Popverse's top stories

• Robert Kirkman had fancast Lee Pace as his Invincible big bad Thragg years before there was even a TV series to actually cast him in
• Here's how to watch all the New York Comic Con 2025 panels
• Watch Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal season 3 panel from NYCC 2025!

Exciting news for all you Critical Role fans who've started playing TTRPG Daggerheart - a beloved and satisfyingly gross character class, previously available in D&D 5e, has been officially added to the game. That class is the Blood Hunter, a warrior build who uses a magic called hemocraft, utilizing their own blood or that of their enemies to perform spells. And now that the Blood Hunter has come to The Void (that is, the online resource/testing ground for Daggerheart players), it's time we take a moment to remember for whom the Blood hunter class was created in the first place.

That is, The Fast and the Furious star Vin Diesel. 

The creation begins all the way back in 2015, when Critical Role was still airing as a Geek & Sundry show and the story we'd later know as The Legend of Vox Machina was still getting its beginnings. Elsewhere in the fantasy world, movie star Diesel was working on a sword and sorcery title of his own, albeit one that took a very different approach to magic. The Last Witch Hunter, which also stars Game of Thrones alum Rose Leslie, told the story of an immortal warrior that must put an end to ancient sorcery before it wreaks havoc on the modern day.

So how does Diesel go about advertising this film? Well, one of the ways was by finding a way to reach out to Dungeons & Dragons players, who of course were in his target audience. And even in its earliest days, the best place to liveplay Dungeons & Dragons was with the cast of Critical Role. Thus was created D&Diesel, the third "Special Episode" of Critical Role and the beginning of the custom-designed Blood Hunter class. The promotional episode lasted just under half an hour and is still available to watch on Geek & Sundry's YouTube page. 

So as you go about bleeding all over the game table in the coming weeks (from a roleplay standpoint - please don't actually do that), just remember that you might not be kicking ass in Matt Mercer's newest Daggerheart class without Mr. Vin Diesel. Which, if you think about it, shouldn't be all that surprising. 

Blood is, after all, how you identify Family.

Critical Role Campaign 4 is streaming now on the group's Beacon, YouTube, and Twitch channels.

From the lands of Exandria to your very own smartscreens, Popverse has everything you need to know about the TTRPG phenomenon that is Critical Role. Here you'll find:

• Popverse's Critical Role watch order
• An interview with GM Brennan Lee Mulligan
• The cast's appearance at C2E2 '25

...and more. Roll initiative, player. Adventure awaits.