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

[Shardstone]

I am in no way affiliated with Mage Hand Press.

My absolute favorite book, and one that I believe everyone here that runs 5E should own, is Valda's Spire of Secrets, by Mage Hand Press. For those of you who don't know, Mage Hand Press got started like a decade ago and put out wild, but usually unbalanced or undercooked, homebrew. When this book hit KS 2~ years ago, I wrote it off because of this.

What a mistake.

They have sharpened their skills and created an assortment of amazing classes, subclasses, magic items, and spells that I personally think is some of the BEST expansion material for 5E. I do not say that lightly.

THE CLASSES​

We can't say much without talking about the classes first. Despite some of their names being unfortunate, the classes overall do three key things:

1. They provide a character archetype not adequately covered by WotC (or even covered at all)
2. They provide mechanically FUN classes, not just "simple" or "complex" but straight up you have fun using the mechanics
3. The design of each class brings the FICTION of the class to life in a way many other classes, even those by WotC, sometimes don't

The classes introduced are split between Martial and Casters, though the casters are unique in many ways and not usually fullcasters. You have:

Martial

• Alchemist (bombs and formlae)
• Captain (warlord with a secondary character you play)
• Craftsman (what the Artificer desperately wishes it was)
• Gunslinger (surprisingly fire and able to fit into other worlds by using magic finger guns if you don't want to use real firearms)
• Warden (ye olde tanke and control martial).

Caster

• Investigator (my absolute favorite class, less an investigator and more an occultist and exorcist, godlike flavor, just amazing, casts primarily rituals)
• Martyr (what the Paladin wishes it was, a saint destined to die for something great that uses blood magic to fuel miracles, second fave class ever)
• Necromancer (advanced class due to keeping up with minions but fantastic work done on this)
• Warmage ( this is a "Martial Cantrip Caster" with cantrip fighting styles and tricks, SSSS-tier fun design on this one)
• Witch (curses, hexes, jinxes, and lots of other fun things, and easy to bend to different flavors of witch less-focused on curses)

I cannot oversell how well designed these classes are. They can run with typical 5E parties, they are a mixture of simple and advanced, and they have a lot of customizable features OR you can go for the "standard" path if you don't want to character build. And, of course, classes isn't all this book has.

150+ SUBCLASSES​

In addition to the new classes and subclasses, the book comes with hundreds of new subclasses for your typical 5E classes. These are a mixture of sily and serious, but all of them are fun. Standouts, oddly enough, is a spider-man Rogue with webslinging that I really want to play, and a Fighter that does battle with two giant mage hands. Generally, these subcasses are more for expanding the mechanical fun of a vanilla 5E class, and not all of them hit the "thematic" element so hard.

AUXILLARY LEVELS​

This is an idea I spent years working on only to realize Mage Hand Press beat me to it. Essentially, there are one-level classes like "Sellsword" or "Beast Tamer" that you can multiclass into. They come with 1-3 simple features, proficiencies, and their own hit die. These are basically what Backgrounds wish they were. The amount of these and how they're designed means that any class, valda's or vanilla, will benefit from introducing these ideas. And while we don't always need mechanics for our fluff, being able to take an auxiliary level in "Sellsword" is fire.

WEAPONS & SPELLS​

This is what pushed me from calling this one of my class expansions to my favorite 5E expansion, period. The book has tons of new weapons, weapon tags, Bloodborne-style switch weapons, exotic weapons, firearms by era, and tons of magic items to go with all of this. These weapons are super cool and they actually make me excited to use weapons again.

But the spells, man. While most of the spells are straightforward, the actual concepts of them are just great -- and, tbh, a lot more engaging then vanilla 5E spells. A lot of these work great for giving to villains as powers too. One 7th level spell, Abduct, lets you instantly kidnap a creature you know the location of within 1 mile, and when it teleports to you, you decide how it is bound and what position you are in. Another 9th level spell, Heart of Darkness, creates an army of 100 undead that lasts forever (or until the heart is destroyed), and you can issue them commands every 24 hours. Simple stuff, but stuff that once you start playing with application really opens up the "fantasy" nature of D&D.

CLOSING REMARKS​

Valda's Spire of Secrets introduces 10 new amazing subclasses, several of which I promise will resonate with you. On top of that, you get 150+ new subclasses, a BUNCH of magic items and weapons, and a huge number of spells and cantrips. With feats and auxiliary levels added in, you have everything you need with this book to evolve your 5E game without having to change the rules. It will def be my most-used supplement in the years to come.


Mod Edit: Language, please.

 

[TwoSix]

100% agree. It's just hundreds and hundreds of pages of top-tier design. I've used several MHP classes in my games over the years, and have found them all to be excellently balanced. There's just so much in the book you're bound to find multiple concepts you want to try.

 

[Arilyn]

Love this book too. I laughed out loud at choosing the GM as a warlock patron.

 

[Micah Sweet]

View attachment 343613
I am in no way affiliated with Mage Hand Press.

My absolute favorite book, and one that I believe everyone here that runs 5E should own, is Valda's Spire of Secrets, by Mage Hand Press. For those of you who don't know, Mage Hand Press got started like a decade ago and put out wild, but usually unbalanced or undercooked, homebrew. When this book hit KS 2~ years ago, I wrote it off because of this.

What a mistake.

They have sharpened their skills and created an assortment of amazing classes, subclasses, magic items, and spells that I personally think is some of the BEST expansion material for 5E. I do not say that lightly.

THE CLASSES​

We can't say much without talking about the classes first. Despite some of their names being unfortunate, the classes overall do three key things:

1. They provide a character archetype not adequately covered by WotC (or even covered at all)
2. They provide mechanically FUN classes, not just "simple" or "complex" but straight up you have fun using the mechanics
3. The design of each class brings the FICTION of the class to life in a way many other classes, even those by WotC, sometimes don't

The classes introduced are split between Martial and Casters, though the casters are unique in many ways and not usually fullcasters. You have:

Martial

• Alchemist (bombs and formlae)
• Captain (warlord with a secondary character you play)
• Craftsman (what the Artificer desperately wishes it was)
• Gunslinger (surprisingly fire and able to fit into other worlds by using magic finger guns if you don't want to use real firearms)
• Warden (ye olde tanke and control martial).

Caster

• Investigator (my absolute favorite class, less an investigator and more an occultist and exorcist, godlike flavor, just amazing, casts primarily rituals)
• Martyr (what the Paladin wishes it was, a saint destined to die for something great that uses blood magic to fuel miracles, second fave class ever)
• Necromancer (advanced class due to keeping up with minions but fantastic work done on this)
• Warmage ( this is a "Martial Cantrip Caster" with cantrip fighting styles and tricks, SSSS-tier fun design on this one)
• Witch (curses, hexes, jinxes, and lots of other fun things, and easy to bend to different flavors of witch less-focused on curses)

I cannot oversell how well designed these classes are. They can run with typical 5E parties, they are a mixture of simple and advanced, and they have a lot of customizable features OR you can go for the "standard" path if you don't want to character build. And, of course, classes isn't all this book has.

150+ SUBCLASSES​

In addition to the new classes and subclasses, the book comes with hundreds of new subclasses for your typical 5E classes. These are a mixture of sily and serious, but all of them are fun. Standouts, oddly enough, is a spider-man Rogue with webslinging that I really want to play, and a Fighter that does battle with two giant mage hands. Generally, these subcasses are more for expanding the mechanical fun of a vanilla 5E class, and not all of them hit the "thematic" element so hard.

AUXILLARY LEVELS​

This is an idea I spent years working on only to realize Mage Hand Press beat me to it. Essentially, there are one-level classes like "Sellsword" or "Beast Tamer" that you can multiclass into. They come with 1-3 simple features, proficiencies, and their own hit die. These are basically what Backgrounds wish they were. The amount of these and how they're designed means that any class, valda's or vanilla, will benefit from introducing these ideas. And while we don't always need mechanics for our fluff, being able to take an auxiliary level in "Sellsword" is fire.

WEAPONS & SPELLS​

This is what pushed me from calling this one of my class expansions to my favorite 5E expansion, period. The book has tons of new weapons, weapon tags, Bloodborne-style switch weapons, exotic weapons, firearms by era, and tons of magic items to go with all of this. These weapons are super cool and they actually make me excited to use weapons again.

But the spells, man. While most of the spells are straightforward, the actual concepts of them are just great -- and, tbh, a lot more engaging then vanilla 5E spells. A lot of these work great for giving to villains as powers too. One 7th level spell, Abduct, lets you instantly kidnap a creature you know the location of within 1 mile, and when it teleports to you, you decide how it is bound and what position you are in. Another 9th level spell, Heart of Darkness, creates an army of 100 undead that lasts forever (or until the heart is destroyed), and you can issue them commands every 24 hours. Simple stuff, but stuff that once you start playing with application really opens up the "fantasy" nature of D&D.

CLOSING REMARKS​

Valda's Spire of Secrets introduces 10 new amazing subclasses, several of which I promise will resonate with you. On top of that, you get 150+ new subclasses, a fuckton of magic items and weapons, and a huge number of spells and cantrips. With feats and auxiliary levels added in, you have everything you need with this book to evolve your 5E game without having to change the rules. It will def be my most-used supplement in the years to come.

Me and my group have been following Mage Hand Press for years, and love the heck out of Valda's! I would also highly recommend their Dark Matter 5e science fantasy setting.

 

[teitan]

We backed it and haven't even bothered looking at it because the way MHP handled the kickstarter, no updates, shilling their new kickstarters to backers etc it left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Micah Sweet]

We backed it and haven't even bothered looking at it because the way MHP handled the kickstarter, no updates, shilling their new kickstarters to backers etc it left a bad taste in my mouth.

So you backed their Kickstarter, got the book, and refused to use it because you don't like how they handle the Kickstarter that successfully gave you the product you supported? Okay.

 

[Arilyn]

We backed it and haven't even bothered looking at it because the way MHP handled the kickstarter, no updates, shilling their new kickstarters to backers etc it left a bad taste in my mouth.

The book was late, and they did go quiet for a while, but after complaints, they communicated fairly regularly. They were hoping to be more in sync with WotC 2024 plans, but once again, responded to backers who told them, please don't keep delaying book for that reason. You really should read the book. It's packed with great options and is a fun read.

 

[teitan]

So you backed their Kickstarter, got the book, and refused to use it because you don't like how they handle the Kickstarter that successfully gave you the product you supported? Okay.

No you're projecting. I backed the kickstarter and when they stopped communicating with the backers while trying to get us to back other kickstarters I got a bad taste in my mouth and haven't bothered to look at it. That's the post. That's all it says. Cool, I got my stuff but it doesn't excuse shady business on a late product because you didn't manage it well and then they ducked the backers and questions at Gencon.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

No you're projecting. I backed the kickstarter and when they stopped communicating with the backers while trying to get us to back other kickstarters I got a bad taste in my mouth and haven't bothered to look at it. That's the post. That's all it says. Cool, I got my stuff but it doesn't excuse shady business on a late product because you didn't manage it well and then they ducked the backers and questions at Gencon.

I'll be honest, whilst it seems like this was very late - looks like they were projecting July 2022, so a year and a half late - the fact that they go it out, it's massive, and it's good makes it very hard for me to credit your accusations of "shady business".

Shady business would be if it came out never, or if it came out 1.5 years late but missing a lot of the material, or the material was just crap. Whereas this seems to have an insane amount of material, which by the accounts of people who have read it, is above-par in terms of quality, too. I can definitely understand being annoyed at a 1.5 year delay (usually that just means something outright is never happening), but I'm not seeing the shady.

 

[mamba]

I can definitely understand being annoyed at a 1.5 year delay (usually that just means something outright is never happening), but I'm not seeing the shady.

promising something 18 months earlier than it arrives can be considered shady in itself.

3-6, you probably can explain, but 18? You need a real good explanation for that