Voice actor Matthew Mercer leads a group of fellow voice actors on epic Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. These familiar voices bring the audience into the full experience of D&D, allowing imaginations to soar as the characters embark on adventures.
This tv show contains 74 potentially triggering events.
Second season: the party adopts a magical dog in episode 32, and while he is occasionally in peril by the combat that takes place around him, he is never killed or injured.
Vax'ildan, twin brother of Vax'ahlia (both members of Vox Machina) is killed during their fight with Vecna. He makes a deal with his patron goddess, the Raven Queen, to buy him more time on earth. On episode 115, Vax'ildan permanently "dies" (is delivered to the Raven Queen, which means he is forbidden from returning to this plane of existence) and the other members of Vox Machina mourn.
non-exploitative/appropriated depictions of multiple characters who are physically disabled due to injury or abuse played by able bodied actors (or actors who ARE physically disabled but not in the same way as the character) the nature of the ttrpg as a storytelling medium means there is no fake or 'put-on' physicality from the actors in their portrayals
there is a canon asexual/aromantic main character in campaign two. his sexuality is easily accepted and respected by the other characters once they understand he has no interest in either sex or romance, although prior to the character explaining this to them, the rest of the party is a little confused by his behavouir and laugh about things going over his head/his obliviousness to being hit on. nothing is ever mean-spirited or invalidating.
Since multiple characters fight with knives and swords, many, many characters get stabbed in almost every fight that occurs. There is nearly one fight every other episode, sometimes more.
both the characters and (even more so) the players can get pretty loud at times of excitement or stress. also, erika ishii is a scream trigger warning in and of herself
a character in campaign two experiences extreme disgust/self-loathing/shame in relation to her body. this is a major theme for roughly a third of the campaign. the entire storyline has very strong, defined parallels to some transgender peoples' experiences, and in many ways works as a metaphorical/fantasy version of gender specific body dysphoria
less severe but still present: a campaign two character has internalized shame in regards to being half-orc; one of the ways it manifests is through body dysphoria and physically altering himself to minimize specifically orc-ish traits. the character slowly and quietly develops a healthier relationship with his physical appearance over the course of the campaign
another campaign two character has scars on his arms with painful associated memories; he initially hides them with white bandage strips.
Many characters spy on others without their knowledge. This is a constant theme. Villains spy on the party without their knowledge, and the party spies on many people without their knowledge as well.
Particularly, the Travelercon arc in campaign 2 has multiple, intentionally-creepy mentions of the party feeling like they're being watched by not knowing by who.
fantasy religions only, but yes, there are several devote main characters who discuss their faith frequently. the main plot of campaign three is about the nature of religion as it exists in this fantasy universe.
There are underwater scenes throughout, but notably the seafaring adventure in campaign 2 (which begins with the party stealing a ship) contains multiple underwater fight scenes.
several times across both campaigns the main characters abandon whatever pack animals they happen to be using at the time, often with the implication of them meeting a horrible end. while the characters often find this distressing, it is usually a source of dark(ish) comedy for the players
Campaign 2: A party member's mother has a borderline stalker harassing her. The party deals with him when he turns out to be involved in some big bad stuff.
While it doesn't get played out, during the second campaign Beau mentions getting hit/slapped by her father.
During campaign 1, the twins father is emotionally abusive towards them.
During campaign 3, Imogen's mother is one of the major villains.
season 1: there is a scene where a character is disguised as a child and jokes that a party member disguised as his father was abusive towards him (no abuse occurs and the person isn’t actually a child). also some rough relationships between the twins and their father, and it could be interpreted that their father was abusive.
Season 2: one character has a very bad relationship with their parents and some of their backstory and comments about their parents make it seem like their parents were probably abusive. This is all in backstory though.
Campaign 1: (spoiler latter half of series) the character Scanlan is shown to abuse a fictional drug that causes tension in the group.
Campaign 2: The character Nott is shown to abuse alcohol throughout the beginning of the series and other references to drug use occurs such as Beau and Molly partaking in some kind of magic fungus.
Lots of heavy drinking in both campaigns. C1: a character is constantly drinking alcohol but does not appear to be dependent/addicted. campaign 2: there is an alcoholic character (nott)
First season: It's mentioned that the party's horses die in the first season when left unattended in the wild mountains. Second season: The party's horses are attacked and killed by monsters in a battle.
In campaign two: As the pet is technically a fey creature that takes on the appearance of a cat, it can’t die or feel pain, but it is “killed” a few times while it is in the form of other animals.
One of the main characters in the second campaign does have an animal companion that dies, but it is a fae creature that can be brought back to life with a ritual.
Caleb (campaign 2)'s cat is a fay creature so while it does go to 0 hit points, it never really dies" just goes to a different plane of existence and gets summoned back.
First season: The party is charged with killing an adult white dragon for a bounty hunting guild. -The Chroma Conclave arc is entirely devoted to killing 4 evil ancient chromatic dragons.
Very early in campaign 1, the player Orion makes a joke about this happening to him by a monster. That player was asked to leave the show at least in part for inappropriateness about a dozen episodes later and isn't present in the hundreds of future episodes.
Campaign 1: While there is no sexual assault, there are a couple mentions of a pre-stream incident where a monster intended to reproduce with a disguised party member, but they were killed by the party before any action could be taken
First season: A party member shaves another party member in their sleep as a prank, and shaves half of their beard off. Second season: A party member asks another to give them a shave with their sword.
there are multiple occurrences in both the first and second season where the environment makes breathing difficult, such as toxic air, or being underwater, though this is usually quickly solved by magical effects and items
a pretty significant moment in campaign one involves a character being choked (technically to death) the players at the time remarked on how dark/fucked up it felt. there is also a vaguely sexual undercurrent to the whole interaction
First season: People die to falling in lava, burned with fire magic, and killed with dragon flame. Second season: A character's backstory involves burning people alive, and they use fire magic to burn people to death.
First season: The heroes are threatened by the big bad to not try and stop them by the hanging of innocent townspeople (and bear) that are made to look like them.
earl in campaign 1 a character's foot is submerged in lava and depicted as being severely damaged for an extended period of time, as well as being submerged in lava again during the final arc of the first season. there are also multiple references to mangled appendages in and an enemy is shot in the foot
Campaign 1: An npc is tortured and found naked and bloody in the torture chamber.
Campaign 2: Three characters get kidnapped by slave traders and it is implied that torture might have happened, especially for one of the characters who was separated from the other two. A child npc (son of a guest character) is tortured by the same slave traders.
First season: Keyleth jumps off a cliff and transforms herself into a goldfish, underestimating the damage that falling off a giant cliff would do to her. It's very much joked about, and not tragic at all. She's brought back to life shortly after.
Second season: Half the party plane shifts and fights a fire elemental creature. A child is killed while hiding from the creature and subsequently revived.
every main character in campaign one (and almost every character in campaign two) die and are resurrected at least once. some deaths are more traumatic and/or important to the narrative than others. each campaign has a main character whose death is permanent.
In "Dubious Pursuits" (2x40), Nott (played by Sam Riegel) calls a group of pursuing enemies "fucktards" while attempting to draw their attention. Considering the show and Sam's usually progressive attitudes, this was an isolated slip up and has thankfully not been repeated since.
There is a scene at the end of episode 25 of campaign 2 that comes out of nowhere and could be particularly triggering, especially since the story is told in first and second person. The following arc is all about human trafficking.
First season: The party gets cleaned up, and have casual and funny conversations with each other. Two party members have a bath together, but the circumstance is very humorous and heart-warming. Second season: Two party members go to a bathhouse together. They both have private baths. -The party go to a bath house and all bathe together in a public bath. It's taken as a cool-down moment for all of the excitement.
I say sort of, there's a mutated man in early campaign 3 that is described as having "breathing holes" that open and close on his body, it was enough to trigger my trypophoboa
There are multiple instances of the protagonists being eaten alive by enemies in usual D&D fashion, there are plenty examples of bodies implied to have been eaten by monsters or predators and Thordak, the draconic second-last villain of season 1, swallowed dissenters and critics whole in front of a crowd as an intimidation tactic.
again, the definition of "on-screen" is a little hazy for something like critical role, but yes there are multiple instances (especially in campaign 1) of players informing the table while out of character and/or roleplaying in character a scene in which they are pooping
While there is none explicitly, there was a prominent discussion regarding the names of certain characters in which many considered the use of older names 'deadnaming'. YMMV.
Campaign 2: characters both receive and apply tattoos (on one occasion to an unwilling recipient), though there is no detailed description of the process.
Second season: A character's backstory involves going insane and being at an asylum for an indeterminate amount of time. This has been mentioned only once so far.
C2: party members create distractions and try to sneak into a hospital. Takes place in a hospital but there aren’t really any typical hospital scenarios that happen
Yes, while not constant by any means the cast does eat during the game and there are moments where it is very audible and uncomfortable. This was more noticeable in the second season where the audio fidelity is much higher.
Second season: the character Caleb suffers from anxiety and ptsd, and occasionally has bouts of anxiety. He is typically guided through them by his friends.
The character Caduceus also has an anxiety attack in episode 36 but he isn’t talked through it by his friends.
While it’s never explicitly labeled as such in game, one of the characters speaks extremely negatively about her appearance. The DM (who has body dysmorphia himself) has referred to it as such out of game.
In season 1 episode 54, there is a scene where two characters use magic to teleport inside a dragon (on purpose) while fighting it and end up trapped inside, unable to move
The whole show is filmed in a studio. The camera work is professional and steady, and even more so in the second season. There are one or two instances where a camera drops, but it's very rare.
Campaign 3 has new set effects that occasionally contain lightning effects or moving lights, but it's in the background behind the characters and only especially dramatic during one character's dream sequences (steady but intense red light, dust storm effects)
During one of the one shots one of the PCs is unknowingly pregnant and shes killed but quickly revived. Its only at the end that she talks about how shes experiencing symbols of being pregnant. No harm happens to the baby
occasionally, especially in the earlier years when the cast was less savvy about public perception. that being said, the cast has always been receptive to (legitimate) criticism, willing to educate themselves, and quick to change harmful language and/or behavouir.
the show is very positive/celebratory about gender non-conformity in general. The DM makes an effort to include a variety of gender identities when creating minor/background characters.
A main character in EXU:Unlimited dresses in drag as a disguise, and while the situation is comedic, the fact that he is wearing a dress is never the target of the jokes; it's actually depicted as joyful and empowering
There are a couple incidents where a player accidentally misgenders an npc and are corrected (jmon sa’ord in c1, Bryce in c2)
C2: There is a cis female character played by a man, and sometimes the players will accidentally refer to the character using he/him pronouns because those are the player’s pronouns, instead of the characrer’s pronouns
Permanent death: 1x115, 2x26, The Return of Liam. Non-permanent death: 1x44, 1x80, 1x83, 1x88, 1x97 (questioning character), 1x102, 1x112, Dalen's Closet. Following 2x14, a character mentions that he apparently died and was resurrected in the past. Following 2x26, a main character's death is often referenced. Following 2x46, it is revealed that a character died as part of someone's backstory, and that death is referenced occasionally.
The cast and crew are very aware of their audience. They fully support the LGBT+ community, POC and other marginalized groups, and are extremely accepting and supportive.
First season: Two party members go to brothels, but there is no description of what happens in them. -Two other party members become romantically involved and there are side jokes and banter about their s*x life. Second season: The party stays at a fancy hotel and one of the members organizes two entertainers" to come into their room. They later come out draped in only a cloth serving fruits. -One of the party members and a guest star's character sleep with each other.
I wouldn’t exactly say it’s an unhappy ending, but there are some serious sad elements to an otherwise happy ending for campaign 1 (death of loved ones, etc)
A character in the first season uses almost exclusively guns to fight. Few others have them.
In the second season guns are seen occasionally and rarely used.
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