(magical whoosh)
- Wisteria?
- Oh, fiddlesparks.
This isn't right.
Looks like I'm in an alternate universe.
- You must have been sent here for the sponsorship.
This video is sponsored by Kobold Press.
- Oh yeah, I know Kobold Press.
They created ""Tales of the Valiant,"
previously known as "Project Black Flag."
That's the system I was made with.
- So you weren't created with Fifth Edition D&D?
- Well, not technically.
"Tales of the Valiant" builds on the Fifth Edition
Creative Commons.
The goal is to streamline 5E
and build an independent foundation
that everyone can create for irrevocably.
- Oh yeah.
They've been passing their playtest documents around.
- Yeah.
Those are some previews of just some of the content
being workshopped for the two books
coming to Kickstarter next month.
The Player Guide and the Monster Vault.
- I don't mean to be rude, but you look a little different
from the Wisteria that I'm used to.
I have a few questions.
- Fire away.
I can't use that spell again till tomorrow anyway,
so I've got nothing but time.
- Well, let's start with the obvious.
You have pretty long ears,
so you're not gnomish like my Wisteria?
- Gnomish?
Oh gosh, no, I'm an elf.
And for a really good reason too,
not just because there aren't any gnomes
in the play test documents.
- It looks like Kobold Press is using a lineage
and heritage system instead of race and subrace.
So every character has a lineage
which is related to their hereditary traits
and a heritage which is more about how they were raised.
- Yeah, my lineage is elf, thus the ears,
and stuff like my lifespan, walking speed,
and ability to see in the dark.
And I was raised in the Cloud Elf community
which gives me my Cloud heritage.
It's a civilization of thriving academic communities
all focused on magic.
That's why I started studying the arcane.
- Wait, not because your family invented
a famous magical energy cider
and then pressured you into pursuing a course of study
that you're actually terrible at
in order to uphold the family name?
- Wow, your Wisteria sounds like kind of a mess.
- Yeah.
Now one interesting thing is the packet says that the Cloud
and Grove heritages are most common amongst elves
but not that they're actually limited to elves.
Does that mean a non elf can have the Cloud heritage
or that you could have one of the heritages
listed under human or dwarf?
- That's right.
No matter what your lineage is,
if you have the Cloud heritage,
you can learn a few spells
and have basic training in arcana, just like me.
And if you have the Grove heritage,
you can communicate with animals
and you'll be really good at climbing.
- That's very different from 5E.
There's no way you could create a dwarf character
and just give them the wood elf subrace.
But isn't that also kind of like backgrounds?
You could definitely have a dwarf character
with, say, the Outlander background.
- "Tales of the Valiant" has backgrounds too,
but they're less about how you were raised
and more about what choices you've made in your life,
what kinds of crafts or skills you've pursued.
My heritage means that I was raised
in the Cloud Elf community,
but my background says that I chose to be a scholar.
- Seems like the scholar background lets you have
some relevant skill and tool proficiencies,
determines some of your starting equipment,
and gives you something called a Talent,
and let's come back to that in a second.
But first, I noticed that where the Fifth Edition
Player's Handbook has rolling tables for traits, ideals,
bonds, and flaws,
this document just has one rolling table
for adventuring motivation.
- For me, it's that adventuring allows me
to do my own hands-on research.
Testing out experimental spells is kind of frowned upon
in an academic setting turns out,
but out in the world I can try out whatever I want
and nobody tells me,
"Appledackle, stop turning the toilet water into yogurt!"
- Don't get me wrong I think adding an adventuring
motivation section is a great idea,
but I really do hope that they end up bringing in something
at least similar to the traits, ideals, bonds,
and flaws, too.
I find them to be a really helpful baseline
to return to whenever you're not sure
how your character would react to any given situation.
- Yeah, that's fair enough.
Hey, can I use your bathroom?
- Not if you're gonna turn the toilet water into yogurt.
Okay, back to this talents thing,
they're basically feats, right?
- More or less,
except everybody gets one along with their background.
I picked school specialization
so I can be extra good at evocation spells.
They're cheaper and faster for me to learn
and I get a plus one to my spell attack modifier
and spell save DC for spells in that school.
- I love that.
I usually give my players a feat at level one
just because I think they're neat.
- Also, just like feats in 5E,
you can choose to take a new talent instead
of an ability score increase.
- So you're studying magic, you specialize in Evocation,
is it safe to assume that just like my Wisteria,
you are a wizard?
- Sure am.
And the Wizard class in "Tales of the Valiant"
is really similar to the class in 5E.
There are a few small changes,
like the class feature Magic Sense,
which means I can basically cast Detect Magic
a limited number of times without using a spell slot.
- Also, you have no weapons proficiencies?
- Nope, but I get a dagger anyway for some reason.
- What about your subclass?
I know that you have a specialty in Evocation,
so are you a School of Evocation wizard,
like my universe's Wisteria?
- No, my arcane tradition is called Cantrip Adept.
Kobold Press first introduced it in their "Tome of Heroes"
book as a subclass for 5E.
It makes cantrips more powerful for me.
I can learn more of them, I can deal more damage with them,
I can even cast them as bonus actions a few times a day.
- Man, I think that's a really creative subclass.
There's really nothing comparable
in the core Fifth Edition rules.
Is spell casting more or less the same then?
- They're a few changes
but they're more in the interest of clarifying the system
then actually changing how it works.
For example, spell levels are called spell rings
and illustrated with a series of nested circles
which makes it clearer that you can use
a more powerful spell slot to cast a lower level spell
if you want
because it's contained within the ring you're using.
Also, instead of spells having a ritual tag,
rituals are considered a different type of spell.
Any spell with a casting time longer than a minute
is a ritual
and you don't have to use a spell slot to cast it.
- Interesting.
I can see that they've added a rituals column
to the wizard class table showing how many rituals
you know at each level.
- Also, instead of each class having a spell list,
there are are four spell circles: arcane, divine,
primordial, and wyrd.
So instead of having a list of spells for clerics
and a list of spells for paladins,
both of those classes would just use
the Divine Spell Circle.
- Okay, I think I understand.
They've taken the Fifth Edition rules
from the Creative Commons
and then made adjustments to sort of streamline the system
and to add in some of their own flavor.
The result is "Tales of the Valiant."
And not only will Kobold Press be creating content
for that system going forward,
but it'll also be a totally open license,
so anyone can create for it if they want.
- Right.
Obviously it's not finished yet
but they're launching a Kickstarter next month
to fund the first two books,
the "Players Guide" and the "Monster Vault."
In the meantime, they're collecting community feedback
on various play test documents,
and even doing live playtests at GenCon this year.
- There's a link in the description
where you can sign up to be notified
when the Kickstarter goes live.
- Who are you talking to?
- Don't worry about it.
Hey, I have one more question.
You said you can't cast that spell again until tomorrow.
You're not planning on staying here overnight, are you?
- Please, I promise I won't do anything weird
with your toilet water.
- It worries me that I don't know what you consider
to be weird.