That Critical Role would make some changes to the rules of Dungeons & Dragons for their campaign was already clear since the first announcement. However, after just a few episodes, further adjustments followed that render the traditional rule set secondary, but instead, initiate an exciting story.
How does Critical Role handle the classes in the latest campaign? Although it was clear early on that Critical Role wants to do many things differently in the latest campaign compared to previous ones, they still adhere – at least mostly – to the official rules of Dungeons & Dragons. This also applied to the classes, which in the first episodes consisted of familiar candidates such as Warlocks, Wizards, or Clerics. However, the emphasis here is on “consisted”.
After some early, yet quite impactful plot twists in the first episodes (which we do not want to spoil here), it became clear that some assignments of character and class were rather questionable. Even the attribute values of some characters raised suspicion among fans – A Cleric with a wisdom of 10? Sure.
Now Critical Role has completely rewritten some classes on their site and assigned new names that make much more sense in the new world and excite for future developments.
Here you can see the trailer for the fourth campaign of Critical Role:
The gods are dead – but magic is not
What changes have been made to the classes? After the first announcement that the gods no longer exist in the world of Aramán and the campaign takes place in a world without power-granting deities, some fans wondered how a Cleric like Wicander Halovar (played by Sam Riegel) could still come to be. However, after a rather special event in the third episode, several clues indicated that Wick is not actually a Cleric, but a kind of Wizard (which fits much better with his attribute values).
When Wick’s class was adjusted, it did not say Sorcerer, but “Prodigy Mage”, which can be translated roughly as “wonder-child mage”. However, this still fits the definition of a Wizard as found in the Player’s Handbook of D&D (2024):
Wizards command magic that is ingrained in their nature. Some Wizards do not know the origin of their powers. Others trace it back to strange events in their biography or family history.
Source: Player’s Handbook (2024) Page 162
However, the changes did not stop with the new naming of a Wizard. Magic is viewed differently in Aramán than in previous campaigns or the regular multiverse of D&D. After the death of the gods, it no longer functioned as before, but became wild and unpredictable.
Which classes received a new definition? The Wizard is not the only class that is defined differently in the world of Aramán. The following classes also received a new name:
- Warlock = Pact Magus
- Wizard = Arcanist
- Paladin = Exemplar
- Druid = Wild Mage
- Ranger = Tracker
- Sorcerer = Prodigy Mage
Since the character Azune, who is now referred to as Prodigy Mage like Wick, was first listed as Sorcerer, this confirms the suspicion that Wick also falls into that class.
It remains exciting whether Critical Role wants to incorporate similar ideas and descriptions for the subclasses of the characters, but one has to remain attentive for that.
In addition to the freshly launched fourth campaign of Critical Role, another project by the streaming group is starting in just one week. The animated series adaptation of their second campaign “The Mighty Nein” will be released on November 19, 2025, on Amazon Prime, and fans look forward to the plans Critical Role wants to implement with the series: Critical Role reveals which mistake they do not want to repeat from their second animated campaign after their Amazon hit
