Critical Role fully unveils its new D&D house rules, and they’re brutal

Episode 10 is the tensest combat situation yet

It’s been established early on in Campaign 4 that Critical Role isn't afraid to shake up the rules of combat to enhance narrative flavor. In episode 8, "Fanged Revenge," Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan introduced new homebrew rules called Desperate Measures. Mulligan explained that Desperate Measures occur after a player is bloodied — meaning they are at half hit points (HP) or lower.

While we didn’t get a chance to see all the new options included at the time, we did find out one option centers around dying players. After they hit 0 HP, if they have one successful death save and no failures, they can choose between stabilizing or giving Heroic Inspiration to (a reroll of a d20 on their turn) to another player.

In episode 10, “Blood for Blood,” during a combat session that left the Soldiers table reeling, Mulligan has expanded on the Desperate Measures options.

[Ed note. Light spoilers ahead for Critical Role Campaign 4 episode 10.]

There has already been plenty of gnarly combat throughout Campaign 4, but episode 10 might be the tensest yet. After heading down into the castle dungeons in Tybry’s Lea, the group enters a combat encounter that quickly puts them on the backfoot. Spells, daggers, bolts, spears and deadly Basilisk’s gazes fly around the room, leaving a few of our players at the Soldier’s table — featuring Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Robbie Daymond, Whitney Moore, and Sam Riegel — hurting.

One player takes a tremendously hard hit — dropping their HP below half and granting them the ‘bloodied’ status. While the others scramble to help, the player chooses to use one of the Desperate Measures features that were previously alluded to on their turn.

Choosing to take two death saving throw failures — despite not actually being downed at 0 HP — the player decides to use a feature that allows them to, if their attack roll hits, to inflict maximum damage. A staggeringly powerful move, it forces the player into a tricky situation at having two death saving fails, with so little HP left.

The other Desperate Measures features mentioned by Mulligan were also clarified. If the player had chosen to take one death saving throw failure, they could have immediately dashed and disengaged as an extra action, or gain a plus 5 bonus to a D20 test.

The most fascinating option applies if the player decides to mark off three failed death saving throws: they can immediately take the attack or magic action as an extra action, or immediately regain an expended spell slot of a level that’s one through five.

This Desperate Measure feature is incredibly powerful, giving players the chance to dole out one last devastating attack that could, potentially, change the tide of battle for the better. High risk, but also high reward, which is what you want in Dungeons & Dragons combat.

However, there’s one big problem: three death saving throw failures means you permanently die if you drop to 0 HP. It is similar to how, in Daggerheart, players can choose to use the “Blaze of Glory” death move option. When players use this mechanic, they must take one final action. The action automatically critically succeeds before they then cross over to the realm of death.

We already know that Aramán is not a level-scaled world — meaning that players will encounter enemies with a higher Challenge Rating level than them — so they’ll never know what to expect from combat encounters. Moreover, enemies can also use Desperate Measures too. We also know that due to how death works in Aramán, spells like Revivify are, essentially, impossible to use. This makes dying not so easy to come back from as it was in Critical Role’s previous campaigns in Exandria.

Even with so much risk involved with these new mechanics, it does spice up combat a tremendous amount and encourages players to make daring moves that keep audiences on the edge of their seat. With so many players, and the fact that they’ll only be getting stronger as the campaign goes on, Critical Role’s use of homebrew mechanics looks to keep things fresh and narratively engaging throughout Campaign 4.