ToV Sell Me on Tales of the Valiant

[fettpett]

For those of us in need of good monster building rules, which is the book to get??

The GMG and MV both have information on building and modifying monster, the GMG has a LOT more information with a full chapter dedicated to it.

 

[fettpett]

If I understand rituals non casters can do them as well if they choose to spend thier resources on them

You have to be a caster to cast rituals. What you DON'T have to be a caster for is using spell scrolls which anyone can use of any spell source.

 

[fettpett]

The ToV GMG system actually meshes very well with the FoF!

Mike Shae worked on both

 

[Mekri]

Fundamentally there is very little difference between 5e 2014 and TOV.
If you have one of them already, there isn’t much reason to get or switch to the others. The handful of differences, like doom points, etc can just be imported as desired without needing to switch.
If you have neither version, and are trying to decide which to get—
For the most complete currently line up, 2014.
If you hate WOTC, go TOV.
If you want the latest (and highest power level in terms of PCs), go 2024.
I have all three, and ended up sticking with 2014 myself.
(2024 is just too much now- 2014 was high enough power for my tastes)
(TOV is just going to keep adding new books, since they are a business and need to make money, but I see no reason in rebuying things I basically already have. It’s literally 95% the same thing, and I’m not a fan of there overall aesthetic.)

 

[SlyFlourish]

Fundamentally there is very little difference between 5e 2014 and TOV.
If you have one of them already, there isn’t much reason to get or switch to the others. The handful of differences, like doom points, etc can just be imported as desired without needing to switch.
If you have neither version, and are trying to decide which to get—
For the most complete currently line up, 2014.
If you hate WOTC, go TOV.
If you want the latest (and highest power level in terms of PCs), go 2024.
I have all three, and ended up sticking with 2014 myself.
(2024 is just too much now- 2014 was high enough power for my tastes)
(TOV is just going to keep adding new books, since they are a business and need to make money, but I see no reason in rebuying things I basically already have. It’s literally 95% the same thing, and I’m not a fan of there overall aesthetic.)

The separation of heritage and lineage is in TOV too and isn't in either of the D&D 5e versions.

 

[Keith Langley]

The players guide had to revisit everything already done in 2014, in order to fulfill the mission of making KP’s back catalogue fully compatible. The upcoming PG2 will be their first chance to really set new directions for classes and subclasses. I’m looking forward to it.

 

[RichGreen]

I’m biased because I wrote ten monsters for it, but there are some very cool creatures in Monster Vault 2. Well worth checking out if you want some new monsters to inflict on your players.

 

[djotaku]

Don't know if the OP still cares since this was started in January, but here's my take - about 2 sessions away from finishing a homebrew ToV game (it will end up being 13 or 14 months long game) using bits and pieces from KP's Midgard and Labyrinth books, some of their modules, and a few little things I've thrown in there. I'm a big fan of the luck system - it takes away some of the suckiness of missing without going the full way Draw Steel did where there's no such thing as missing. You can draw down luck to add to your roll or do a complete reroll with 3 luck.

My table has played 5e.2104 and 5e.2024 and prefers ToV. I feel like with their classes and subclasses they took a little more care than WotC to have the lore match the mechanics. I have one game where I'm playing a bard and it's got better uses for the bard than just bardic inspiration.

As others have said, the Monsters are great, especially in Monster Vault 2.

Also, it's interesting people said it's like 2014 - I find it more like 2024: All the subclasses come at 3rd level and the ancestries/species are more of a blank slate that you fill in via heritages and talents that give a customization more like 2024 and more like PF2e, although not as extreme.

 

[fettpett]

Fundamentally there is very little difference between 5e 2014 and TOV.
If you have one of them already, there isn’t much reason to get or switch to the others. The handful of differences, like doom points, etc can just be imported as desired without needing to switch.
If you have neither version, and are trying to decide which to get—
For the most complete currently line up, 2014.
If you hate WOTC, go TOV.
If you want the latest (and highest power level in terms of PCs), go 2024.
I have all three, and ended up sticking with 2014 myself.
(2024 is just too much now- 2014 was high enough power for my tastes)
(TOV is just going to keep adding new books, since they are a business and need to make money, but I see no reason in rebuying things I basically already have. It’s literally 95% the same thing, and I’m not a fan of there overall aesthetic.)

Hate to say it but you're going on some really old information. Yes it's very similar to 5e at it's core, but just in the last year has added a significant amount of additional books that have made the game feel and play differently. There's more movement, Subclasses are much less "generic" and have a lot more of a specific flavor to them. Yes adding more books is to make money, but it's also to shape the game into something that is much more unique. The Monster Vault 2, Game Masters Guide, all the Campaign Builders, the upcoming Players Guide 2, Book of Blades, etc have all created a much fuller experience and far less "bland" 5e flavor.


Character building is significantly different though, particularly the lineage, heritage, background, talent system is more robust than 5e '14/'24.

 

[Reynard]

Are there any high level adventures or other resources for ToV?