Tales of the Valiant Game Master's Guide 5E

Serving Up the GMG
3 months ago – Fri, Feb 09, 2024 at 10:25:31 AM

We’re in the last week of the Game Master’s Guide Kickstarter, and it’s been inspiring to see your excitement about the many advanced GMing tools available in this book. From templates to tables, player styles to premade traps, the Game Master’s Guide truly helps you stretch those GM muscles to take your games to the next level.

Join us on the blog for more about how the GMG gives you all the tools and ingredients you need to serve up an epic-level campaign and adventure.

And for a useful message from Kendo… 

More Fun with Templates
3 months ago – Wed, Feb 07, 2024 at 09:58:35 AM

Chapter 8 of the Game Master’s Guide is centered around homebrewing tools to help you create the perfect lineage, heritage, background, subclass, talent, magic item, spell, or monster for your world or game. The chapter includes step-by-step creation guidance and goes behind the scenes, showing the more subtle, numerical calculations that go into creating different aspects of the game.

In that chapter, we feature templates you can apply to monsters to make unique and interesting creatures and encounters. You saw some of these templates in the GMG Preview on the main page, but today we go beyond undead to show you one of the juicier (pun intended) templates.

Keep in mind, this material hasn’t been fully edited and is subject to change.

Element-Infused Template

An element-infused creature has been permanently changed from exposure to the magic of one of the elemental planes.

Common Characteristics. Element-infused creatures always display signs of their associated element. A fire-infused bat might leave a heat shimmer in the air where it flies, a thunder-infused manticore might have a booming roar that can be heard for miles, or a lightning-infused treant might have lightning crackling between its branches as it moves.

Statistics

Pick an element and one type of damage associated with it: air (lightning or thunder), earth (bludgeoning or poison), fire (acid or fire), or water (cold or bludgeoning). Then, make the following adjustments to the creature’s statistics.

Hit Points. The creature’s hit points are reduced by 10 percent (rounded up).

Resistant. The creature is resistant to the paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, and unconscious conditions.

Immune. The creature is immune to the type of damage you chose.

Senses. The element-infused creature has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, if the creature doesn’t already have darkvision.

Actions

When the element-infused creature deals damage with an action, bonus action, or attack, half of that damage is of the type you chose when adjusting the statistics.

Example Scenario and Monster

Your PCs are heading into a mountain valley to check on a remote settlement that has gone silent for longer than normal. A battle between local hag covens recently caused a minor rift to the Plane of Water to open in the valley’s lake, trapping a water elemental in the lake. Now the irate elemental stands between the residents and the road out of the valley. You can use the element-infused template on mundane beasts in the valley to subtly show the rift’s presence as your PCs work to uncover what happened.

For example, the valley’s boar have been drinking the lake’s water, and their giant boar matriarch has been changed by the magic of the Plane of Water. She now leaves water-filled hoofprints and has fur and skin that perpetually drips pure, elemental water. Here is the giant boar stat block with the element-infused template applied to represent this matriarch.

Water-Infused Giant Boar               CR 2

Large Beast

Armor Class 12 (natural armor)

Hit Points 56

Speed 40 ft.

Perception 8               Stealth 10

Resistant paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious

Immune cold

Senses darkvision 60 ft.

Languages —

STR    DEX   CON   INT     WIS    CHA

+3        +0        +3        −4        −2        −3

Charge. If the boar moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Tusk attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 3 (1d6) slashing damage and 3 (1d6) cold damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 STR save or be knocked prone.

Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the boar takes 10 damage or less that would reduce it to 0 HP, it is reduced to 1 HP instead.

Actions

Multiattack. The giant boar makes two Tusk attacks. If both attacks hit one creature, the target must succeed on a DC 13 STR save or be knocked prone.

Tusk. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage.

Bonus Actions

Challenging Snort. The boar snorts and stomps its feet at a creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 13 WIS save or be frightened until the end of its next turn and have disadvantage on the next save it makes against being knocked prone by the boar.

Adventure Open Call
3 months ago – Mon, Feb 05, 2024 at 10:06:49 AM

So you want to write an adventure?

Backers at the $29 level and up can choose to submit an adventure idea, and if chosen, it will be published in 2024. Here are some early guidelines to get you ready.

The Open Call will use a web form for these items:

•    Title
•    Level
•    200-word description of the adventure premise, including hook, foes, and conclusion

The winning designers will be contracted and paid for their work. They will have the full range of ToV options available this summer to write the adventure.  

The adventures will be roughly 10,000 words and include two maps.

The three winners will be announced mid-to-late March.

Adventures will be published in late 2024.

The pitch link will be revealed in a backer-only post on Saturday, February 17, and any backer at the $29 level and up can submit a pitch until Monday, February 26. One pitch per backer.

Q: Are there any particular types of adventures or themes KP would be looking for?
A: We leave the details of what the adventure is about to your creativity. Kobold Press is scouting for new and exciting adventures of any kind.

Q: What rights is Kobold Press buying from the designer? Can I publish it on DMs Guild or elsewhere?
A: This adventure is commissioned as a work for hire contract and will include art and maps produced by Kobold Press.
 

Six Player Styles
4 months ago – Fri, Feb 02, 2024 at 10:05:55 AM

From the innovative minds that think up solutions on the fly to the chaos gremlins that live their tabletop lives on the edge, Tales of the Valiant players are as diverse as the fantastical worlds they inhabit. Varied and diverse player styles are a core part of the game that we love, and of the people we enjoy playing them with. Even here at Kobold Press, no two Kobolds play the same game of ToV.

The Game Master’s Guide aims to help GMs understand these player styles and to give guidance on how you adapt your game to welcome players of all kinds.

Check out his week’s blog as we break down the six different player styles from the Game Master’s Guide!