Daggerheart’s first expansion, Hope and Fear is a big one, with four new classes, hundreds of adversaries, and indispensable GM tools.
The first big expansion for Daggerheart, the fantasy RPG from Critical Role, is on its way. Quickly, too, considering the book only came out last May. And yet here we are, with a preview of the new expansion and a release date in Summer 2026. It’s a big one, too.
The expansion, Hope and Fear, is packed full of new stuff with tantalizing new options for players and GMs. Including a set of custom Fear tokens and a tracker that lets you show your players exactly how much Fear is building up against them.
If you’ve played Daggerheart at all in the last six months, you know both how necessary those Fear tokens are – and how many possibilities are unlocked with a whole new set of Domain cards to play with. But let’s take a closer look at the upcoming expansion!
Daggerheart: Hope & Fear – Coming Summer 2026
First things first, four new classes. If you’ve been following the Daggerheart playtest portal, The Void, then you’ve probably seen at least one draft of these so far. There’s the Assassin, the Brawler, the Warlock, and the Witch, each of which had a fairly substantive playtesting round. Here’s a quick summary of each of the new classes:
- Witch: Magical practitioners who commune with the forces of nature and entities from realms beyond. These spellcasters call forth power through craft, combining the tangible and ephemeral by casting spells, murmuring incantations, creating talismans, weaving illusions, and other practices.
- Warlock: Those who’ve traded their lives, or perhaps even their souls, to an otherworldly patron in exchange for incredible power are known as warlocks. Often, these mortals have reached a point of desperation that leads them to make this sacrifice—to protect themselves or a loved one, aid their community, seek vengeance, increase their status, or otherwise further their ambitions.
- Brawler: Experts in unarmed combat, brawlers hone their bodies into lethal weapons. Whether they learned in a structured environment or picked up their skills one fight at a time, the process is always rigorous as brawlers develop their body and mind to work as one.
- Assassin: Masters of inflicting crippling injuries with precise strikes. Unlike those who wield violence as only a means to an end, assassins approach death as a profession.
Each of the classes comes with two subclass options, giving you plenty of ways to customize your character. Plus, both the Warlock and Witch make use of the new Dread Domain, also included in the book. But any character can multiclass and expand their repertoire to include the new powerset as well.
A GM’s Toolkit
GMs, on the other hand, will find plenty awaiting them in the new book, too. There are four new Campaign Frames, more than 130 new Adversaries, and more than 100 new items to hand out to your players. Alongside that, a whole suite of new mechanics to play with, including “transformations” like being cursed to be a werewolf or vampire.
And that’s not even touching on the accessories you’ll find in the Deluxe Edition. This is chock full of custom dice, those Fear tokens, a GM screen that lets you display said tokens, and plenty of sheets for making your own Adversaries.
Look for Daggerheart: Hope and Fear next Summer!
