D&D 5E [Review] Valda's Spire of Secrets is my favorite expansion in all of 5E

[Divine2021]

This is the type of project I like to read (Tome of Heroes by Kobold Press sure was a lot of fun), but 30 bucks for a PDF alone is a hard pill to swallow right now.

 

[Shardstone]

I'd be interested to hear folks' experiences with the classes & subclasses at the table.

For me, there was a pretty wide power band (e.g. Sellsword vs Dragon Acolyte, or Spirithost vs most of the Near-Humans), with options generally leaning towards too strong, like a lv2 Captain with just their cohort seem to easily outdamage an agonizing blast + hex warlock, and they get further ahead once their maneuver dice / subclasses come online. It's a shame because the production value is high, and like shardstone mentioned they cover a lot of archetypes that don't exist in 1st-party 5e.

I think white room analysis fails where the Captain is concerned. Being able to have your Cohort attacked, killed, and subjected to conditions and other effects is pretty damning. It doesn't cripple the class, but it takes a lot of its power. And because most enemies, especially in T2 and above, have some kind of condition/lockdown abilities, it's more like you're trading damage output for partially ignoring debuffs and other effects. Likewise, the best use of the Cohort and Captain isn't to have both attack every round, and it's likely the Cohort does the attacking while the Captain does something minor on the side. And if the Cohort dies, the Captain becomes essentially a damage buff for the rest of the party, so it isn't stealing shine but instead amplifying the other members.

The Auxiliary Classes I think are a bit more loose in terms of balance; however, I don't find any of them to be particularly broken, and I think the weakest ones are still usable. There's nothing in this book, IMO, that is as wide as the power gap between say the Berserker Barbarian and the Diviner Wizard, or between the Assassin Rogue and Battlemaster Fighter. So, I consider it more balanced then the PHB.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

There's nothing in this book, IMO, that is as wide as the power gap between say the Berserker Barbarian and the Diviner Wizard, or between the Assassin Rogue and Battlemaster Fighter. So, I consider it more balanced then the PHB.

I agree with this, thought my opinion is only based on reading since I haven't gotten Valda's to the table yet.

My only complaint with the book is that I wish the "joke" subclasses were separated out or at least tagged so it is easier to allow players to use it while keeping a campaign on-tone.

 

[Yalım]

I think white room analysis fails where the Captain is concerned. Being able to have your Cohort attacked, killed, and subjected to conditions and other effects is pretty damning. It doesn't cripple the class, but it takes a lot of its power. And because most enemies, especially in T2 and above, have some kind of condition/lockdown abilities, it's more like you're trading damage output for partially ignoring debuffs and other effects. Likewise, the best use of the Cohort and Captain isn't to have both attack every round, and it's likely the Cohort does the attacking while the Captain does something minor on the side. And if the Cohort dies, the Captain becomes essentially a damage buff for the rest of the party, so it isn't stealing shine but instead amplifying the other members.

It's a lot easier to have a battle of hypotheticals than to run the class. In theory a cohort is easy to kill, in theory there's more lockdown in T2, in theory the cohort & captain won't attack every round, in theory in theory in theory. I'd much rather hear experiences at the table than go down a rabbit hole of theorycrafting.

Has anyone played a Captain and attacked all the time? If so, how did it go?

The Auxiliary Classes I think are a bit more loose in terms of balance; however, I don't find any of them to be particularly broken, and I think the weakest ones are still usable. There's nothing in this book, IMO, that is as wide as the power gap between say the Berserker Barbarian and the Diviner Wizard, or between the Assassin Rogue and Battlemaster Fighter. So, I consider it more balanced then the PHB.

I personally wouldn't use "better than the PHB" as my bar, which is why I'd like to hear folks' experiences at the table.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

The book is amazing. The closest thing there is to a 5e PH2. My friends and I are are starting a campaign with primarily materials from this book, and so far, it is a TON of fun.

 

[TwoSix]

I personally wouldn't use "better than the PHB" as my bar, which is why I'd like to hear folks' experiences at the table.

I mean, I'm assuming we've all run successful 5e sessions using primarily the PHB material. Why would we need the power level delta in a homebrew book to be even MORE stringent than the PHB?

 

[Shardstone]

It's a lot easier to have a battle of hypotheticals than to run the class. In theory a cohort is easy to kill, in theory there's more lockdown in T2, in theory the cohort & captain won't attack every round, in theory in theory in theory. I'd much rather hear experiences at the table than go down a rabbit hole of theorycrafting.

Has anyone played a Captain and attacked all the time? If so, how did it go?


I personally wouldn't use "better than the PHB" as my bar, which is why I'd like to hear folks' experiences at the table.

I don't really understand this post nor the needless passive aggressive nature of it.

 

[Yalım]

I don't really understand this post nor the needless passive aggressive nature of it.

Sorry if it came across as passive-agressive. Certainly wasn't meant to!

A lot of folks theorycraft whether a class is good or bad all the time. Sometimes I raise a concern about a bit of 3rd-party content or homebrew, I get told "that's not a problem you're white rooming", and then we play it and my supposedly white room concern turns out to be a big issue. So I'd like to hear some players who have played the Captain to see whether those suspicions are accurate so that we're not just theorycrafting back & forth with each other.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, I'm assuming we've all run successful 5e sessions using primarily the PHB material. Why would we need the power level delta in a homebrew book to be even MORE stringent than the PHB?

What do you mean by, "power level delta"? I assume you're responding to someone who has me blocked, but I don't understand this phrase.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

What do you mean by, "power level delta"? I assume you're responding to someone who has me blocked, but I don't understand this phrase.

it means the degree of difference between the strongest and weakest options.