ToV PDF Thoughts, Part 17

Tales of the Valiant has the 4E secret sauce. I remember interviews with the 4E design team, and they went through movies to create the "powers" for the game, like in a Batman film, they would see something cool, and the designers would make that move in the film a power for the class.

Let's delve into the fighter class in ToV, which features a truly exhilarating power known as Last Stand. Picture this: when you're on the brink of defeat, a blow that would reduce your hit points to less than half, you can unleash a reaction. This allows you to spend hit dice, typically used for healing during rests, up to the character's PB. The result? An instant heal, of dice plus CON modifier, that could potentially turn the tide of the battle in your favor.

What an incredible power. I could see using that on a stream and getting this amazing "second wind" moment in a fight, like something out of professional wrestling. My next thought was that the Kobold Press team gets what makes for incredible moments at the gaming table and specifically designed powers to make those moments happen. And this is through every class, every spell, every power, and every choice you can make on a combat turn.

ToV was designed to stream exciting games and make those moments happen.

This team has played enough 5E to know where the rusty spots are, and they know the unfun powers and abilities. They know the parts that suck, and they focused in like a laser to un-suck the broken parts of D&D and 5E.

If I play that fighter, that fighter will be all I want to play. I want to wait for the time I can activate Last Stand, and then yeet my favorite wrestling quote as my fighter wipes the blood from his lip, stands up, and proceeds to kick butt.

I can't go back to D&D after that.

This is why ToV raised the power level. To give you those movie moments and extraordinary powers. This is also why the monsters are more formidable, hit harder, and have more hit points. You use fewer of them; they are larger-than-life bad guys to take down. Those 25-hit-point orcs? I need less of them, but taking each down is a movie moment.

You get D&D with weak 15-hit-point orcs, and you need to put a six in a room to have a challenge. In ToV, I would put four. This is six initiative rolls and combat turns versus four, plus the party. The combat will go faster even though the monsters are more brutal and down slower.

Even the luck mechanic plays into that "built for streaming" design. You know what sucks when you watch a streaming show? Watching someone roll two under the number they need to do something extraordinary. The Kobold team fixed that, provided the player has luck to spend.

Instead of "not happening," that moment "is happening."

The old Inspiration mechanic sucks compared to this.

And your luck ticks up a point each time you miss or fail a roll. You will make that roll sooner rather than later. The game forces you to spend luck: use it, or lose it.

Combine that mechanic with an arsenal of "cool moment" powers, and put the characters against the odds with toughened-up monsters?

You have a game designed for fun.