ToV PDF Thoughts, Part 11

Is Tales of the Valiant a CR+1 game?

Now that I am reading it more, yes, at low levels, but not really at higher levels. You start out with a little more power, but things feel well-built and balanced, and they don't get as out-of-control and loose as they do in 5E at higher levels.

Unlike in 5E, where certain classes can feel underwhelming at higher levels due to their damage not scaling, Tales of the Valiant has addressed this issue. The game's mechanics have been meticulously refined, resulting in a more balanced and engaging experience across all classes and levels.

ToV was designed to play well at higher levels. It may start as a CR+1 game, but as you level, it feels like it goes back to CR+0 and stays there. The underpowered, squishy nature of low-level 5E characters looks like it was fixed.

D&D was the problem here.

Also, since Kobold Press tends to design CR+1 monsters, it is easy to paint the system as a CR+1 system, but I need to take a step back. The builds in 5E were so out of control that character power was becoming exponential in nature. A hyper-optimized 5E character, built by the rules, is a CR+2 to CR+4 build. Some classes suck so hard they are like a CR-1.

Once everyone's class works and is a viable option, the party suddenly becomes more powerful.

D&D 5E has balanced itself around optimized characters, which may already be a CR+1 system. Thus, KP had to create and sell monster books around CR+1. This is why they sold so well; the challenge level suited the average group with optimized characters. Only when you roll back to the original book does everything suddenly appear to be CR+1 and a bit powerful?

Since the KP monster books sold so well, the community chose and supported that power level. By the end of D&D 2014, the game was generally played at a CR+1 power level, just due to power creep. You can't roll back from that to some 2014 power level since you are choosing to make your game and characters underpowered. You are breaking current compatibility.

The answer is complicated, more like a yes and no.

Yes, at low levels, everything balances out at an even CR+1 across all levels.

With D&D, you are weak at low levels and then very broken as you level those CR+2 to CR+4 power levels of exploit builds. Most classes fall behind and look like poor choices unless you are multiclassing to break the game. The swingy nature of power and unbalanced builds make rating D&D's actual power levels nearly impossible, but infinite damage and broken builds exist.

ToV may just be the better, tighter-tuned, and balanced game, so it appears to be CR+1, but in actuality, it matches the current power level of most standard games and stays within that power level to level 20.