Exandria is a D&D setting created by the crew of Critical Role. There are currently two published campaign setting books set in this world---the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting and the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. While this game is set in the world of Exandria, it's not based on the stories from Critical Role. While I'm treating Campaign 1 as canon, Campaign 2 will not be since I want to avoid assumptions or overlap about the world based on what's currently going on in Critical Role. I enjoy the setting and want to run a story there, but I don't want to place restrictions upon stories we can tell together because the people on Critical Role are doing certain things in their game. This game takes place in 835 PD which is the same timeline as presented in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount and 23 years after the events of Campaign 1.

You don't need to have seen Critical Role to join this game. You don't need both of the campaign setting books to join (if you don't own the setting books, you can find much of the world's setting in the Critical Role wiki). While some rudimentary setting knowledge is good to have in order to better and more comfortably root yourself in the game's canon, I'm happy to work with more general concepts and help the player find a place in the canon as long as they are serious about wanting to join the game, seems like a good person, and is interested in a story- and character-driven narrative.

That last thing is important to point out. I want this to be a story- and character-driven game. I've never enjoyed long dungeon crawls or countless combat encounters. I enjoy games where more focus is placed on roleplay, narrative, and character interactions. When combat occurs, I want it to feel relevant and impactful. If you want a more traditional D&D experience driven by encounters and loot, then you will not enjoy this game. If you're interested in the kind of game I'm looking for, then I urge you to apply. What I'm looking for in players are people who are willing to invest some time and interest in creating a story together. That means that I'm looking for interesting character concepts and not simply blank slates. D&D games usually get a lot of applications, and the majority of them are just a sentence or two. Take your time to write a character concept that gives the character some connection to the world, some ambitions and dreams, as well as some wants and fears. I'm judging you by your application and it's easy to see when someone has put in actual effort and when someone has just tossed one together.

This brings us to the kinds of character concepts I'm looking for. Because this game will be story- and character-driven, I don't have the overarching plot planned out yet. I do have some ideas for potential storylines as well as a starting point, though, and this is a starting point that allows freedom of concept. You can make a character concept from any Exandrian continent. We can then work out the details later of how you get from your origins to where the game begins. The character will start at Level 3, use the standard array, and use the average hit points when leveling up. The characters will have the starting equipment for their class as well as 100 gold to spend on other (non-magical) things. Apart from this, I'm going to let all players choose either a feat or a magic item to start the game with---though this will be at my discretion. Later as the game progresses, I will hand out custom- and tailor-made feats to each player at Level 5, 10, 15, and 20 that somehow ties into the character's individual story. This is something we tried once in a home game to great success because it made each character stand out and feel more unique than what the original class options allow.

Finally, and this should be obvious, I want players who are respectful, mature, abide to the site's rules, and who recognize that roleplay is a social experience (even when it's online). If something bothers you about the game, another player, or about me, then I encourage you to be open about your thoughts and concerns. Communication is vital in order to provide an experience that everyone can enjoy. As a GM, it's also important to get feedback on what works and doesn't work so that the game can be tailored to your interests.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:05, Tue 23 Feb 2021.

You may use the following content:

Dungeon Master's Guide: You may use the content in this book.

Explorer's Guide to Wildemount: You may use any of the options from this book.

Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica: You may use the following options with the following changes: Centaurs are quite small in Ravnica. Since I want to allow them for this game, I think it appropriate to let them have Large Size. If they consent, they can let a Medium or smaller creature ride on their back, but their rider cannot control them as a mount. They're simply allowing them to be on their back. Loxodons are allowed, but they aren't considered native to either Tal'Dorei or Wildemount. If you want to play one, you've traveled from another land. Minotaurs are allowed. Simic Hybrids and Vedalken are disallowed. Both subclass options Order Domain and Circle of Spores are allowed.

Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes: You may use the content from this book.

Player's Handbook: You may use the content from this book.

Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting: You may use any of the class options, background options, or feat options with the following changes: I'm going to be allowing a house rule to let you drink potions as a free action which makes the feat Rapid Drinker partially unnecessary. Instead, the part from Rapid Drinker that would let you drink a potion as a bonus action will instead give you +1 to Constitution. The feat will also let you apply your advantage on saving throws against poison overall, and not just ingested toxins. Additionally, the dragonborn ravenite subrace will be disallowed since there is an updated version of it in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything: You may use the content from this book.

Other Exandria content: You may use Matt Mercer's blood hunter class and gunslinger subclass.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything: You may use the content from this book.

Other content: If you want content not covered in the books above, I want to review it first.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:52, Tue 23 Feb 2021.

We use the following house rules:

• You can drink potions as a free action. You still need to use an action if you feed a potion to someone else.
• Whenever you go down to 0 hit points but don't die, you will wake up with one exhaustion due to the trauma from your injury. If you wake up from a critical success on your death save or from a healing spell, you can ignore this exhaustion.
• Death is traumatic. See below:

Death and Resurrection: I'm going to use a resurrection rule that's fairly unforgiving, and that acts as a mixture of the Didn't Come Back Right rule and The Fading Spirit rule from the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting book. If a character is dead, and a return from death is attempted by a spell or spell effect with longer than a one action casting time, a Resurrection Challenge is initiated. Up to three members with a connection to the dead character can offer to contribute to the ritual via skill checks. The GM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the GM (and the dead character's player) feels the contribution would be. After all contributions are completed, the GM then rolls a single, final Resurrection success check with no modifier (the dead character's player may roll this instead of they want to). The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone (signifying the slow erosion of the soul's connection to the world). For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1. Upon a successful resurrection check, the player's soul (should it be willing) will be returned to the body, and the ritual succeeded. On a failed check, the soul does not return and the character is lost. Only the strongest of magical incantations can bypass this resurrection challenge, in the form of the true resurrection or wish spells. These spells can also restore a character to life who was lost due to a failed resurrection ritual, should the GM allow it.

However, despite this ritual, the process of dying and being pulled back into your body is a harrowing experience. The magic itself pulls you from beyond the dark veil of death, taking its toll on your body and psyche each time, leaving you less and less the person you were. When a character is successfully brought back to life via magic, that character's player must make a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 20 - the level of the magic used to return the character to life - 3 for each successful contribution (see above) or +1 for each failed contribution (see above). Whether the character fails or suceeds, they gain one exhaustion as they wake up. A failure on the check inflicts long term madness, except that the duration is measured in days rather than hours. A lesser restoration or remove curse will alleviate the madness itself, though it returns any time that character drops to 0 hit points or awakens from sleep, until its full duration has expired. If they roll a critical failure on this roll, the gain an indefinite madness instead.

Everyone that I intend to invite has been invited now. I invited more than I originally anticipated, but there were so many good applications (more than 50 applications in total). I want to thank everyone who applied, and I urge those of you who didn't get in to apply again if spots open up in the future.

This is our current roster:

• Centaur Cleric (Life Domain).
• Deep Gnome Warlock (Genie).
• Half Elf Monk (Way of Mercy).
• Half Orc Rogue (Assassin).
• High Elf Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian).
• Human Artificer (Armorer).
• Human Bard (College of Glamour).
• Human Wizard (School of Conjuration).
• Minotaur Wizard (Order of Scribes).