D&D: The Nine New(ish) Subclasses In Critical Role’s New Tal’dorei Guide
With an exciting return to Critical Role’s continent of Tal’Dorei on the books, nine subclasses have been revealed.
Take a look at the magic of Exandria! Although, truthfully, it may not be literal magic in every case. The Path of the Juggernaut is all about hitting really hard, no harder, harder than even that. Nevertheless, there will be nine subclasses in the upcoming Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn from Critical Role’s friendly neighborhood publishing imprint, Darrington Press.
Thanks to Darrington Press, we know what those subclasses are. There are nine, all in all. This includes four brand new never-before-seen subclasses, one previously published during Critical Role’s Campaign 2, and four that had previously only been available in the out-of-print original Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Guide.
Let’s take a look at them now:
Meet the subclasses of Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn! They include a mix of new and updated subclasses for your epic adventures in Exandria and beyond.
- Barbarian: Path of the Juggernaut
- Bard: College of Tragedy
- Cleric: Blood Domain
- Cleric: Moon Domain
- Druid: Circle of the Blighted
- Monk: Way of the Cobalt Soul
- Sorcerer: Runechild
- Paladin: Oath of the Open Sea
- Wizard: Blood Magic
The accompanying paragraph has me pretty excited–D&D has come a long way since the first Tal’Dorei guide.
Since the book was first published, WotC released Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. These raised the bar for what folks expected out of a subclass. But more importantly, both WotC and Critical Role published Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. The book includes some of the most innovative spell designs in 5th Edition. So much so that there are DMs out there who are afraid of the subclasses. Not because of anything they’ve done, but because of what they might do.
What will these subclasses look like now that Mercer & Co. has a bit more experience under their belt? It’s an answer I’m excited to find out. The four updated favorites: Path of the Juggernaut, Blood Domain, Way of the Cobalt Soul, and Runechild, are joined by the Oath of the Open Sea. You can check Oath out right now on D&D Beyond. This, famously, was the subclass that sad green boy Fjord Tough Stone adopted after getting creeped out by an eyeball snake.
The new subclasses, though, are particularly exciting. Given Matt Mercer’s penchant for gribbly blood magic, the wizard school of Blood Magic will surely be another way to get a beloved character killed about twenty or so sessions into the campaign.
The Moon Domain and Circle of the Blighted promise a little more darkness in your games, and with a subclass called the College of Tragedy, it’s a wonder nobody in Campaign 3 is playing one yet. You can just make out a preview of some of what the Moon Domain has to offer:
- Several bonus spells including faerie fire, moonbeam, invisibility, hallucinatory terrain, major image, and dream
- Two new Channel Divinity abilities that give either an increase to speed and advantage on Wisdom checks or advantage on attack rolls whenever an ally is within five feet of their target.
- A capstone ability that lets you call upon the power of one of Exandria’s moons that gives creatures in the area disadvantage on saving throws for a while
The book is due out in January, so be sure and check back for more!
Happy Adventuring!
