
* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."

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* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it touches.
* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."
touches.

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* BloodMagic: The Blood Domain is a Cleric sub-class centered around manipulating the forces that control one's body and connects it to the soul. These clerics can channel divinity to control the blood within creatures and force them to make attacks against allies or use samples of the blood of a creature to learn their location or even take control of their senses for a short time.



* LateArrivalSpoiler: The book by it's very nature describes the most world-shaking events that happen in ''Critical Role'' so fans can have all the information they need to come up with their own characters and storylines in Tal'Dorei. Even the cover is a spoiler, since it shows the cast of ''Critical Role' being swarmed by dragons in the capital of the continent!

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* EvolvingWeapon: Each of the Vestiges of Divergences have an Awakened and Exalted State that can only be reached if a creature wielding the item overcomes an extreme personal challenge. This causes the offensive Vestiges to give a +2 bonus to attacks and damage when Awakened that increases to +3 when Exalted, while also increasing the size of any damage die the weapon adds to damage rolls and increasing the difficulty of any rolls enemies have to make resist the effects of the weapon. There are a host of other unique bonuses detailed in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' proper or, for those Vestiges no featured in the stream, below:
** Agony, a torturer's flail, is unique is that it has a +2 bonus to attacks while Dormant and upgrades to a final bonus of +4. On top of that, the Awakened Agony allows it's wielder to make an additional attack when the weapon brings someone to 0 Hit points and gives any creature struck on it disadvantage on Strength rolls until the end of their next turn. When Exalted, it's so fearsome that a creature struck by a CriticalHit from it becomes frightened.
** The Condemner only provides two TrickArrow options until it is Awakened, when it can fire a paralysis arrow. Then, when it's Exalted, it can fire an arrow that contains a miniature blight inside of it.
** When the Wraps of Dyamak are awakened, a monk wearing them can teleport a short-distance once and can use that ability again if they score a CriticalHit. When exalted, the wraps allow their wearer to turn one of their punches into a Ravenous Strike that [[LifeDrain gives them a hit point for every point of damage they do]].
* LateArrivalSpoiler: The book by it's very nature describes the most world-shaking events that happen in ''Critical Role'' so fans can have all the information they need to come up with their own characters and storylines in Tal'Dorei. Even the cover is a spoiler, since it shows the cast of ''Critical Role' Role'' being swarmed by dragons in the capital of the continent!continent!
* LivingBattery: The Rune Children are people randomly born with magical runes covering their bodies that naturally conduct magical energy. During the days before the GreatOffscreenWar, almost all of these people were enslaved to serve as power sources for influential wizards, causing the few that are still born to cover up their true nature.
* TrickArrow: The Condemner is legendary crossbow unique in it's ability to use crossbow bolts as a delivery mechanism for spells instead of doing damage several times a day. One arrow creates a fog cloud, another creates an area where no sound can be produced or heard, another paralyzes the target for the minute, and at it's fully power, the Condemner can release a precise, targeted blight into a bolt that instantly kills any plant it touches.
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* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGames/{{Pathfinder}}'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."

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* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGames/{{Pathfinder}}'' ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."
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* CameBackWrong: The book presents optional rule to make death in D&D more than [[DeathIsCheap a nuisance]] called "Didn't Come Back Right." The rule states that any character that returns from the dead must roll a d20 and add their Wisdom saving throw bonus. If their total is lower than 20 minus the level of the spell used to revive them, the creature gains becomes mad for days or possibly weeks. A harsher variant in the book has the madness last indefinitely unless removed by magical means.
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''Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting'' is a 2017 book written by Creator/MatthewMercer and James Haeck to help fans of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-stream ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' run their own ''D&D'' games in the world Mercer created for that stream. More briefly, it's the book of the stream of the game.

The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[WritingAroundTrademarks gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for ''D&D'' players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.

to:

''Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting'' is a 2017 book written by Creator/MatthewMercer and James Haeck to help fans of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-stream ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' run their own ''D&D'' D&D games in the world Mercer created for that stream. More briefly, it's the book of the stream of the game.

The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[WritingAroundTrademarks gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for ''D&D'' D&D players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.



* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGames/Pathfinder'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."

to:

* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGames/Pathfinder'' ''TabletopGames/{{Pathfinder}}'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
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A lot of it details lore you'd never know after watching all 340 hours of ''Critical Role'', but some of the characters and events described in the book are basically summaries of their appearances on ''Critical Role'' up to episode 94, so prepare to get '''spoiled''' if you read the book (or this page!) without seeing the show first.

to:

A lot of it details lore you'd never know after watching all 340 hours of ''Critical Role'', but some of the characters and events described in the book are basically summaries of their appearances on ''Critical Role'' up to episode 94, so prepare to get '''spoiled''' if you read haven't seen the book (or this page!) without seeing the show first.show.
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Added DiffLines:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/915ijyvfi6l.jpg]]

''Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting'' is a 2017 book written by Creator/MatthewMercer and James Haeck to help fans of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-stream ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' run their own ''D&D'' games in the world Mercer created for that stream. More briefly, it's the book of the stream of the game.

The book details just about everything that ''Critical Role'' mentions about Tal'Dorei, the fictional continent the first campaign is set on. It's a place with the dwarves and elves typical of fantasy settings in addition to incredibly dangerous firearms and a Divine Gate which keeps gods from solving every problem. It details mythic battles that shaped the world, powerful organizations and governments eager to hire adventurers, [[WritingAroundTrademarks gods that remain nameless for legal reasons]], and some sub-class options and magic items for ''D&D'' players more interested in doing a lot of fake damage than fake history.

A lot of it details lore you'd never know after watching all 340 hours of ''Critical Role'', but some of the characters and events described in the book are basically summaries of their appearances on ''Critical Role'' up to episode 94, so prepare to get '''spoiled''' if you read the book (or this page!) without seeing the show first.
----
!!''Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting'' provide examples of:

* CataclysmBackstory: The continent of Tal'Dorei has three defining wars that shape the civilization:
** The first is called "the Calamity," an oft-referenced war involving PhysicalGods and magical cities that takes place eight hundred years before ''Critical Role'' and gets mentioned in the show throughout both of its seasons. Basically, an arms race between evil gods and wizards let to a third of humanity being destroyed waged, so the good gods stopped the war by creating a huge gate that kept any gods from traveling into the world of mortals. Now no god can directly interfere in the affairs of mortals anywhere in the world due to this "Divergence," thus explaining why gods don't solve problems with a DeusExMachina in games in the setting.
** The second is the Scattered War, a continental war between elves and men that doesn't have as large of an influence on the web-show. It mainly involves an incredibly brutal line of tyrant kings that explain why Tal'Dorei is in the process of becoming a republic, rather than your typical fantasy monarchy.
** The third is actually an event depicted in ''Critical Role'', the conquest of Tal'Dorei by a group of five dragons called the Chroma Conclave. The rampage of the dragons throughout the countryside has created a lot of fresh ruins filled with treasure for adventurers to excavate and explore.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: The book by it's very nature describes the most world-shaking events that happen in ''Critical Role'' so fans can have all the information they need to come up with their own characters and storylines in Tal'Dorei. Even the cover is a spoiler, since it shows the cast of ''Critical Role' being swarmed by dragons in the capital of the continent!
* WritingAroundTrademarks: All of the deities from ''Critical Role'' copyrighted characters from ''Dungeons and Dragons'' books with one exception: a copyrighted-character from a ''TabletopGames/Pathfinder'' book. As such, none of the gods mentioned in the campaign guide are given proper names and instead referred to by titles. So, Asmodeus is now "the Lord of the Hells," Sarenrae is "the Everlight," and the Raven Queen is "the Matron of Ravens."

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