ToV PDF Thoughts, Part 19

I like my Level Up books for maintaining and improving that tight, 2014-era, bounded accuracy matters, pre-2021, CR+0 compatibility for 5E.

My Tales of the Valiant books are perfect for 2021-2024 D&D since the playing field has shifted post-Tasha's. Wizard's shipping of power-gaming books raised the power level of the entire game to CR+1, and the general community followed along. Everyone tried to make a buck from pandemic-era D&D, and the game's balance changed.

Kobold Press monsters, now at CR+1, reflect where D&D 2024 stands. Rolling back the clock on current-book compatibility would undermine the game's strength. Instead, the best KP can do is elevate the 2014 monsters to the new power level they have successfully accomplished. The perception of ToV being 'too powerful because it is CR+1' is unfounded compared to current-day D&D.

Late-stage pandemic D&D? Clearly CR+1. Wizards broke bounded accuracy, and they handed out roll advantages like popcorn. Part of me loves Luck in ToV because Inspiration was getting to be overused. At least LU ties Inspiration to the Destiny system, pulling it back towards character motivations.

The math of the Level Up game is tight. I respect this. 5E is a game notorious for its loosely-goosey math screwing up an entire adventure. If I spend good money on a game, I expect the math and balance to be correct. I don't want designers coming in later and selling books by breaking the numbers.

I want the math to be challenging.

Missing matters. It is not an inconvenience. One of the core problems with 5E is they got rid of every modifier and used the "use a hammer for every problem" advantage and disadvantage system. There is no nuance in the modifiers anymore. Players have very little "English" they can put on a roll to improve their odds. Back in the day, if a player was clever and did some excellent RP during a fight, I would throw a +1 or a +2 for their ingenuity and creativity. 5E takes that tool away and turns the d20 into a dictator.

So in 5E, you game the advantage system hard to get it.

I like modifiers since they give me nuance and allow for more player input. Dim light? -2. The PC jumps on a table to fight goblins? Throw a +2 on there and another +1 if they shout, "But Anakin, I have the high ground!"

Seriously. Players love this stuff.

The people who designed 5E went way too hard getting rid of modifiers. The Pathfinder 2 team embraced them. 5E made combat brain-dead, tedious, and boring - you surrender to the d20. "It sucks missing" is felt because there is nothing players can do to try to influence their odds. This is why people play OSR games. Most of the fun in combat is roleplaying and getting creative for combat modifiers, along with trying to minimize the referee throwing them at you. I use them in my 5E games.

ToV brings them back with the Luck mechanic.

Because your math is tight, the game can handle a few modifiers occasionally.

The real story is that Level Up is compatible with the 2014-era 5E. The monsters are more like the 2014 versions, and if I were playing pre-Tasha's (2014-2021) books, I would use Level Up. When you convert in subclasses, you must redesign the subclass ToV slightly less than Level Up since LU has more new subsystems for exploration and social mechanics. Still, they work, and we do tweaking when we play 5E.

Seriously, while I love my electronic character creation tools - they suck and take most of the fun out of the game. I can't use any third-party books. Where is the fun in that? I like to see other people's creativity as a part of my game.