Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria Design Primer

Good morning, Fighters and Critters alike! My name is Tim Frie, UniVersus Rules Manager and the design lead for the Critical Role: Heroes Of Exandria booster set. I wanted to share some of the design ideas used for the upcoming booster set Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria. Normally, I’d be talking about the new rules created for this set, but I wanted to keep this set a little more straightforward and instead play with some other ideas, exploring design concepts rather than implement a new keyword or card type, especially after so many new ideas coming out of our last few releases.

The first mechanical idea I’d like to discuss is Classes, and how Class archetypes developed with symbol identity in mind. The initial idea for what we’ve done in Heroes of Exandria started back in MHA: JetBurn with the inclusion of character traits, specifically the traits that were about being part of a group. 1-A, Pro Hero, Villain, etc. These were meant to provide for a through-line of similar themed mechanical abilities that was limited to certain characters within that group’s membership, and had a loose theme around its evocation. To a degree this experiment was successful, but we never really had an opportunity to explore it aside from a handful of cards per set.

Critical Role, originating from a group of friends playing a TTRPG, was a perfect place to try and expand this idea further. This time, rather than characters assigned a trait solely based on the team or group they are a part of, we figured out the different Classes for each character. You can even see some of the characters possessing multiple Class traits. 

The Class-based traits you will find in Heroes of Exandria are:

• Brawler

• Brute

• Champion

• Entertainer

• Healer

• Hunter

• Inventor

• Mage

• Occultist

• Pactbound

• Thief

• Warden

• Warrior

Since we are exploring the idea of the Classes unlocking more power on a bunch of cards, we also wanted a way for players to maybe access some of those abilities while playing a character that doesn’t normally get to do so–adventures are better when it’s a party, right? So we developed Backups meant to increase your adventuring group with the Party trait. Party backups not only have a unique effect, but also lend your chosen character their expertise by giving you their Class trait. I will be going into the Class identities and how they translate into UniVersus in an article coming soon so keep an eye out for that.

Finally, the last significant thing I think I have to talk about with Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria is how deck building symbols will help create the identity of the set. Within Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria you will find the world will be represented by nine of our deckbuilding symbols and that we see a return of in-set multi-symbol cards. Every Ultra Rare and higher (along with a couple of lower rarity cards) will have at least two symbols per card. 

While this is all I can reveal for now, I am very excited to be sharing more details about the set before its release on March 7th, 2025. It was a pleasure to lead the design team for one of my favorite worlds for a second time. All that’s left is for fans of both Critical Role and UniVersus to get excited, ready your collections, shuffle your decks, and ask “is it game night yet?”