Critical Role's 'Daggerheart' Open Playtest Starts In March

On March 12th, Critical Role's Darrington Press will be launching the open playtest for Daggerheart, their new fantasy TTRPG/

Using cards and two d12s, the system plays on 'the dualities of hope and fear'. The game is slated for a 2025 release.

Almost a year ago, we announced that we’ve been working hard behind-the-scenes on Daggerheart, our contribution to the world of high-fantasy tabletop roleplaying games.

Daggerheart is a game of brave heroics and vibrant worlds that are built together with your gaming group. Create a shared story with your adventuring party, and shape your world through rich, long-term campaign play.

When it’s time for the game mechanics to control fate, players roll one HOPE die and one FEAR die (both 12-sided dice), which will ultimately impact the outcome for your characters. This duality between the forces of hope and fear on every hero drives the unique character-focused narratives in Daggerheart.

In addition to dice, Daggerheart’s card system makes it easy to get started and satisfying to grow your abilities by bringing your characters’ background and capabilities to your fingertips. Ancestry and Community cards describe where you come from and how your experience shapes your customs and values. Meanwhile, your Subclass and Domain cards grant your character plenty of tantalizing abilities to choose from as your character evolves.

And now, dear reader, we’re excited to let you know that our Daggerheart Open Beta Playtest will launch globally on our 9th anniversary, Tuesday, March 12th!

We want anyone and everyone (over the age of 18, please) to help us make Daggerheart as wonderful as possible, which means…helping us break the game. Seriously! The game is not finished or polished yet, which is why it’s critical (ha!) to gather all of your feedback ahead of Daggerheart’s public release in 2025.

 

[Minigiant]

If a player isn't making combat-focused choices (like taking proficiency), aren't they simply flagging that they aren't interested in being primary contributers in combat

So do they get actions.

Because when the utility or healer takes a weak combat action, they give the GM an action.

When the combat monster takes a weak noncombat action, they give the GM an action.

 

[SakanaSensei]

So do they get actions.

Because when the utility or healer takes a weak combat action, they give the GM an action.

When the combat monster takes a weak noncombat action, they give the GM an action.

I’m curious, would you be willing to make this theoretical utility character that shouldn’t be using actions in combat? Even the most RP forward characters I’ve thrown together on Nexus have had pretty rad things they could be doing in a conflict, and I want to make sure we’re not discussing hypotheticals that don’t actually exist.

 

[Minigiant]

I’m curious, would you be willing to make this theoretical utility character that shouldn’t be using actions in combat? Even the most RP forward characters I’ve thrown together on Nexus have had pretty rad things they could be doing in a conflict, and I want to make sure we’re not discussing hypotheticals that don’t actually exist.

Just don't take Proficiency and take utility cards.

There are plenty of cards in Codex, Grace, Midnight, and Sage that don't have combat aspects or don't scale well unless you are spending 4-5 Hope.

The rules allow you to increase HP and Stress over and over.

 

[Reynard]

Just don't take Proficiency and take utility cards.

There are plenty of cards in Codex, Grace, Midnight, and Sage that don't have combat aspects or don't scale well unless you are spending 4-5 Hope.

The rules allow you to increase HP and Stress over and over.

Soyou are arguing against player choice. No thanks.

 

[SakanaSensei]

Just don't take Proficiency and take utility cards.

There are plenty of cards in Codex, Grace, Midnight, and Sage that don't have combat aspects or don't scale well unless you are spending 4-5 Hope.

The rules allow you to increase HP and Stress over and over.

I took this as a no, so I went ahead and did my best to do my worst.

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First, I'd like to note, I don't think I've ever played with someone who would go this out of their way to make someone bad at combat.

But even if they DID, this character has some neat things it can do, especially if the GM puts a modicum of effort into making conflicts that require movement and goals outside of "kill the enemy."

Secret Plan makes me super excited as both a player and as a GM because of its broad range of applications. "I made friends with the local militia at the bar and let them know we were coming, and I think I hear them coming to meet us here at the castle as we get into this pitched battle," has the potential to be the most impactful part of a climactic fight.

Enrapture has great applications in a fight with any kind of terrain and verticality. Get up high (or low) and draw the attention of a baddie that can't get to you? That sounds like Advantage for all your friends, to me, at the very least.

Arcane Door begs for complex situations where magical runes/terminals that affect the battlefield, or hold information that the party is fighting to get, have enemies in the way.

Reveal says no to sneaky fae.

Invisibility and Through Your Eyes are both very cool and likely don't do much in most fights.

I felt that this Bard subclass was the less combat focused, but Rally still seems like a great contribution to fights, especially if your buffed allies do a team attack and add those damage dice to their combined smack.

This is all on top of the various creative actions people can do in a fight that aren't just "I bonk the owlbear."

I really do not think that this is a problem.

 

[SteveC]

I don't know how much proficiency is a no-brainer choice for advancement. But, if the consensus is that it's a must-pick, I'd say it should be automatic with all the choices being interesting, not mandatory. Now I don't know if that's actually the case, but if so, this should be an easy fix.

 

[Minigiant]

I took this as a no, so I went ahead and did my best to do my worst.

https://app.demiplane.com/nexus/daggerheart/character-sheet/6d8fe6d5-6ede-48bd-a744-cd0fcf2aaa00

Soyou are arguing against player choice. No thanks.

The choice is fake.

It's no biggie. Everyone just has to take Proficiency and the same amount of combat domain cards.

The problem is only if someone doesn't match everyone else.

 

[SakanaSensei]

Hey @Minigiant, I appreciate you whipping together an example of what you're talking about! You might need to adjust the share settings so anyone with link can see the character, the link as is takes me directly to the Nexus "make a character" launch page, not to the character you made.

 

[Gorck]

Some abilities tell you how many dice to roll (i.e. 3d6), while others just tell you which die to roll (i.e. d8). In the case of the latter, you roll a number of dice equal to your proficiency. So, I suppose it would matter how many of the former abilities you take versus how many of the letter abilities you take, to determine if upping your proficiency is worth it when leveling up.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Hey @Minigiant, I appreciate you whipping together an example of what you're talking about! You might need to adjust the share settings so anyone with link can see the character, the link as is takes me directly to the Nexus "make a character" launch page, not to the character you made.

I’m unable to see it too. I’m planning on trying some mock combats if I have time, to see if things do break as suggested.