Black Flag Tales of the Valiant Alpha Release is out.

[FitzTheRuke]

Here's a free PDF full of their monsters.

Thanks! I didn't realise that was available. I stopped downloading the playtests when I lost interest (as much as I like Kobold, it seems like yet-another-D&D to me).

While I like the monster design that I'm seeing here, I wish they'd go one step further with the design of the stat-block. For example: Why organize like this:

FLYING SWORD
Small Construct
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 20
Speed 0 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover)
Stealth 14
Immune poison, void; blinded, charmed, deafened, disease,
frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned
Resistant piercing
Vulnerable acid
Senses keen 60 ft. (can’t sense beyond this radius)
Perception 9

When you could, in the very least, do this:

FLYING SWORD
Small Construct
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 20
Immune poison, void; blinded, charmed, deafened, disease,
frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned
Resistant piercing
Vulnerable acid
Speed 0 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover)
Stealth 14
Senses keen 60 ft. (can’t sense beyond this radius)
Perception 9

Or, better yet, THIS:

FLYING SWORD (Small Construct) CR 1/4 (50xp)
AC 17 (natural)
HP 20
Immune poison, void; blinded, charmed, deafened, disease,
frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned
Resistant piercing Vulnerable acid
Stealth 14 Speed 0 ft., fly 50 ft. (hover)
Perception 9 (Keen 60 ft. - can’t sense beyond this radius)

(For some reason, when it posts, it gets rid of my spacing, which is to justify both right and left).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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.

Once this and the 2024 edition are out, I look forward to someone doing a deep dive -- with a three-column chart -- comparing 2024, ToV and LevelUp across the board, so groups can figure out how to mix and match the various 5E rulesets.

 

[rooneg]

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.

I cannot imagine any world where ToV ends up being more conservative in its changes than the 2024 5e rules. They'd have to scrap large swaths of what's in the Alpha if that was really the goal (changes to what levels subclass abilities kick in at and the entire Talents section, at the very least). I'm not saying I want them to do so, I think they'll be much better off actually differentiating themselves from 5e in some way. That said, their more recent statements seem to be leaning more into "our whole game will be irrevocably open" and less into "we're more backwards compatible", so perhaps they've realized this.

 

[Parmandur]

I cannot imagine any world where ToV ends up being more conservative in its changes than the 2024 5e rules. They'd have to scrap large swaths of what's in the Alpha if that was really the goal (changes to what levels subclass abilities kick in at and the entire Talents section, at the very least). I'm not saying I want them to do so, I think they'll be much better off actually differentiating themselves from 5e in some way. That said, their more recent statements seem to be leaning more into "our whole game will be irrevocably open" and less into "we're more backwards compatible", so perhaps they've realized this.

That certainly appears to have been their plan leading up to the Kickstarter, even though WotC had made their intentions pretty clear.

 

[Rushbolt]

I think Kobold Press has been placed in a difficult position by the adjustments Wizards has made in their design goals regarding the '24 D&D books. Six months ago it appeared Wizards was making significant changes to 5e by adjusting, removing, or adding quite a few rules. Kobold Press announced during this time that Black Flag would be the ruleset to keep 2014 5e alive. Then Wizards scrapped many significant changes because they feared straying too far from 5e 2014 would invalidate their entire 5e catalog. Now it appears the current Wizards playtest walks back many of those changes and is much closer to 2014 D&D than ToV.
Kobold Press has some interesting decisions to make with ToV now. Do they stay true to their earlier intention of carrying on 5e for future players or do they dig in and start minimizing the SRD content even if it makes ToV less compatible than D&D '24? They already committed to using mostly SRD content in their game, but Wizards gets to use all the IP in the D&D '24 books. It is basically impossible for KP to make a more compatible 5e version if WotC stays the course. However, who knows if WotC will adjust their design goals back to making significant changes in the future.
I hope KP leans in to making ToV their own interpretation of 5e. This needs to be their game-not Wizards'. Kobold Press should present a product gives Midgard it's own base system. Heroes should cast different spells and use different abilities. I love seeing new feats and subclasses in the playtest and would prefer to see new spells and monsters in the future. Bring as much Tome of Beasts, Tome of Heroes, and Deep Magic as you can fit into the game to make Midgard it's own world.

 

[mamba]

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.

well, they cannot just reprint 5e and 2024 is already as conservative as can be, so… you should find your niche somewhere, esp now that the OGL thing ended up going the other direction, just being ‘open’ is not enough

Not saying it has to be this niche, but you need some kind of differentiator, ‘5e but not from WotC’ feels somewhat lacking as a pitch

 

[mamba]

Once this and the 2024 edition are out, I look forward to someone doing a deep dive -- with a three-column chart -- comparing 2024, ToV and LevelUp across the board, so groups can figure out how to mix and match the various 5E rulesets.

absolutely, looking forward to that too, and add C7D20 to this

 

[Zaukrie]

I think Kobold Press has been placed in a difficult position by the adjustments Wizards has made in their design goals regarding the '24 D&D books. Six months ago it appeared Wizards was making significant changes to 5e by adjusting, removing, or adding quite a few rules. Kobold Press announced during this time that Black Flag would be the ruleset to keep 2014 5e alive. Then Wizards scrapped many significant changes because they feared straying too far from 5e 2014 would invalidate their entire 5e catalog. Now it appears the current Wizards playtest walks back many of those changes and is much closer to 2014 D&D than ToV.
Kobold Press has some interesting decisions to make with ToV now. Do they stay true to their earlier intention of carrying on 5e for future players or do they dig in and start minimizing the SRD content even if it makes ToV less compatible than D&D '24? They already committed to using mostly SRD content in their game, but Wizards gets to use all the IP in the D&D '24 books. It is basically impossible for KP to make a more compatible 5e version if WotC stays the course. However, who knows if WotC will adjust their design goals back to making significant changes in the future.
I hope KP leans in to making ToV their own interpretation of 5e. This needs to be their game-not Wizards'. Kobold Press should present a product gives Midgard it's own base system. Heroes should cast different spells and use different abilities. I love seeing new feats and subclasses in the playtest and would prefer to see new spells and monsters in the future. Bring as much Tome of Beasts, Tome of Heroes, and Deep Magic as you can fit into the game to make Midgard it's own world.

I agree. I'd rather have a dnd like / clone, than just updated DnD. I already have that from WotC.

Though, let's be honest, the odds my group plays any non DnD is pretty low....

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

absolutely, looking forward to that too, and add C7D20 to this

My understanding that C7d20 was mostly going to be a DM's toolkit, but for sure, I'd like to see which, if any, of their systems have a counterpart in the other books.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Though, let's be honest, the odds my group plays any non DnD is pretty low....

Monster and DM books are always useful, IMO. Players mostly care about player-facing content only, in my experience.