Dunamancy is a new subset of magic in the world of Dungeons and Dragons that will make its canonical premiere in the new Critical Role book, Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. First introduced to us in the show (by name in Episode 31, in practice in Episode 51), it is a homebrew creation of Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer.

“What is your interest? Are you interested in things such as density, gravity? Things that manipulate the relationship between objects? Are you more interested in the bending of fate, destiny? Or do you wish to find ways to sap and scatter the potentiality of your enemy?”

  • Essek Thelyss

Dunamancy has its roots in metaphysics, being a magic that can manipulate relationships between matter, gravity, and can even affect alternate timelines. It is a magic found mostly in the Kryn Dynasty of Xhorhas, derived through the Beacons of the Luxon, the deity of the Kryn Dynasty. The Kryn have been studying it for centuries, and they closely guard its secrets, hoping to keep it out of the hands of the Dwendallian Empire.

Graviturgists specialize in spells that manipulate gravity, and Chronurgists specialize in time. There is a special class of warriors called Echo Knights who also utilize dunamancy spells, their most famous being one that allows them to summon a fragment of the person they could have been from a different timeline. These three subclasses will be available in the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount.

There are similar spells already in 5th edition, in the Player’s Handbook. Spells like Haste, Slow, Reverse Gravity, and Time Stop, come from, as Mercer said in the above interview, “a similar pocket” as dunamancy spells. But these already known spells just barely touch the realm of dunamancy - true dunamancy spells go deeper into space-time magic, and use these “very basic elements of the universe.”

Currently, there isn’t too much we know about dunamancy. In Critical Role’s second campaign, the wizard Caleb Widogast, played by Liam O’Brien, is slowly learning dunamancy spells from Essek Thelyss, a drow wizard NPC. So far, Caleb has learned how to minutely manipulate fate, how to create an echo of himself, how to increase anyone’s initiative, and how to create an immovable object.

But there are more things that dunamancy can do. While Mercer wasn’t able to reveal all the spells that will be in the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, he mentioned a few. One is called Fortune’s Favor, mentioned above as one that Caleb knows in the show. It creates a Fragment of Possibility, which allows the person it was cast on a single d20 reroll - be that for an attack, an ability check, or anything else. Simply put, it is like the Luck feat, but it can be cast on anyone, and they have access to this Fragment of Possibility for an hour.

Not all of dunamancy is reality altering or breaking. The gravity spells, in particular, can have more utilitarian uses, in addition to dealing damage. Gravity Fissure, another spell mention by Mercer in the above interview, is a line spell; it goes out along a line across the battle field, similar to other spells like Lightning Bolt. What makes this spell - and other dunamancy spells - different from their elemental counterparts is their ability to change the battlefield. Gravity Fissure will pull nearby creatures into the line, and then deal crushing force damage to those in that line.

The idea of dunamancy is fascinating, and will no doubt lend to many creative characters and uses in Dungeons and Dragons games the world over. More will be released concerning dunamancy and its spells in the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, which will be released on March 17th.

Sources: Critical Role, DnDBeyond

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