For as long as Critical Role has existed, the cast and crew have made it clear to Critters that they are open to bending or straight-up changing the rules of Dungeons & Dragons to fit the story they want to tell. For example, Matthew Mercer has created classes like the Blood Hunter and added subclasses to better fit the stories his players are telling together. Though Mercer no longer serves as Dungeon Master for Critical Role’s latest campaign, DM Brennan Lee Mulligan has also changed and homebrewed several rules, altering how death, combat, and even magic work.
His latest tweak, however, affects one of D&D’s most popular classes, making it more powerful — and perhaps more broken — than ever. Spoilers follow for Critical Role Campaign 4 episode 41, "True Nature." In episode 41 of Campaign 4, titled “True Nature,” the show returns to Tyranny (Whitney Moore) and Wicander Halovar (Sam Riegel) in the demonic plane known as The Pit as they continue to unravel the mystery behind Ksha'aravi. Ksha'aravi is Tyranny’s father and the demon that was left in charge of the Pit after Iljaza, the queen of demons, was obliterated alongside the Dying Fields in the aftermath of the Shaper’s War.
With help from the resurrected Tsul’rekshi, a powerful demon who has aided the party throughout the campaign and now holds Ksha’aravi’s debt after Ksha'aravi ingested Wick’s soul as a bargaining chip, Tyranny and Wick discover that Yanessa Halovar is hiding a dark secret. Yanessa is Wick's grandmother, House Halovar's leader, and the head of its religious offshoot, the Candescent Creed, but as Wick and Tyranny discover, she's also a Warlock, with Ksha'aravi serving as her patron. This was hinted at in Campaign 4, Episode 33, "Off-Balance", where Yanessa cast Eldritch Blast on Halandil Fang’s (Liam O’Brien) mug and then flew off, but we hadn’t got solid confirmation until now.
However, Yanessa’s pact with Ksha’aravi isn't quite what you’d expect from a typical Warlock-patron contract. Rather than Ksha’aravi being in charge, as is usually the case, a game Yanessa played when she was younger led the demon to reveal his true name, allowing her to control him and use his power whenever it suited her needs. Notably, Yanessa also uses Ksha’aravi’s powers on the luxes (religious leaders who travel to bring the Candescent Creed’s teachings to communities across Aramán), granting them magic in exchange for signing a contract.
As a result, even though the people of the Candescent Creed believe their faith earns them these powers, they are actually granted through a demonic contract and the application of tattooing filament (angel’s blood) to their faces. This lends legitimacy to the Candescent Creed and Yanessa, as luxes now have sorcery-like powers in a world like Aramán, where magic has been severely restricted since the destruction of the gods. Narratively, the idea of Yanessa Halovar crafting a fake religion and granting her thousands of followers powers through a Warlock contract is incredibly interesting, and we can’t wait to see it play out as the campaign continues.
However, the class tweaks also open up several game-changing possibilities. As Mulligan explained to his players in “True Nature”, the luxes of the Candescent Creed are all Warlocks, but their access to filament tattoos has enhanced them in a way that’s very different from how warlocks usually work. Warlocks have always been a class that can get a little broken depending on how you customize them, but their biggest downfall is their limited number of spell slots.
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