Black Flag Tales of the Valiant Alpha Release is out.

Reynard

Legend
Again, bullet point lists are very helpful to the GM -- assuming a GM is both experienced and confident.

This is a kind of clumsy construction: "When the PCs arrive at the dumpsite, each must make a DC 12 CON save. On a failure, a creature is poisoned as long as they remain in the chamber." Don't switch between PCs and creatures. Use creatures.

Building the raft is an interesting little mini skill challenge type thing. There are hints of how to adjudicate non-standard action types in there. I think it would benefit everyone for it to be a little bit more developed.

Here we actually get advice on how to roll on "loot table" except it isn't just loot. Definitely nail this stuff down and figure out a solid, interesting, fun procedure.

Mushrooms! Hell yeah. More weird fantasy randomness, please.

I like that there are rolls to be made due to rough water, but I do not like that we have no idea what impact "unseated" might have.

Again, we are missing key information on the map with the "slick ledge". Also we need to know on the map where the gelly cube is.

For the record, i am a big fan of the "sure you can go off the adventure path, but here be dragons" element. Kudos.

I have to say, area 9 is just strange. It isn't bad, per se, but there is a lot happening there that isn't foreshadowed or otherwise made relevant. If I were to GM this (and I may) I would definitely provide at least vague hints about what to do to get what result.

There should be some element of recognizing Enok is there in the flavor text for the Fungal Garden.

I am not sure where to put it but I feel like this is the wrong place to explain how the PCs might save Enok.

LOVE the lair actions, especially at low level. This should be a thing that happens all the time.
 

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Reynard

Legend
All in all, upon reading this is a really fun low level introductory adventure. Kudos. There is some serious editing and map work I would do, but part of that is just me being a write/designer and always have a conception of "perfect." But broadly speaking, I like it.

Hopefully I can wrangle a handful of folks to give it a go. I am super interested in how it interacts with the Alpha Rules. Thanks @Marc Radle
 


Weiley31

Legend
Also, I see there are magic item prices. I'm actually glad prices for magic items are being a thing.

Me, an agent of Chaos, smiling at the idea of Magic Item shops coming back.
 





Parmandur

Book-Friend
nooo, get rid of short rest as a recharge mechanic, WotC 2024 almost dared to, and then stumbled across their 70% hurdle, no need to do this here...
Kobold Press has been pretty explicit from the stRt that the goal here is to be more conservative than the 2024 rules: which might have seemed more feasible last August.
 

Elodan

Adventurer
The problem with being too conservative is that it becomes “why should I pick TotV up vs 2014 5E ( or even 2024 ). I already bought it because I really liked a fair amount of what I saw in the previews such as; universal subclass progression, separation of lineage and heritage ( I do think Paizo nailed it by calling them ancestries and heritages), certain class features, rituals, and the like.

I think there’s a lot you can change while keeping backwards compatibility. For example, reducing the reliance on short rests, better scaling on cantrips, tweaking the spells the community has been complaining about for 10 years (especially the conjuration spells that break the action economy, 1 or 2 more creatures is more than enough), simplifying exhaustion ( a la OneD&D ) and leveraging it more places, even adding a “bloodied” condition that can trigger effects.

I still feel that what the goals and what kind the feedback the kobolds want for TotV are still vague (I’m a database developer/architect by trade so I’m always looking for clear requirements 😀).

I’m not someone who does deep dives into the rules so take from this what you will.
 

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