Black Flag Tales of the Valiant Kobold Press Backer Playtest Packet #1, Druid, Ranger and Primordial Spells
Marc Radle
Legend
This one is a backer-only playtest, but feel free to discuss here if you like!
Rushbolt
Explorer
It was wonderful to see a company reward it's backers this way. The problem is that it only left a 4 page public playtest packet for the players who are evaluating your entire process before purchasing the product in April next year. There has been no buzz created from what should be probably your most anticipated playtest packet. That's probably not going to win over your skeptics over when Wizards releases a 77 page packet with 7 classes and over two dozen subclasses.
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mamba
Legend
The KS is over, so whatever buzz a playtest would create now is probably of limited use
Whoever wants to buy the books next April and did not back the KS (I imagine right now that is a rather small group of people), can still evaluate the books once they are released
Rushbolt
Explorer
That's definitely what I will end up doing. I enjoy the KP monster products. I just want to see ToV not only be a successful KS but also a beloved system in the hobby for years to come.
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
Any details on how conservative or aggressive KP is being with their class changes? Druid and ranger are pretty good benchmarks, since Druid has a feature where people are always looking for changes (wild shape) and Rangers always seem to lack a certain je ne sais quoi that would make the class pretty amenable to considered tweaks.
ToV:
At 2nd level you can heal people, and it isn't a spell, so you can do so in wildshape form....You do NOT get a familiar/companion.
Wildshape: You can change into any beast you have seen. same restrictions on form and casting for the most part as the current packet. You take on the hit points of the beast you change into, so, yikes.
No wild resurgence or elemental fury
Potent forms is similar to the WotC class, but man, you do NOT get any of the benefits of combat wild shape. Much weaker in ToV. You do get to change shape as a bonus action, so that's really cool.
So, overall, from VERY EARLY READING, it looks a lot weaker than the WotC class, and not all that different otherwise, other than quick shift.
At 2nd level you can heal people, and it isn't a spell, so you can do so in wildshape form....You do NOT get a familiar/companion.
Wildshape: You can change into any beast you have seen. same restrictions on form and casting for the most part as the current packet. You take on the hit points of the beast you change into, so, yikes.
No wild resurgence or elemental fury
Potent forms is similar to the WotC class, but man, you do NOT get any of the benefits of combat wild shape. Much weaker in ToV. You do get to change shape as a bonus action, so that's really cool.
So, overall, from VERY EARLY READING, it looks a lot weaker than the WotC class, and not all that different otherwise, other than quick shift.
Again, no ranger expert:
Ranger: You can mark at level 1, and it isn't a spell, so more powerful.
2nd level: Martial actions allow you to do things like Aim or get an off hand attack or some other things I haven't looked at yet.
You don't get spellcasting until level 2.
at 6th level you get improved mark instead of more speed (they can't get advantage on you, and you can attack them normally even if you can't see them - no disadvantage - not sure how that works with line of sight).
no barrage, but you can turn invisible in mist or foliage, etc.
The beast subclass is similar at first, but only has one statblock with different traits for the different types (much simpler, come on WotC). They also get the ability to heal their spirit by taking on some of the damage themselves and to share their mark (level 7) with them.
the hunter subclass for WotC looks more powerful, but you do get to do more damage on the ToV side
Ranger: You can mark at level 1, and it isn't a spell, so more powerful.
2nd level: Martial actions allow you to do things like Aim or get an off hand attack or some other things I haven't looked at yet.
You don't get spellcasting until level 2.
at 6th level you get improved mark instead of more speed (they can't get advantage on you, and you can attack them normally even if you can't see them - no disadvantage - not sure how that works with line of sight).
no barrage, but you can turn invisible in mist or foliage, etc.
The beast subclass is similar at first, but only has one statblock with different traits for the different types (much simpler, come on WotC). They also get the ability to heal their spirit by taking on some of the damage themselves and to share their mark (level 7) with them.
the hunter subclass for WotC looks more powerful, but you do get to do more damage on the ToV side
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
Ok, so it sounds like they're leaning even more into the "stay compatible with 2014 5e" vision, as that sounds nearly identical to the 2014 druid.
