Dungeons & Dragons, which The Legend of Vox Machina is heavily inspired by, features all sorts of fantastical people, some more humanoid than others. Yet until season 3, all the characters seen onscreen were either humanoid (humans, gnomes, dwarves, elves, goliaths, and so on), feyfolk like Garmelie, or dragonborn. This obviously raised the question of where the other species from the D&D Player’s Handbook might be. Thankfully, season 3 has finally given us this key piece of character diversity.
Legend Of Vox Machina Season 3, Episode 10 Included Beast Species
Outside of the brief flashback we saw of Vax fighting (and assumedly killing) a tiger-faced fiend known as a rakshasa in season 1, The Legend of Vox Machina hasn’t really dealt with the various kinds of beastfolk, which are a key element in most of D&D‘s settings. However, season 3, episode 10 finally did introduce them. While investigating the town of Stilben on their hunt for Doctor Ripley, Vex and Vax are helped by a tabaxi member of the Clasp thieves’ guild. Once they find Ripley, her pirate crew includes several beastfolk, including a raven-like kenku and an aarakocra.
The kenku and their shipmates are playing Uk’otoa, a board game based on Campaign 2 of Critical Role.
The arrival of the beastfolk has profound implications for The Legend of Vox Machina. Beyond showcasing a willingness to include all aspects of D&D lore, it also suggests that the core cast could expand in season 4 and beyond. With beastfolk having been officially introduced, there’s every possibility that they could play a major role in the story, changing the series in the process.
Beast & Animal Species Are A Big Part Of D&D Lore
Dungeons & Dragons has always included animal-inspired options for both players and NPCs alike. The avian aarakocra appeared in the very first edition of the game, specifically in 1981’s Fiend Folio sourcebook, and have been an option for player characters ever since appearing in the August 1987 issue of Dragon magazine. The cat-like tabaxi also first appeared in the 1981 Fiend Folio, although they weren’t made a playable species until the most recent edition, appearing in 2016’s Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Both species even made appearances in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Kenku, who are also avian but smaller and generally raven-like, also first appeared in the Fiend Folio. Much like the tabaxi, they weren’t available as a player character option until Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Sadly, there were no kenku in Honor Among Thieves.
Tabaxi were nowhere to be found in Dungeons & Dragons ‘ second through fourth editions, although 3e and 4e both had the very similar cat-folk as a player character option.
With The Legend of Vox Machina‘s fourth season renewal already confirmed, it’s only a matter of time until we see what other Dungeons & Dragons minutiae the team from Critical Role have in store. In the meantime, there will be plenty of time to cry about Vax and Percy in The Legend of Vox Machina season 3 finale’s perfect reunion.
