Award-winning game master Brennan Leigh Mulligan has gone above and beyond Critical Role Campaign 4 aims to remind viewers and players that the world of Araman is deadly. How we noticed earlier in the campaignDeath and the afterlife play a big role in this world and the story told around the table. With the gods killed and their afterlife realms apparently lost, the souls of the dead are stuck in limbo or forced to reincarnate. We previously speculated that this could also impact Campaign 4 players, and now we know how.
It's already been established that magic doesn't work as well as it used to before gods and mortals clash, which has major implications for how some Dungeons & Dragons spells will (or won't) work in Campaign 4.
[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for episode 9 of Critical Role Campaign 4.]
When necromancer wizard Octis Tachonis (Alexander Ward) awakens after being brutally murdered Mulligan's family determined that this was essentially a miracle. Returning “empty” (backstory from Explorer's Guide to Wildmount), Octis no longer has a heart and is essentially considered undead rather than alive. This was only possible thanks to incredible moves made by Bolair (Taliesin Yaffe) and Murray Mag'Nesson (Marisha Ray), who managed to extract the divine artifact known as the Nightsong Stone from Octis' body and return him as a revenant.
After the 9th episode of the 4th campaign and subsequent ones Cool down show, now we know why Octis' return is considered an exception. After successfully casting the story of Kattigan Vale (Robbie Daymond), who was concerned that the Tahonis family was using necromantic magic to bring people back to life, Mulligan explained that resurrection was impossible.
While necromancers such as Tachonis can create common undead such as ghouls, ghosts, and zombies, this is very different from bringing someone back to life.
“It’s not really a resurrection,” Mulligan further confirmed. Cool down. “Even Alex's character, even Octis, is the closest to being resurrected in this world in the last 70 years. But even he's a revenant, he's a hollow. So even he's still undead. His heart doesn't beat, he doesn't breathe. But at the core, he's still in really terrifying, mysterious circumstances.”
The lack of resurrection in the world of Araman is quite daunting and already makes this world stand out compared to Critical Role's previous campaigns in Exandria. While Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer did make it harder for players to resurrect allies in Campaigns 2 and 3 by adding extra rolls to spells like True Resurrection and Resurrection, Campaign 1 player characters were killed and resurrected so often that death began to seem pointless.
Dungeons & Dragons players know that the earliest you can get a spell that helps revive characters is as early as 5th level, with the third-level spell, Revivify. At level 7 they can gain the Resurrection spell. Both can be used by any character with access to divine spells and a ton of diamonds. What's the point in players and viewers worrying about characters dying if you know they can just as easily be brought back?
However, the setup described and highlighted by Mulligan means that resurrection spells will likely not be available to players. He made it clear that if anyone were to rise from the dead, they would have to pay a terrible price. This should up the stakes significantly in Campaign 4, and is consistent with the approach the new DM has demonstrated so far. He wants players and viewers to feel that this is a dangerous world where things can very easily go wrong.
This does not mean that resurrection is excluded. While Reanimate and Resurrect may not be available to players, Reincarnate, a 5th-level Druid spell, appears to play a significant role in Araman's world. It is established that those who walk the Old Path of the Druids can help souls reincarnate, as in episode 9 we learn that the Hounds of the King were human before they, in their desire to continue serving their King long after their death, were reborn as talking dogs.
However, the Reincarnation spell creates a new body for the soul, which usually results in a change of species determined by the roll. This could lead to some real shenanigans: imagine if pixie Thimble got reincarnated as a gnome, or if big lion Theor came back as a gnome. Alternatively, Mulligan could have used the rules of reincarnation to convey the story and tell the audience more about what happens on the other side of the veil.
Since spells like Resurrection or Revive are not available in Campaign 4, the combat becomes much tougher – and it was already quite rough due to new house rules what we saw in episode 8. More importantly, the lack of resurrection is directly related to how the world of Araman changed after the Creator War. While mortals have reclaimed their freedom and individuality from the gods, this has had far-reaching consequences – and is now starting to directly impact players.
