Critical Role Munchkin Rules
Critical Role Munchkin Rules
CARD MANAGEMENT
Door and Treasure Decks: Place the Door and Treasure
decks face-down in the middle of the table. Keep separate
face-up discard piles for the two decks. You may not look
through the discards unless you play a card that allows you conflicts between
to do so! cards and rules
This rule sheet gives the general rules. Many
Cards in Play: These are the cards on the table in front of
cards add special rules, so in most cases when
you showing your Role and Drive (if any), Guest Stars
the rules disagree with a card, follow the card.
working with you, and the Items you are carrying, equipped
However, ignore any card effect that might seem
or not. Persistent Curses and some other cards also stay
to contradict one of the rules listed below unless
on the table after you play them. All cards in play must be
the card explicitly says it supersedes that rule!
visible to other players.
. Nothing can reduce a player below Level 1,
Your Hand: Cards in your hand are not in play. They don’t
although card effects might reduce a player’s or
help you, but they can’t be taken away except by cards that
a monster’s combat strength below 1.
specifically affect “your hand.” At the end of your turn,
you may have no more than five cards in your hand (see 2. You go up a level after combat only if you defeat
Charity, p. 2). a monster.
Cards in play may not be returned to your hand – they must 3. You cannot collect rewards for defeating a
be discarded or traded if you want to get rid of them. monster (e.g., Treasure, levels) in the middle
of a combat. You must finish the fight before
gaining any rewards.
STARTING AND FINISHING THE GAME 4. You must defeat a monster to reach Level 10
We suggest rolling the 20-sided die to see who has the and win, unless otherwise stated by a card.
highest initiative, but it’s up to you. You cannot force another player to help you
Play proceeds in turns, each with several phases (see Turn reach Level 10.
Phases, p. 2). When the first player finishes his or her turn, Any other disputes should be settled by loud
the player to the left takes a turn, and so on. arguments, with the owner of the game having
The first player to reach Level 10 wins . . . but you must the last word.
reach Level 10 by defeating a monster, unless a card
specifically allows you to win another way.
1
TURN PHASES CHARACTER STATS
Your character, in addition to the Character card itself, is
Your turn begins as soon as the previous player’s turn ends,
basically a collection of Guest Stars, weapons, armor, and
and it is broken up into a number of phases. First, equip and
Items, and you have three key stats: Level, Role, and Drive.
arrange your cards the way you want, then go to phase 1 – For instance, you might describe your character as “a Level
Kick Open the Door. 6 Rogue, driven by Redemption, armed with a Glove
. KICK OPEN THE DOOR: Draw the top card from the of Blasting and Dwueth’var, wearing Nott’s Mask, and
Door deck and turn it face-up. If it is a monster, you must accompanied by Pumat Sol.”
fight it (see Combat, p. 4). If it is a Curse, it applies to you LEVEL: When the rules or cards refer to your Level
immediately and is discarded, unless it has a persistent effect (capitalized), they mean this number. You gain a level when
or you keep the card as a reminder of an upcoming effect (see you defeat a monster, or when a card says you do. You can
Curses, p. 7). If you draw any other card (Role, Drive, Guest also sell Items to buy levels (see Items, p. 3). You lose a level
Star, monster enhancer, etc.), you may either put it in your hand when a card says you do. Your Level can
or play it immediately if you want to and it is legal to do so. never go below 1.
FIGHTER
2. LOOK FOR TROUBLE OR LOOT THE ROOM: If you ROLE: Players may be a Rogue, Fighter, - ROLE -
fought a monster in phase , skip this phase and go to phase Priest, or Mage. Each Role has special
3. If you did NOT draw a monster when you Kicked Open the abilities, shown on the card. You gain
Door, you have two choices: either Look for Trouble or Loot the abilities of a Role the moment you
the Room. play its card in front of you, and lose Reckless Attack
Once on your turn,
them as soon as you discard that card. if you have more than one
Look For Trouble: You may play a monster card from your
card in your hand, you may
hand and fight it, just as if you had found it by kicking open discards. Unless the card specifies, you Flurry Blows of
the door. Don’t play a monster you can’t handle, unless you may discard any of your cards, in play
If you play more than one card
when you are in combat,
think you can get some help (see Asking for Help, p. 5)!
you gain a +2 bonus.
to you who gets the bigger set(s) of leftovers. If YOU are the
all the advantages of being that Role
Or, you may have one Role card,
and have all the advantages and
lowest or tied for lowest, just discard the excess. As soon as suffer none of the disadvantages.
3 Boss Monsters have been defeated, the player combat bonuses or special abilities. You “It’s still you though, right?
with the highest total Treasure value is declared can choose to play a new Guest Star and
That’s all that matters.”
the winner. discard the old one whenever you like as An additional +1 for Protection.
2
Guest Stars can be sacrificed to allow automatic escape for A character may equip only:
you from all monsters in a combat, by discarding the Guest
Star instead of rolling to Run Away. If someone was helping
you in combat, you can even decide whether or not your or
helper automatically escapes when you sacrifice a Guest Star.
The choice is yours! one one one two one
Headgear Armor Footgear 1 Handed Items 2 Handed Item
because.” You may sell Items for a level, have in play or when you play an
Item card from your hand.
• Play a Go Up a Level or Guest Star. trade Items with other players, or give This Item is legal for you to equip,
even if it otherwise would not be.
All Items you have in play are considered “carried.” Items the winning level, unless specifically
that are currently giving you a bonus or some other noted otherwise!
benefit are “equipped.” You should indicate Items that are
SELLING ITEMS FOR LEVELS: At any point during your
not equipped by turning the cards sideways. You may not
turn except during combat or Running Away, you may
alter the status of your Items during a combat or while
discard Items worth a total of at least 1,000 Gold Pieces and
Running Away, so make sure you are happy with what you
immediately go up one level. If you sell Items worth
have equipped before entering combat.
1,100 Gold Pieces total, you don’t get change. But if you can
Anyone can carry any Item, but there are limits to what manage 2,000 worth, you can go up two levels at once, and
you can have equipped and actively use. Some Items have so on. You may sell Items from your hand as well as those
icons to identify their types. you are carrying. You may not sell Items to go to Level 10.
3
COMBAT
A monster enters combat against you if you find it when If you defeat a monster (or monsters!), discard them and any
you Kick Open the Door or play it from your hand to Look other cards played, and claim your rewards. Note: someone
for Trouble. may play a hostile card on you, or use a special power, just
as you think you have won. When you are about to defeat a
To resolve combat, simply compare the monster’s combat monster, you must wait a reasonable time, defined as about
strength to yours. Your combat strength is equal to your 2.6 seconds, for anyone else to speak up. After that, you have
Level plus any bonuses or penalties you receive from Role really defeated the monster, and you really get the level(s).
abilities, Drives, Items, Guest Stars, and Curses. You and
the other players may play One-Shots or use Character
abilities to help or harm you in combat. Your combat
strength can be negative, if you get hit by a Curse or suffer
some other penalty. A monster’s combat strength is its
Level, plus or minus any modifiers it has from its powers
or cards played on it. Some Door cards may also be played INTERFERING WITH COMBAT
into a combat, such as monster enhancers (see Monsters
on this page). You can interfere with others’ combats in several
ways, including:
USE A ONE-SHOT ITEM: You could help
another player by using a One-Shot to
strengthen their side. Of course, you can
optional rule “accidentally” strengthen the monster with it,
When everyone has added all the bonuses they are instead . . .
going to add, the active player rolls the d20.
PLAY A MONSTER ENHANCER: These cards
1 - Critical failure; fight is lost, Run Away (usually) make a monster stronger. . . and give it
auto-fails and Bad Stuff happens for all more Treasure. You can play these either during
monsters. your own combats or during someone else’s
2-19 - Add this amount to combat strength. combat.
20 - Critical hit; automatic victory. ADD A MONSTER FROM YOUR HAND: to join
The player to the active player’s right also the combat, by using a Wandering Monster
rolls the d20. This is for the monster. There are card.
no critical effects - the result is added to the CURSE THEM: If you have a Curse card.
monster’s combat strength.
Now the active player may consult with their
helper, if any. The two of them may play ONE
MORE CARD if that card would change the result
of the combat either by beating the monsters(s)
directly, by removing a monster from the combat MONSTERS
to leave the monster combat strength too low to
If drawn face-up, during the Kick Down The Door phase,
win, or, of course, by canceling the whole combat
monsters immediately attack the person who drew them.
somehow.
If you get a monster card any other way, it goes into your hand
The other players may not respond to that card. If
it ends the combat successfully, it is legal to play. and may be played during your own turn to Look For Trouble,
If not, it goes back into the owner’s hand. or played with the Wandering Monster +9 to Monster
card to join another player’s fight. (See
Fighting Multiple Monsters, below.)
Each monster card is a single monster,
even if the name on the card is plural.
MONSTER ENHANCERS:
If the monster’s combat strength is equal to yours, or Certain cards, called monster enhancers, NEIN!
greater, you lose the combat and must Run Away (See raise or lower the combat strength
“Welcome to The Mighty Nein.”
—Kiri
Running Away and Bad Stuff, p. 7). If your combat of individual monsters. (Penalties to Play on a single monster
go up a level (two levels for some big monsters). You’ll They also affect the number of Treasures a
also get the number of Treasures shown on the monster monster is worth. Monster enhancers may
card. be played by any player during any combat. All enhancers on a
Sometimes a card will let you overcome a monster without single monster add together. If there are multiple monsters in a
defeating it. This is still “winning,” but you don’t get a combat, the person who plays each enhancer must choose which
level. Unless the ability says otherwise, you don’t get the monster it applies to.
Treasures, either. If the last monster is removed from a
combat, the fight ends immediately.
4
FIGHTING MULTIPLE MONSTERS:
Some cards (notably Wandering
Monster) allow other monsters to
join a combat. You must defeat their
combined combat strengths in one fight
to defeat them. Any special abilities,
such as forcing you to fight with your
Level only, apply to the entire fight.
If you have the right cards, you can
eliminate one monster from the combat
and fight the other(s) normally, but you
cannot choose to fight one and Run
Away from another. If you eliminate one
monster, but then run from the other(s),
you don’t get any levels or Treasure!
ASKING FOR HELP: If you cannot
defeat a monster on your own, you may
ask any other player to help you. If the
first player refuses, you may ask another
player, and so on, until they all turn you
down or someone helps. Only one player
can help you; add that player’s combat
strength to yours. Anyone can play cards
to affect your combat, however! You’ll
probably have to bribe someone to help.
You may offer your helper any Item(s)
you are currently carrying, or any number
of the Treasure cards the monster is
worth. If you offer your helper part of
the monster’s Treasure, you must agree
which of you gets first pick. You may also
offer to play any cards from your hand
that you legally could, such as Go Up a
Level cards, on your helper. The special
abilities or weaknesses of the monster
also apply to your helper, and vice versa.
For instance, if a Rogue helps you fight a
Hill Giant, you gain +2 in that Combat.
The bonus or penalty is not applied
twice if the helper is the same Role as the
current player.
If someone successfully helps you
defeat the monster, discard it, draw
Treasures (see Rewards, p. 7), and follow
any special instructions on the monster
card. You level up for each monster
defeated in combat. Your helper does
not go up any levels. You draw the
Treasure cards, even if it was your
helper’s special ability that defeated the
monster, and distribute them according
to the agreement you reached.
A few cards or abilities allow you to
compel another player to help you in
combat. These abilities do not work if you
are fighting for the win – and if you force
someone to help you and then the fight
becomes one for the win, your helper gets
to back out without penalty. However, if
you voluntarily help someone, you don’t
get to back out just because they’re about to
win the game – so pay attention!
5
NOTES
6
REWARDS: When you defeat a monster, you go up one If a Curse can apply to more than one Item, the victim
level per monster, unless the monster card says otherwise. decides which Item is affected.
You also get all its Treasure! Sweet! Each monster has a If a Curse applies to something you don’t have, ignore it. For
Treasure number on the bottom of its card (marked with instance, if you draw Career Change and you don’t have a
this icon). Draw that many Treasure cards, modified by Role card, nothing happens; discard the Curse card. (Some
any monster enhancers played on it, face-down if you Curses have alternate effects, though, so read the card!)
defeated the monster alone, but face-up, so the whole
party can see what you got, if someone helped you. There will be times when it will help you to play a Curse or
Treasure cards can be played as soon as you get them, monster on yourself, or to “help” another player in a way that
even if you are the helper. costs that player Treasure.
If you defeat a monster through use of a card or special
power, you do not get the level and might not get the
Treasure, so be sure to check the card. Example of Combat, with numbers
RUNNING AWAY AND BAD STUFF: If nobody will help and everything
you . . . or if somebody tries to help,
and others interfere so you still Level 16
7
DEATH
If you die, you lose all your stuff. Once you have died, you
don’t have to Run Away from any remaining monsters. You
keep your Roles, Drives, and Level (and any persistent Curses FASTER PLAY RULES
on you) - your new character will look just like your old one. For a faster game, you can add a “phase zero”
If you have a Driven or Critical Role, keep those as well. At called Listen At The Door. At the start of your
this point, you may choose to play as a different character by turn before doing anything else, draw a face-
swapping your Character card for another one not in use. down Door card, which you may play or not.
LOOTING THE BODY: Lay out your hand beside the cards Then arrange cards and Kick Open The Door
you had in play (except the cards listed above). If you have normally. If you Loot The Room, draw a face-
an Item attached to a Cheat! card, separate those cards. down Treasure, not a Door.
Starting with the player with the highest Level, everyone You can also allow shared victories – if you
else chooses one card. In case of ties in level, roll a die. reach Level 0 in a fight where you had a helper,
Looted cards go into players’ hands. Once everyone gets the helper also wins the game, no matter what
one card, discard the rest. If you run out of cards, tough. Level that player is.
Dead characters cannot receive cards for any reason, not
even Charity, and cannot level up or win the game.
At the beginning of the next player’s turn, you are no longer
dead, and your new character appears and can help others
in combat with your Level, Character ability, Role and Drive THE MUNCHKIN NETWORK
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