Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria PVE Rules
UVS Games
Ready to take on Exandria's worst, shoulder-to-shoulder with your friends? Here's the full rules on how to play PvE with the Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria boss cards!
Setup
Each enemy character has a specific number of HP per player.
Each player reveals their character and shuffles their decks. Then reveals cards from the top of their deck until they have revealed 3 foundations. They build those foundations, then reshuffle their decks.
Finally, players draw their opening hands and makes mulligan decisions as if they were using the Official Player 2 mulligan rules.
General Rules
The Combat Phase is collective for all players, but each player maintains their own card pool. At the beginning of the Combat Phase, choose a player to be the first player who was not the first player during the last Combat Phase. This can be denoted any way the players see fit, most commonly with a token.
During the Combat Phase, players take turns. On their turn, a player may play 1 card, play 1 form ability, or pass. After each player has taken a turn, the enemy character activates (see Enemy Character Activation).
Note: If a player fails a check to play a card on their turn, the enemy character retaliates against them (see Retaliation on the enemy character card).
The Combat Phase continues until either no player is able to play any cards or all players choose to end the Combat Phase (and all enemy character actions have resolved).
When the Combat Phase ends, the enemy character retaliates against all players. Then players clear their card pools and begin a new collective Start Phase.
When the enemy character activates, roll a d6 and take the corresponding actions from the enemy character’s table. If an activation affects all players, begin with the first player and resolve the effect from left to right.
If a player’s card or effect asks a rival to make a choice, the player who controls the card or effect makes that choice instead. If a card or effect asks a rival to take an action they are not able to take, the player may choose the outcome most favorable to themselves.
Attacking and Blocking
Player attacks deal their damage minus the enemy character’s toughness. When the enemy character’s toughness prevents at least some damage from an attack, that attack is considered to be partially blocked.
If the speed of a player’s attack is greater than or equal to the enemy character’s agility, that attack ignores toughness.
In addition to players blocking for themselves as usual, any player may block for another player during a retaliation. The block is placed in its owner’s card pool. If a block for another player is successful, the blocking player loses 1 health and the defending player takes either no damage for a full block or half damage (rounded up) for a partial block, as usual.
In addition to playing enhance abilities during their own attacks, each player may play up to 1 enhance ability during each other player’s attack.
Advanced Rules
You may elect to play with any of these optional advanced rules.
The enemy character’s attacks are considered to have the same resource symbols as the enemy character.
If a player plays a Stun ability, the enemy character loses health equal to its Stun rating.
Desperate Savagery mode: If the enemy character has less than 50 health, their attacks get +1 speed and +1 damage.
Enemy Character Activation
Enemy characters activate after all players have either played a card or passed during the Combat Phase. When an enemy character activates, roll a d6, then refer to that character’s activation table below to determine what happens.
Retaliation
The Briarwoods may retaliate against one or more players during game play. The Briarwoods retaliates against a player or players when:
A player’s attack deals 10 or more damage to them.
When a card or effect instructs them to.
When a player fails a check to play a card during their turn.
To “retaliate,” roll a d6. The player being retaliated against defends against the matching attack listed on the front of the enemy's card.
The Manticore
PvE Tier: Novice
Roll 1 or 2: Mother Protects Her Cub — Each player loses 3 health and freezes 1 foundation in their stage.
Roll 3 or 4: The Priest Defends the Manticore — Each player rolls a d6. The player with the lowest roll cannot play attacks during their next turn.
Roll 5 or 6: Mother Manticore’s Fury — The Manticore retaliates against each player. Then for each player who has attacked since the last activation, it retaliates against that player again.
Lorenzo
PvE Tier: Intermediate
Roll 1: Easy Pickings — Lorenzo steals 1 foundation from the player with the most foundations or from each player tied for most foundations.
Roll 2: Can’t Escape Lorenzo — Lorenzo steals 1 foundation from the player who most recently built a foundation.
Roll 3: Liquidating the Inventory — Lorenzo sacrifices all of his foundations. Each player loses 1 health for each foundation sacrificed this way.
Roll 4: Cruel Captor — Lorenzo steals 1 foundation from the player with the least health or from each player tied for least health. Lorenzo’s attacks get +2 damage for every 3 foundations in his stage (min. 2).
Roll 5: Invade the Sour Nest — Lorenzo steals 1 foundation from the player with the greatest health or each player tied for greatest health. Until the next activation, if a player’s attack deals 5 or more damage, they may return 1 stolen foundation to its owner's stage.
Roll 6: Lorenzo’s Assault — Lorenzo sacrifices all of his foundations. Each player loses 2 health for each foundation sacrificed this way, then builds any of those foundations that they own.
Note: When Lorenzo steals a foundation from a player, he steals the highest-difficulty ready foundation in that player’s stage. If that player has no ready foundations, the highest-difficulty foundation in their stage is stolen. If there are multiple cards that could be stolen, the player chooses between them. The stolen foundation moves from the player’s stage to Lorenzo’s stage. When Lorenzo sacrifices a foundation, add it to its owner's discard pile.
The Laughing Hand
PvE Tier: Expert
Roll 1: Undying — The Laughing Hand gains 5 health.
Roll 2: Descent into Madness — Each player discards their hand and draws the same number of cards. The Laughing Hand retaliates against the player with the most foundations or each player tied for most foundations.
Roll 3: Shadow Hounds — The Laughing Hand gets +3 agility. Each player who does not play an attack as their next form loses 3 health.
Roll 4: Whispering Wounds — Until the next activation, if a player’s attack deals damage to the Laughing Hand, that player mills 6.
Roll 5: The Crawling King’s Zealot — Each player mills 5. The Laughing Hand retaliates against each player.
Roll 6: Bladed Arm — The Laughing Hand retaliates against each player with half their health or less. If no retaliation attacks occur, each player loses 2 health.
Dr. Anna Ripley, Bound to Orthax
PvE Tier: Intermediate
Roll 1: Precision Trick-Shooting — Each player removes the top card of their deck. Each player that removes a card with difficulty 4 or greater loses 3 health.
Roll 2: Glintshore Ambush — Each player sacrifices 1 ready face up foundation and builds the top 2 cards of their deck face down committed.
Roll 3: Orthax’s Hex — Until the next activation, Dr. Anna Ripley’s attacks get +2 damage and if a player checks a 4 or greater to play a card, they re-check.
Roll 4: Hip Shots — Dr. Anna Ripley retaliates each time a player attacks her until the next activation. Before the next activation, each player rolls a d6. If they roll 1-2, they add 1 foundation from their stage to their hand.
Roll 5: Deadly Iteration — Each player removes 1 card from their hand and draws 1 card. For each non-attack card removed this way, Anna’s attacks get +1 damage until the next activation.
Roll 6: Pactbound Ammunition — Until the next activation, if any of Dr. Anna Ripley’s attacks is completely blocked, it deals 1 damage. Until the next activation, each time an attack deals damage, Dr. Anna Ripley gains 1 health. Dr. Anna Ripley retaliates against the player with the greatest health or each player tied for greatest health.
Kevdak, Thunderlord of the Herd of Storms
PvE Tier: Expert
Roll 1: Surging Storm — Add 1 Herd counter. Kevdak retaliates against the player with the greatest health or each player tied for greatest health.
Roll 2: Thunderlord Protected — Until the next activation Kevdak gets +1 toughness for each Herd counter and players’ attacks get -3 speed.
Roll 3: Might Makes Right — Remove 3 Herd counters. If you did, Kevdak retaliates against the player with the greatest health or each player tied for greatest health. This attack gets +5 damage.
Roll 4: Half-Giant Juggernauts — The herd gets +1 toughness. Retaliation attacks gain Throw until the next activation.
Roll 5: Westruun Overrun — Each player commits X foundations. X equals half the number of Herd counters, rounded down. Remove 1 Herd counter.
Roll 6: Stampede Rush — Add 2 Herd counters. Each player loses 1 health for each Herd counter in play.
The Briarwoods
PvE Tier: Intermediate
Roll 1: Sylas’s Hunger — Each player loses 3 health. The Briarwoods gain health equal to the total health lost by players this way. The Briarwoods get +1 Agility this Combat Phase.
Roll 2: Necromantic Assault — The Briarwoods retaliate against all players.
Roll 3: Delilah’s Sorcery — Each player discards 1 card and loses 1 health. The Briarwoods retaliate against the player with the fewest cards in hand or each player tied for fewest cards in hand.
Roll 4: Otherworldly Fortification — Each player commits 1 foundation and loses 2 health. The Briarwoods get +2 toughness until the next activation.
Roll 5: Hush Spell — Until the next activation, after a player plays an attack, roll a d6. On a 1-2, seal the attacking character. On a 3-5, seal the attack. (Seal—A card or character that is sealed loses all abilities and cannot gain abilities this turn.)
Roll 6: Chaotic Domination — Beginning with the first player this Combat Phase, each player rolls a d6. On a 1-2, that player resolves the most recent attack in the players’ card pool against the player on their right. That attack gets +2 speed. Clear that attack from the card pool.