The latest dice offerings from Critical Role are a nice improvement on previous sets
Names: Bells Hells Dice Sets (L->R): Fearne Calloway, Ashton Greymoore, Orym, of the Air Ashari
Description: These are sets of sharp edge resin dice with inclusions themed for Campaign 3 characters from Critical Role. They all have sharp edges and vertices, have edged d10 waists, and use a Times New Roman-adjacent font with underbars to indicate orientation for the 6 and 9 faces. Each of the d20s has a symbol on the face instead of the number 20.
Individual set descriptions:
Fearne Calloway set: This set was cast in clear resin with a very slight yellow/brown tint. There are tiny red rose inclusions in each die, and the numbers are inked in a soft mint green color. the 20 face of the d20 has an icon of the face of ‘Little Mister’ who is Fearne’s in-game familiar, known for attacking enemies by throwing (and now shooting) his own flaming shit at them.
Orym, of the Air Ashari set: This set was cast in clear resin with no tint. There are small daisy inclusions in each die and the numbers are inked in a muddled light green color. The 20 face of the d20 has an icon of a crescent moon with a smaller moon inside of it which refers to a tattoo that the Orym character had gotten to represent himself and his (deceased) in-game husband Will.
Ashton Greymoore set: This set is cast in a tinted dark purple to aqua blue color gradient. The dice are full of rainbow holo-foil inclusions that catch the light and sparkle, which references the gem embedded in Ashton’s head showing rainbow sparkles on occasion when he is raging. The numbers are inked in gold and the 20 face of the d20 has an icon of a simple war hammer, which is Ashton’s weapon of choice.
Size (d20): 22mm
Where did they come from: The Critical Role online store (shop.critrole.com)
How much did they cost: $20 / each
Material / color: Resin with inclusions
Quality: Very good. I don’t see any nicks, scuffs, or polishing marks on the dice. The edges are sharp, the ink is tidy, and they are very clean overall.
Readability: Decent, not great. The Fearne Calloway set is the hardest to read, mainly because of the dark roses inside and the darkish green font. The Orym, of the Air Ashari set is a little easier to read but the green flower stems inside the dice blend in with the green ink of the numbers. The Ashton Greymoore set has the best readability of the three sets but the gold holofoil bits inside the dice confuse the eye with the gold ink. Using a bolder font and brighter ink would go a long way for these sets. Using icons on the 20 face of the d20 further reduces readability (as I’ve long stated) in the single most important face of all 70 faces in a standard set of 7 dice.
Value: Very good. $20 for a set of sharp-edge dice is a great deal, especially if you’re buying them from a reputable company like Critical Role where you don’t feel like these are just garbage straight from the cheapest dice makers in China. (They’re probably still from China but nothing that I’ve bought from Critical Role has been cheaply made garbage so far)
Overall Rating: 8/10 These sets are quite nice and very clean but struggle with readability and have the icons on the 20 faces. I feel like it’ll be near impossible for me to give a top rating to any set of dice that doesn’t have the number 20 on the d20.
Attempts needed to roll a natural 20:
Fearne Calloway set: 12
Orym, of the Air Ashari set: 2
Ashton Greymoore set: 38
Ten d20 rolls:
Fearne Calloway set: 9, 14, 13, 4, 13, 14, 16, 5, 19, 9 (11.6 avg)
Orym, of the Air Ashari set: 12, 14, 1, 1, 8, 6, 17 ,15, 6, 20 (10.0 avg)
Ashton Greymoore set: 16, 19, 6, 5, 10, 13, 5, 19, 9, 1 (10.3 avg)
4d6 drop 1 stat block: 1
Fearne Calloway set: 8, 14, 14, 10, 16, 13 (75 total): A ditzy Faun Druid from the Feywild who is an excellent pick-pocket.
Orym, of the Air Ashari set: 10, 18, 15, 13, 15, 11 (82 total): A level-headed Halfling Fighter from Zephrah who is constantly babysitting the rest of his party.
Ashton Greymoore set: 17, 15, 17, 12, 13, 6 (80 total): An Earth Genasi Barbarian from Issylra who carries a big glass hammer and whose personal motto is “JUST DONT”
Random Tables rolls:
Fearne Calloway set:
Items in a bandits lair: 00 – A Bandit!
Dwarven Features/quirks: 41 – Carries a flask of infinite ale around with them, however, they never seem to be drunk. (It’s water)
Orym, of the Air Ashari set:
Library Books: 5 – Bordrick’s Fantastic Adventure – Dwarven choose your own adventure book
Non/Low Magical Plot Twists: 43 – One of the main bad guys in the story turns out to be one of the PCs romantic interest (boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, etc…)
Ashton Greymoore set:
Tests of Devotion: A DIety’s Demands: 46 – The Tower of Courage – The devotee must ascend the Tower of Courage to its highest point, where they must face their greatest fears in order to prove their devotion
City Quests: 35 – A tavern has burned to the ground with thirteen people inside, and ten of the found the bodies were Dopplegangers
Final Thoughts: These are a step or two up from the previous Critical Role character-themed dice sets. All of the campaign 1 and Campaign 2 dice sets were not sharp-edge resin sets. Also, they only started adding inclusions into their dice designs in the last year or two. All of the Critical Role dice still come in nice medium-sized faux leather bags in a color that matches the dice palette and has a small metal tag on one of the draw strings that is campaign specific. You’re getting a lot of dice & bag for your $20 here.
The things I don’t like about these dice are the number visibility and the logos on the 20 face of the d20. Of the 3 sets, the Ashton Greymoore set was the only one that I’d say had good legibility for the numbers. Most of the sets from Campaign 2 are much easier to read but they’re also dull edged with blunted vertices. The logo on the d20s are a standard thing for CR dice. I don’t think I’ll ever see a d20 with a logo on the 20 face and think: “Yeah, I’d rather see that than the number when I roll a 20” The whole point is that you roll a “natural 20”, not a “natural flame-seed shitting monkey” or a “natural glass hammer” or a “natural crescent moon with a smaller moon in the middle of it”. I like these dice but I don’t love them. If someone complemented a set of these at the table in person I’d probably offer to give the set to them. I don’t think they’ll get very much playing time but I am happy to give money to Critical Role for dice rather than Amazon. Frankly, these are better than most of my recent Amazon purchases anyway.
Overall these 3 sets were definitely worth the price and I’m happy that I bought them.
Next I need to decide if the 40mm Luxon Beacon Oversized d20 with the liquid center that CR is selling for $65 is worth the price. It looks very good and it’s actually produced by Everything Dice (who I’ve bought some REALLY nice sets from in the past) so I think it’s going to be a pretty solid chonk d20.
1 I used the actual character stat blocks from the start of the campaign and my own descriptions of the characters here instead of rolling the stats myself and picking from my comedic D&D character backstory generator. Did you notice?
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