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--1 out of 5 stars--
The Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide, viewed in a vacuum, is closer to a 2-2.5 out of 5 tabletop RPG, but in the context of acting as a substitute ruleset to replace official 5e Dungeons & Dragons, it is lowered to 1 out of 5. TOV is simply a worse version of the 2014 D&D rules, adding a massive martial/caster divide that was not present in official 5e, by both strengthening spellcasters needlessly, and taking away the tools martial characters required for their contributions in battle. Casters always offered more utility in 2014 5e but martials offered unparalleled damage.
In TOV nearly every martial class is a “trap build” waiting to happen. Select subclasses, if built in an exacting manner, can come close to keeping up with equivalent builds from the 2014 D&D PHB. Taken as a whole, martial classes have become unplayable, save for edge cases. Paladins are limited to a single smite per turn, lowering round to round damage output. The feats martial characters relied on for damage supremacy, Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter, have analogues in TOV that are inadequate, leaving martial damage badly lagging compared to what it was in 5e D&D.
Spellcasters, meanwhile, have access to new mechanics such as a Talent that lets them determine exact enemy Hit Points as a Bonus Action, making spells based on an enemy’s remaining HP, like the Power Word spells and Sleep, far more tactically viable. The power of individual spells has not been lowered, compared to 2014 5e D&D, but the martial classes all suffer greatly, compared to their D&D counterparts. Monks were never a viable damage dealing martial class, but the Stunning Strike feature gave them a unique utility. TOV has removed that, taking away the Monk’s sole viable combat option.
Stunning Strike, like a Paladin’s Smite, is now limited to once per turn, and carries additional drawbacks compared to the 2014 D&D PHB version of the ability, in that enemies can also reroll their save each time they take damage. The Paladin had an ability to exhaust much of its daily resources in a single “nova” round where they strike with multiple smite attacks, and that option is removed. Monks, while still a relatively poor class in the 5e 2014 D&D PHB, at least had a contribution in their ability to deliver multiple stun attempts, also now absent in TOV.
For those who were familiar with 5e D&D and its underlying game balance, combining Feats that granted Bonus Action attacks, like Crossbow Expert and Polearm Master, with those that granted -5 to hit for +10 to damage options, like Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master, provided excellent synergy with the classes that gained Martial Weapon Proficiency and the Extra Attack feature, particularly Fighters who scaled to multiple additional attacks. These Feat combinations allowed martial characters to offer a real asset in battle, on par with the reality warping power and versatility of full spellcasters.
TOV seemed to deliberately set out to create an impassible gulf between the usefulness of martial classes and caster classes. Very few people would describe that as a step in the right direction for any revision or alteration of the current 2014 5e D&D rules. There were other missed opportunities, such as the various spells that retain the same abusable loopholes and nebulous language as their original 2014 5e D&D versions. Failing to address those would mean TOV is not better than 5e D&D but might be an acceptable alternative for those want distance from Wizards of the Coast.
Unfortunately, TOV is not equal to the 2014 5e D&D, it is objectively worse. It is a game where roughly half the character classes are essentially trap builds, in a manner that is, in truth, more pronounced than the perceived martial/caster divide of 3.0 and 3.5 D&D. If the goal was to encourage entire parties made up of the full caster classes, simply eliminating martial classes and half-casters altogether would have, sincerely, produced a better game, by omitting character options that inexperienced players might errantly perceive as viable, balanced options, outright, instead of pretending otherwise.
Tales of the Valiant is still more coherent and well-polished than some of the current 5e D&D alternative systems, like the messy and poorly play-tested Level Up: A5E game line. Unlike Level Up, Tales of the Valiant does seem to have been made with some clear design goals in mind by designers who largely understand the system. Sadly, those design goals were seemingly to return to the 3e D&D era norm of useless, trap build martial classes, encouraging system savvy players to stick with spellcasters, exclusively. It is a consistent vision, but not one that legitimately improves 5e D&D.
If there was no 5e D&D, and Tales of the Valiant was a stand-alone gaming system that was not building off the success of another, it could be considered a 2.5-star product. That is not what the game is. It is a 5e D&D rules replacement, one that is fully compatible with existing 5e adventures, but inferior to the rules it seems to replace. TOV has no excuse for making the game balance worse than the system it aims to replace. The new additions, like the universal Luck Points mechanic, simply offer more to track that will slow down combat.
It is easy to speculate why this flawed system would be offered by Kobold Press. It is easier to market supplements towards players portraying spellcaster characters than martial characters, as evidenced by the publisher’s existing Deep Magic series. Offering systemic incentives to forego martial characters in favor of casters could entice more sales of supplements. Those who exclusively play casters may see TOV as a godsend. Those concerned about a balanced, playable game, will see it as a massive, missed opportunity to improve on 5e D&D’s flaws. I had high hopes for TOV, but it proved a massive letdown.
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