Warning! Minor SPOILERS for Critical Role Campaigns 1, 2, and 3!
All the main voice actors in Critical Role have played multiple characters in the show. Due to the show encompassing multiple Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, the actors don't generally bring back the same characters, and often create new ones when another campaign begins. Naturally, this can make it difficult to keep up with who plays who in Critical Role.
Critical Role is a TTRPG actual-play series that began streaming in 2015. The series is in the middle of its third campaign and has featured several one-shot adventures and guest players in between. The bulk of the series is set in the world of Exandria, which was created by the show’s dungeons master, Matthew Mercer, and has grown organically since the series’ debut. The show always centers around a core group of adventurers, sometimes joined by other heroes. In particular, Campaign 1 follows a cast of adventurers known as Vox Machina, Campaign 2 follows the Mighty Nein, and Campaign 3 centers on the Bells Hells. Here's a breakdown of the central characters in each campaign, and who played them.
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3 Critical Role Campaign 1
Matthew Mercer Plays The Dungeon Master
In the first campaign that Critical Role streamed to the masses, Mercer plays the Dungeon Master. In this role, he’s responsible for creating the world and portraying the many non-playable characters (NPCs) and villains that the party faces. In Campaign 1, he also portrays the recurring character Shaun Gilmore, a human sorcerer and magical shopkeeper, Allura, a powerful human wizard, and Lady Kima, a halfling paladin.
Ashley Johnson Plays Pike Trickfoot
Throughout Critical Role‘s Campaign 1, Johnson portrays Pike Trickfoot, a gnomish cleric of the Everlight, or Sarenrae. A cleric who always felt the call to heal since a young age, Pike grew up with her grandfather and often serves as the heart or advisor of Vox Machina. Furthermore, Pike is a sweet character who packs a punch and is best friends with Grog after he rescued her grandfather.
Travis Willingham Plays Grog Strongjaw
Willingham portrays Grog Strongjaw, a goliath multi-classed barbarian-fighter. Grog is not the sharpest tool in the box, but he loves his friends dearly, especially Pike (and his ale). Imbued with enormous strength, Grog is Vox Machina’s tank on Critical Role and lived with Pike and her grandfather after he was nearly beaten to death and abandoned by his old herd.
Laura Bailey Plays Vexhalia “Vex” De Rolo
Bailey plays Vex on Critical Role, a half-elven ranger and rogue and twin sister to Vax. Vex’s animal companion is Trinket, a bear that she rescued when they both were young. Vex is debonair, tactical, and keeps track of the party’s money, and is often the one who will barter and haggle for anything to drive down prices.
Liam O’Brien Plays Vax’ildan “Vax” Vessar
O’Brien multiclassed the most in Critical Role Campaign 1, as he plays Vax, a rogue, paladin, and druid. An assassin who used to be a member of the criminal guild in Emon called The Clasp, Vax is fate-touched, a unique feature that Mercer created for Liam’s character that plays into his becoming the champion of the Raven Queen. Dry and sometimes impulsive, Vax is very close with his sister and also develops relationships with Gilmore and Keyleth.
Taliesin Jaffe Plays Percival “Percy” Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III
Jaffe plays Percy on Critical Role, a human gunslinger and exiled nobleman. The brains of the group, Percy is very intelligent and created the first firearms in Exandria, which he used to try to avenge the deaths of his family at the hands of villainous nobles. Additionally, he and Vex develop a romantic relationship.
Marisha Ray Plays Keyleth Of The Air Ashari
Ray plays Keyleth, a half-elf druid who is set to lead the Air Ashari one day if she passes her Aramenté. Keyleth is clumsy and not always the most suave with her words, but she’s wise and powerful, and along with Pike, tends to be the moral compass of the group. She and Percy are also close friends, and she and Vax fall in love throughout Critical Role’s Campaign 1.
Sam Riegel Plays Scanlan Shorthalt and Taryon Darrington
Riegel plays two characters on Critical Role instead of one: Scanlan, a gnomish bard, and Taryon, a human artificer. Scanlan is creative, lewd, and extremely clever, and is the main character Riegel plays throughout Campaign 2. However, Taryon replaces Scanlan for a short time when the bard leaves to spend more time with his daughter.
2 Critical Role Campaign 2
Matt Mercer Plays The Dungeon Master
Once again, Mercer reprises his role as the Dungeon Master in Critical Role Campaign 2, arbitrating the game and portraying all the other characters in the world that the Mighty Nein meets. He also developed the continent of Wildemount in Exandria, allowing the campaign to stay within the same world while also getting a fresh start after Vox Machina’s adventures ended. Among Mercer’s most impactful NPCs in Campaign 2 include Essek Thelyss, The Gentleman, and Pumat Sol.
Ashley Johnson Plays Yasha Nydoorin
Yasha is a fallen aasimar barbarian, meaning that she’s part angel. While she was very touch-and-go in Critical Role’s second campaign for a while, Yasha is still crucial to the overarching narrative. Yasha also replaces Grog as the primary muscle in the group. As for her past, it's established that she was exiled from her homeland for marrying outside her society's arranged marriage system.
Travis Willingham Plays Fjord Stone
In the Critical Role Campaign 2, Willingham switched from a character with low intelligence to a much smarter one. Fjord is a half-orc warlock with a patron from the deep seas. He gains warlock powers after a mysterious shipwreck but doesn’t understand much about them for a portion of the campaign before learning that he unknowingly made a pact with a leviathan. He later multiclasses into a paladin and tends to be the diplomat of the Mighty Nein.
Marisha Ray Plays Beauregard “Beau” Lionett
Ray plays Beau, an irate monk of the Cobalt Soul. While she’s not the easiest person to get close to, she eventually becomes a loyal friend to the Mighty Nein. She begins Critical Role’s Campaign 2 as someone who is deeply resentful of authority but grows remarkably within the Cobalt Soul as she works to root out corruption in the Dwendalian Empire.
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Taliesin Jaffe Plays Mollymauk “Molly” Tealeaf and Caduceus Clay
Jaffe plays Molly, a purple tiefling blood hunter, for his first character on Critical Role Campaign 2. When the party first meets Molly, he reads tarot cards for people at a circus and has no memory of his past save for waking up in a grave. Unfortunately, he is killed in a fight with the Iron Shepherds, at which point Jaffe plays Caduceus Clay, a firbolg grave cleric and follower of the Wildmother, Melora. Caduceus is the most easy-going and steadfast member of the Mighty Nein and has a way with people that his more chaotic comrades severely lack.
Sam Riegel Plays Nott the Brave
Riegel plays a goblin arcane rogue called Nott in Critical Role’s second campaign. She is very close with Caleb and acts as a motherly figure towards him after she broke him out of prison. Nott does not get along particularly well with other goblins and deeply wants to support Caleb’s magical potential, partially for reasons of her own. She’s also a kleptomaniac and deeply protective of Caleb, eventually learning some of his magical tricks to aid in her thievery.
Liam O’Brien Plays Caleb Widogast
O’Brien plays Caleb Widogast, a human wizard in Critical Role Campaign 2. When he’s first introduced to the campaign, Caleb is down on his luck and something of a drifter. This is partially due to how he was enrolled at the Dwendalian Empire’s premier magical training school and was eventually chosen to become an agent for the Empire. This led to the deaths of his family, a fact which haunts Caleb.
Laura Bailey Plays Jester Lavorre
Bailey plays Jester, a blue tiefling cleric who follows an obscure entity known as the Traveler. Jester is a trickster cleric and loves to make chaos and spread word of the Traveler, and is also the most outgoing and friendly of the members of the Mighty Nein. Throughout the campaign, she helps inspire the other members with her positive attitude and forms a close relationship with Fjord.
1 Critical Role Campaign 3
Matthew Mercer Plays The Dungeon Master
In Critical Role’s latest campaign, Mercer is once again the Dungeon Master, this time on the continent of Marquet. Mercer first introduced Marquet in Campaign 1, but Vox Machina only spent limited time in Marquet while pursuing their adventures. In Campaign 3, some of the most common NPCs that the Bells Hells interact with are Lord Ariks Eshteross, Otohan Thul, and Xandis.
Marisha Ray Plays Laudna
Ray plays Laudna, a human warlock and sorcerer in Critical Role Campaign 3. Along with her magical abilities, Laudna is also a Hollow One, or someone who was resurrected by necromancy and has no soul but retains their sense of self and abilities. Laudna is very close to Imogen, a relationship that only grows throughout the campaign, and her abilities tend to manifest in a black, dripping ichor.
Ashley Johnson Plays Fearne Calloway
Johnson plays Fearne, a Ruidusborn faun druid from the Feywild in Critical Role Campaign 3. She arrived in Exandria and on the Material Plane to explore and find her parents, and tends to be a chaotic figure who plays by her own rules. Specifically, Fearne is a wildfire druid and has a Firey monkey named Little Mister. The character was first introduced on Exandria Unlimited, where Fearne is a member of the Crownkeepers before she joined Campaign 3.
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Laura Bailey Plays Imogen Temult
Bailey portrays Imogen, a human sorcerer with purple hair and psionic magic in Critical Role’s third campaign. A Ruidusborn human, Imogen was introduced to the campaign with Laudna as both women were trying to understand their strange abilities and where they came from. Somewhat more softspoken than Bailey's previous characters, Imogen is a quick thinker and strong strategist.
Travis Willingham Plays Sir Bertrand Bell And Chetney Pock O’Pea
Like Jaffe in Campaign 2, Willingham plays two characters in Critical Role Campaign 3. First, Willingham plays Sir Bertrand Bell, a human fighter who was first introduced in a one-shot adventure after Campaign One when Vox Machina traveled to Pandemonium to retrieve Grog. He’s a boastful older man and tends to exaggerate his accomplishments, but helps guide Bells Hells into their first adventure. Later, after Bell dies, Willingham plays Chetney, a gnomish blood hunter and rogue afflicted with lycanthropy.
Liam O’Brien Plays Orym of the Air Ashari
O’Brien plays Orym, a halfling fighter from the Air Ashari, who is currently on a mission for Keyleth from Critical Role Campaign 1. Along with Fearne, Orym was also first introduced in Exandria Unlimited before joining Campaign 3. Sensible and focused, Orym is often the character who ‘babysits’ his more chaotic companions.
Taliesin Jaffe Plays Ashton Greymoore
In Critical Role‘s Campaign 3, Jaffe is the muscle of the Bells Hells. He plays Ashton, an Earth genasi barbarian with the ability to manipulate space when in a rage. Sardonic and somewhat cranky, Ashton was badly injured while with a group called the Nobodies, and later met Fresh Cut Grass and became close with the automaton.
Sam Riegel Plays Fresh Cut Grass (FCG)
Riegel plays Fresh Cut Grass in Critical Role Campaign 3. FCG is an automaton cleric with a sunny disposition and an ancient Aeorian design. He was picked up by Ashton after he became the sole surviving member of a former group of adventurers, including his creator, a tinkerer called Dancer.
