In case you missed it, the Critical Role cast has partnered with Obsidian Entertainment to voice several characters of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. The world itself has a lot to offer GMs looking for inspiration for their games on the tabletop. With these character sheets, you’ll now be able to get into the role of your favorite Critical Role cast member within the game.
We’ve started the characters point-by character building rules from the Player’s Handbook and at their lowest possible level to encompass appropriate character and class features (such as animal companions and multiclasses) while keeping the character levels at the bare minimum to both give you the experience of playing them and making them your own. It also ensures we can keep these character reveals spoiler-free for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire so you can also enjoy the game and be immersed in its story.
We worked with Josh Sawyer, Design Director for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire to shape these character sheets and included some roleplaying tips for each one of them.
Preview images of the sheets are below (and you can click them to enlarge them) and you can download the printable PDFs of the character sheets for personal use. Learn about these characters and let them inspire you to make them your own for your next 5e tabletop adventure!
Matt Mercer – Aloth & Edér
The beloved DM of Critical Role not only voiced the trailer for the game but also plays two characters, Aloth and Edér.
Aloth is a wizard from Aedyr and an old ally from the Watcher’s journeys in the Dyrwood. Meticulous, thoughtful, and pragmatic, his experiences in the years since meeting the Watcher have shaped him. They’ve also brought him to the Deadfire on a mission of his own. With the Watcher’s help, he hopes to uncover the truth behind one of the oldest and most secretive organizations in Eora.
In building Aloth, he’s a wizard having dedicated himself to the study of magic. As he is a Wood Elf, he benefits from the racial features. For his spellbook to start off, we recommend the following spells: Ray of Frost, Fire Bolt, Dancing Lights, Mage Armor, and Magic Missile, as they most closely resemble his available spells from Pillars of Eternity at this level. At level 2 when he has access to an Arcane Tradition, consider the School of Evocation because he harnesses elemental damage.
As a background, we chose to give him Haunted One, as in his youth he suffered such a trauma that the soul of a woman named Iselmyr (whom he generally views as uncouth and provincial) took over his body and filled the parts of his soul he had retreated from. She is a part of him, and emerges in uncontrolled ways, literally haunting him, and leading him to have a pathological need to control every other aspect of his life, as he struggles to control her.
As a party member, He is thoughtful, pragmatic, and somewhat uptight. Many of his traveling companions might tire of his priggish ways and find Iselmyr a breath of fresh air, both because of how her presence discerns Aloth, but also because she is a delightful foil to his high-strung demeanor. (In those moments when you do fail that wisdom save your GM asks you to make in trying moments to keep her from emerging, Josh told us that Iselmyr is chaotic neutral.)
Matt also voices the warm, war veteran-turned-farmer, Edér.
A farmer and veteran of the Saint’s War, Edér fought alongside the Watcher in the Dyrwood and now accompanies his old ally to the Deadfire Archipelago. His easygoing manner and dry wit belie a strong sense of responsibility and commitment. Eothas’ return into the world raises questions for Edér about the god he once worshipped and later fought against.
Edér’s build is relatively straightforward: a human fighter, equipped with scale mail, a blade (longsword as it is versatile) with a high strength and constitution as you would expect a veteran of the Saint’s War. Also, make sure you have a pipe – it’s as much a part of him as his beard and genial demeanor, which is why he’s got such a high charisma. We gave him the Folk Hero background as a veteran of the war, the small folk would easily feel appreciation towards him and would be eager to be regaled with tales of battle. Roleplaying Edér offers the opportunity to play a loyal, friendly character, with a slightly dark sense of humor who is searching for meaning and understanding of his god, which offers great story hooks and ways to grow relationships with other party members.
Marisha Ray – Maia Rua
Maia is an elite sharpshooter serving a tour of duty for the Royal Deadfire Company. With the help of her bird of prey companion, Ishiza, Maia can scout environments both in and out of combat. Reassigned from her mission and sent to assist the Watcher, she and Ishiza are grateful for the chance to sail the treacherous waters of the Deadfire for some adventure and target practice.
The Huana of Deadfire have aquatic features, not unlike the Triton race, so in building her out we started there. We gave her the Sailor background because of her service with the Royal Deadfire Company, and started her as a level 3 Ranger with an Archery fighting style and a Beast Master subclass to represent both her sharpshooting skills and her bird-of-prey companion, Ishiza. In addition, we gave her favored terrain of the coast due to her seafaring ways. For her spells at level 3, consider Hunter’s Mark, Speak with Animals and Hail of Thorns.
Liam O’Brien – Serafen
As a shiphunter of the Príncipi sen Patrena, Serafen uses his psychic abilities to guide pirates to merchant vessels ripe for plunder. Serafen’s captain offers the furry blue pirate’s expertise to the Watcher, and Serafen brings with him his unique perspective on the politics and cultures of the Deadfire – as well as a long history of wronged rivals, lovers, and adversaries. A self-proclaimed expert in all things involving his tongue, Serafen’s bawdy humor, felonious tendencies, and strained relationship with the truth don’t always endear him to his fellow travelers.
Serafen is a multiclass character: a cipher (delivering magic through his will and mind) and a barbarian. He’s also a unique race – forest orlan. They are small-statured, and unlike their bretheren, the hearth orlans, they are covered in fur. We translated this race to be comparable to a forest gnome. We took the barbarian class and translated his harnessing of magic to that of the Unearthed Arcana Mystic class. Because forest orlans as a race tend to be reclusive and remarkable, we gave him the Outlander background.
As Liam put it, “Serafen is a heart of absolute gold wrapped up in a bawdy, blue ball of orlan fur. Plus, if you like stories about found family, he might be your jam. If you were rolling as Serafen at the table, I would lean on those high Charisma skills. Slaying is too much work. Go with seduction.” Seduction might be a little challenging, given that he’s not conventionally handsome being covered in fur and all (reflected with the lower charisma stat). That said, he does have charming qualities that he can turn on: we gave him the Mystic Order of The Awakened, giving him Mantle of Awe (to make his tall tales even taller) and Precognition to reflect his background, and chose to give him proficiency in persuasion and deception for the mystic class feature Awakened Talent to capture that signature charm.
Laura Bailey – Xoti
Xoti is a half meadow, half savannah folk priestess who believes it is her divine duty to shepherd lost souls through the Beyond. As a worshipper of Gaun, the aspect of Eothas associated with harvests and the death side of the cycle of rebirth, Xoti wields a sickle and a lantern in order to reap souls for her god. When she was a young girl, she was one of thousands of Readcerans who came to Deadfire fleeing the devastation that followed the vorlas blight and the Saint’s War. Her family, like many others, established themselves as farmers, and it was then that Xoti claims Gaun began to speak to her through prophetic nightmares. Xoti is eager to chase down the manifestation of her god so that she might better understand and aid his mission on Eora.
Xoti is a priest for Gaun, and as such we made her a cleric (though in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, she can be a priest, a monk, or a priest-monk hybrid). We gave her an acolyte background reflecting her religious studies. To reflect the path she’s taken in service to Gaun, we chose to give her the Death Domain. Equip her with her a sickle as a weapon, and make her lantern her holy symbol which acts as her spellcasting focus.
Her prophetic nightmares are an exceptional roleplaying hook that your GM should harness to drive her motivation and story.
Travis Willingham – Tekēhu
Tekēhu is a marine godlike and accomplished watershaper. While others would harness his talents to intimidate enemy ships and enrich Huana culture, Tekēhu wishes to spearhead an artistic revival and bring change on his own terms. His people have a very rigid idea what it means to be born of a god, so he delights in paddling against the current and defying the wishes of those who seek to control him.
As a godlike, Tekēhu being touched by the divine, his race is Aasimar, as he’s been chosen by the marine goddess Ondra. We also took the opportunity to multiclass him as a bard and druid as they both reflect his leanings and abilities. As a bard, he spreads art through his culture and world and gave him an Entertainer background, likely to the chagrin of his Huana tribe.
His affinity to water allows him to harness it as an elemental druid. We imagine him to be a Protector Aasimar, harnessing spells such as Heroism and Guidance along with Bardic Inspiration to help both performers and party members perform better (be it on the stage or on a battlefield) and Thunderwave as his own battlefield solo performance. At higher levels, consider spells such as Water Walk, Control Water, Water Breathing and Tidal Wave.
Tekēhu is impulsive, with a creative but flighty mind. While his affinity with watershaping is reflected with a high wisdom stat for the purposes of casting (and to ensure he can multiclass as a druid), he himself isn’t exactly the wisest character, and as such we included a very specific character flaw: Godlike Arrogance, which gives him disadvantage on all wisdom-based ability checks.
Ashley Johnson – Ydwin
An expert in the metaphysics of Eora and a skilled practitioner of animancy – the wildly controversial science of the soul – Ydwin holds as deep an interest in the Watcher’s abilities as in the living god wading across the Deadfire. Analytical, courteous, and possessed of a rapier wit, she seems the ideal compatriot – assuming you don’t object to her dangerous avenues of scientific inquiry.
As a pale elf, it gave us the opportunity to cast Ydwin as an eladrin elf, and as a benefit to her class, or rather, classes as we multiclassed her as a rogue and artificer. (We’re using the Unearthed Arcana rules for her race and class, but we anticipate official eladrin rules in an upcoming supplement.) Her rogue abilities would also provide her double proficiency in Investigation and Perception, demonstrating her expertise and sharp mind.
We imagine her within a tinkerer guild that secretly studies animancy, as it is rather controversial but relies heavily on technology. Her rogue abilities would allow her to sneak about, perhaps stealing notes from a rival or materials and artifacts she might need for her studies. Her artificer specialization would be as an alchemist, but the pursuit of her studies would be to eventually master magics of the soul, possibly allowing her to imbue her own into magical items (as reflected in the 20th level class feature, Soul of Artifice).
Sam Riegel – Rekke
Rekke is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. When the Watcher finds him, he speaks a language none among the party have ever heard before – not that it stops him from speaking his mind. In the Watcher’s company, he quickly proves himself to be a capable fighter and easy-going traveling companion. The youngest member of the party, he amuses himself by playing pranks on his newly found friends.
A young, foreign survivor is fertile ground to develop an interesting character. Given that he comes from far away, we gave Rekke the Far Traveller background as his foreign background is likely evident through his native tongue and likely his heavy accent as he learns common. Between the language barrier and the scar on his face, we chose Charisma as his dump stat, though his party may find themselves endeared to him. As a survivor, we decided he would lean towards the Defense fighting style (one brush with death is likely enough).
His starting stats are somewhat lower for a starting human character to reflect his youth and inexperience. We did, however, decide to give him the Luck feat to balance him out and reflect the fact that to survive a shipwrek in Deadfire, you have to be a lucky guy.
Fished from the sea, his roleplaying hook might well be a fish-out-of-water story, as he learns to find his own place in a strange new land. Pillars of Eternity has themes of found family, and Rekke’s journey in discovering his own is fertile ground for roleplaying this character.
Taliesen Jaffe – Eothas
Eothas is the god of light, redemption, and rebirth. A generation ago, he manifested his power in a farmer named Waidwen to lead what became known as The Saint’s War. After the armies of the Dyrwood destroyed St. Waidwen, Eothas disappeared from Eora. He was not heard from again until he restored and animated the statue beneath the castle of Caed Nua. Destroying the castle, drawing the souls out of its residents, and leaving the Watcher of Caed Nua for dead, Eothas then marched into the ocean and made his way for the Deadfire Archipelago. His motives are unknown.
Eothas is not a playable character (because he’s a god), but GMs might find some inspiration from his presence from our previous article, GMs: Find Inspiration For Your RPG Campaigns In Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.
If you truly want to explore these characters in the narrative of the game, pre-order your copy today before its release on May 8th. You can pre-order Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire now from Critical Role (via versusevil.com), GOG, or Steam.
Image Credits: Critical Role, Obsidian Entertainment
Character Sheets by Teri Litorco with images courtesy of Obsidian Entertainment
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