Tales of the Valiant, Kobolld Press' 5e reworking; new Luck mechanic

[SouthpawSoldier]

So, I backed Tales of the Valiant; this week saw the release of the SRD, as well as backers receiving their PDFs of the Player's Guide and creature book.

Several classes received changes, Races are now a mix of Lineage and Heritage, Backgrounds are changed; lots of stuff going on.

The main one I wanted to talk about here was the new Luck mechanic, which replaces DM Inspiration Points, and I tell ya folks, I think I'm in love.

All PCs start with 0 Luck. If they miss an Attack or Saving Throw d20 roll (but not Skill Checks) they get 1 point. The DM can also award 1 point for good roleplay, interesting ideas, and so forth, just as they would Inspiration Points. DMs can also award points for succeeding tough combats, completing narrative beats, etc. in addition to XP and GP rewards.

Where Luck differs:

Players can bank up to 5 points; if awarded a 6th, they roll a d4 and that's their new total Luck.

Players spend them differently too. They can spend points for a 1/1 increase of a d20 roll result (e.g. a 12 can be made a 14 by spending two points) OR they can spend 3 points to reroll the d20. Knowing roll success or failure before deciding to spend the points isn't specified, so I could see a PC who rolled OK, but not sure if they met the target value, trying to gamble if a couple points might make the difference.

Oh, and points cannot be spent to turn a roll into a crit success or change a 1 from crit failure; Nat 1 and Nat 20 still emphasize natural rolls.

[J-H]

I've had a few experiences recently where I think this mechanic would have made the play experience better. One is a player running a Fighter who just seems to roll miss/hit, miss/hit, miss/hit.
Another was a Paladin fighting a Balor in a fog cloud. Everyone had disadvantage and there was a ton of missing for like 4 rounds straight.

Has anyone played with this luck mechanic to see how it works? I don't want to introduce it in an already-running game.

[Hal]

I like it. Clear rules for receiving, clear rules for usage. Takes a little bit of the sting out of botching a roll.

It seems like it makes the Lucky feat (or, well, Lucky Lite) baseline for all characters, but I don't think that is a problem per se.

The downside is that it's another thing to track. And the more interactions the mechanic has, the more often players will miss out on keeping track of it. A dual-wielding fighter with Extra Attack, for example, could generate 3 points of luck in one turn and have that reroll ready to go next round. If the player isn't on the ball, they might miss out on that.

[SouthpawSoldier]

I like it. Clear rules for receiving, clear rules for usage. Takes a little bit of the sting out of botching a roll.

It seems like it makes the Lucky feat (or, well, Lucky Lite) baseline for all characters, but I don't think that is a problem per se.

The downside is that it's another thing to track. And the more interactions the mechanic has, the more often players will miss out on keeping track of it. A dual-wielding fighter with Extra Attack, for example, could generate 3 points of luck in one turn and have that reroll ready to go next round. If the player isn't on the ball, they might miss out on that.

Yeah, as with a lot of TOV changes, I've had players complain that it's too complex; having started RPGs via 3.5, it doesn't seem so bad for me, but I can understand folks who learned on 5e or truly rules-light systems struggling a bit.

ToV has a few of Talents (feats) that affect Luck as well:

One that lets you spend your Luck to assist an ally spending their Luck (so if PC A is spending Luck, PC B can donate some Luck to the effort)

One that increases Luck gain, and the reset value becomes 1d4+1

One that grants 1 ally Luck when you score a crit, lets you roll 2d4 and keep higher on reset, and when you spend 3 Luck to reroll a d20, you can roll two and keep the higher.

Two Talents that grant Luck when you start your turn under status effects (one for physical, one for mental; each also has other effects for physical or mental needs).

There are even magic items that affect the mechanic.

It could easily be overwhelming, especially when considering all the other changes.

[Blatant Beast]

One that lets you spend your Luck to assist an ally spending their Luck (so if PC A is spending Luck, PC B can donate some Luck to the effort)

I've let players keep a balance of more than one point of Inspiration, and let people donate their Inspiration to help others, (with no Action Economy cost, no less), for several years now in games that I DM, and it has worked out well in my experience.

It makes the Adventuring Group a little more robust, which saves me prep time as a DM, as I do not have to be as concerned regarding Encounter Balance. It also gives additional spending outlets for Inspiration, which means I can keep on handing Inspiration out, without concern that the player Reservoirs are full.

These seem like good changes on the part of KP.