Although Critical Role has far higher production values than most tables and an experienced cast of voice actors playing, it's a Dungeons & Dragons game at heart. Character-building is a vital part of the game that affects a player's experience for years to come. While every Critical Role character is memorable and likable, some stand out in terms of power.
Some Critical Role characters are unstoppable physical powerhouses. Others are reality-warping spellcasters. The most impressive characters have overshadowed entire story arcs and campaigns thanks to how powerful they are within D&D rules. This power results from ability scores, feats, spellcasting, magic items, and more.
This article contains clips from Legend of Vox Machina. Some clips include violence and gore.
10 Scanlan Shorthalt
Scanlan Shorthalt is Critical Role's most infamous comic relief character. Many know him more for his vulgarity and wit than for his prowess. However, Scanlan proves himself far more than just a quick mouth time and time again in Critical Role's Vox Machina campaign. Scanlan is a College of Lore bard, one of D&D's most powerful subclasses.
Despite his relative lack of direct damage spells, Scanlan can dominate almost any other part of D&D. He excels in utility and debuffing while also being able to heal, buff, and transport allies. He's one of the few characters that Vecna, a minor god, comes to fear in combat due to his constant Counterspells.
9 Beauregard Lionett
Beauregard Lionett stands out among the well-made player characters of Critical Role's second campaign. This is all the more impressive because she is a monk, widely considered one of D&D Fifth Edition's weakest classes. However, Beauregard excels at the sort of encounters Critical Role DM Matthew Mercer likes to use.
Many Critical Role fights have one central, significant enemy dominating the combat, even if others are present. Beauregard's Stunning Strike, which she can perform up to four times in a single turn, can shut these enemies down. Beau becomes the bane of many of Critical Role's most fearsome bosses by stunning them. Other abilities, such as her multiple possible reactions a turn, buff her further.
8 Grog Strongjaw
Grog Strongjaw is Vox Machina's infamous powerhouse in Critical Role's first campaign. He's the party's primary martial muscle, offering melee prowess and vast durability. Grog lacks the finesse or magic potential of Vox Machina's other most powerful members. Instead, he provides physical might in staggering amounts.
Grog's power in Critical Role is situational. He's unhelpful against more mobile opponents or those who require magic to bring down. Nonetheless, his barbarian Rage, Berserker Frenzy, and D&D 5e fighter features make him unstoppable against more physical threats. Most Critical Role bosses keep Grog at arm's length, find ways to keep him off the battlefield, or die.
7 Laerryn Coramar-Seelie
Exandria Unlimited: Calamity is a Critical Role spin-off series that takes a high-power approach from the start. The players make 14th-level characters influential to the fate of the entire world. Few of these stand out more with their power than Laerryn Coramar-Seelie, played by Aabria Iyengar.
Laerryn is a high-level D&D 5e wizard, with all the power that implies. However, she goes out of her way to avert the frailty that balances most D&D 5e spellcasters. Laerryn is one of Critical Role's tankiest spellcasters thanks to her vast hit point pool and the protective abilities of the School of Abjuration. She proves nearly unstoppable when Exandria Unlimited: Calamity turns violent.
6 Caduceus Clay
The Mighty Nein are unusual in Critical Role's second campaign in that they have two healers. However, these healers occupy totally different roles within the party. Caduceus Clay is a D&D 5e Grave Domain cleric and an unparalleled support character. This sets him apart from Jester Lavorre, a high-tier utility character and blaster.
Caduceus Clay cannot kill many enemies by himself. Instead, he enhances the entire Mighty Nein through healing, buffing, and other support abilities. He saves the Mighty Nein throughout many of Critical Role's hardest battles. His creative use of spells like Control Water has also ended several fights decisively.
5 Arkhan The Cruel
Arkhan the Cruel only joins Vox Machina for two episodes, but those episodes contain some of Critical Role's explosive battles. Arkhan pulls more than his fair share of weight during encounters against the Briarwoods and Vecna himself. He combines high-level paladin abilities with a handful of D&D 5e barbarian levels to make him a similar physical powerhouse to Grog.
Arkhan's most significant showing of power occurs off screen. His first episode ends with him holding the line against Vecna's near-unstoppable Death Knight. He then returns for the final fight with Vecna, significantly injured but able to achieve one of Critical Role's highest-damage attacks ever. Arkhan's only grown stronger in official D&D 5e materials by controlling the Hand of Vecna.
4 Caleb Widogast
Caleb Widogast is the Mighty Nein's go-to arcane magic user throughout Critical Role's second campaign. He doesn't overly specialize in any one area of D&D 5e magic despite his School of Transmutation subclass. Instead, Caleb employs the full breadth of magical versatility that D&D 5e wizards specialize in.
Caleb proves himself one of Critical Role's most effective arcane casters. He saves the Mighty Nein several times through clutch uses of spells. Caleb also showcases his power by creating several of his own spells, ranging from ally-avoiding area damage to reshaping a living being's entire form.
3 Pike Trickfoot
Pike Trickfoot spends much of Critical Role's first campaign slightly lower in level than Vox Machina due to actor Ashley Johnson's frequent departures from the table. Nonetheless, Pike proves herself a devastating combatant time and time again, particularly in one-shots set after Critical Role's first campaign.
Notably, much of Pike's power comes from the sheer might of the cleric class in D&D 5e. Her powerful spells, features like War God's Blessing, and sturdiness all make her vital in many Critical Role conflicts. She becomes even stronger once she gets guaranteed Divine Intervention once per seven days, able to harness a god's strength in combat.
2 Fjord
Fjord is one of several melee fighters in Critical Role's second campaign. However, he avoids many of the limitations inherent to martial classes through his magical abilities. Fjord starts the second campaign as a Hexblade warlock, one of the best warlock subclasses in D&D 5e. Later, he takes levels in paladin for one of the game's best multiclass builds.
Fjord uses his Charisma to both attack and cast spells, giving him significant power and versatility off of one stat. He combines this with spell choices and features that let him dart around the battlefield and fight both at range and in melee. Fjord also gets spell slots to Divine Smite back on a short rest, something no other Critical Role paladin can do.
1 Keyleth Of The Air Ashari
Keyleth of the Air Ashari has one of the most effective D&D 5e subclasses of the powerful druid class. Her spells give her significant versatility and magical prowess that she can use for healing, utility, or combat purposes. Her Combat Wild Shape feature helps her keep up in physical matters as well.
Keyleth has ninth-level spells, unlimited Wild Shapes, and Wisdom that breaks the typical cap for D&D. She demonstrates her power by dominating the Critical Role: Epic-Level Battle Royale episode even after being Feebleminded. Keyleth's sheer power is reflected in Critical Role's third campaign, where she is one of the most important people in Exandria.