Mail Call Tuesday: Monster Vault 2, Tales of the Valiant

 Wanted to tryout more of the Retail editions from DriveThruRPG, and I noticed Kobold Press' Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault 2 was a choice. So my oldest kid picked it up and we got it just a few days later. Not as fast as say Amazon nor even as fast as me driving to my FLGS, but it was convient and we also got the PDF. 

With a print-on-demand version, I'd talk about the print quality and such, but this is a retail version, so offset printing and everything, so it looks great. 

It is 355 pages and over 300 monsters. Not too shabby, really.

It also has templates, NPCs, Monster Squads (Big Bads and their followers), and rules for Doom.

And it is all compatible with 5e. Though I should point out that none of these monsters have an alignment listed. So if that is something that triggers you then you should avoid this book. But otherwise, I think it will be a good addition to our game library here. I would ask my oldest how it worked for him in his weekend game, but he didn't play 5e this past weekend. He played NIGHT SHIFT instead! 

One thing I am considering, though.

In my game, Hell has gone through a reorganization. Out are Levistus and Zariel. Levistus was unmade and seizing this opportunity, Glasya took command of Stygia, becoming the first Arch Duke (Duchess) to control two layers of Hell since Baalzebul. Asmodeus, of course, allowed this to happen, thinking that these two layers would keep his ambitious daughter too busy to seek other layers. Glasya then did something no one expected. She raised Geryon to the ranks of Duke and put him back in charge of Stygia as her Viceroy. Geryon, happy to be back in charge and still angry with Asmodeus, took Glasya's offer. He was also pleased she had destroyed Malagard, someone he believed never earned her place in Hell. This earned her the hate of Baalzebul and the watchful caution of Mephistopheles (who, in my games, believes he is Glasya's real father).  For assurances that Geryon follows Glasya's orders, she has had Geryon's consort, Cozbinaer, raised and now serves in Glasya's court. 

Zariel is another one. She was defeated, and I had thought to put Astaroth in her place. But I think I will use Archduke Abizeth now. I have a habit of using what I have on hand for these sorts of things. His plane sounds a lot like Avernus, so I have that working for me. 

I have more changes coming to Hell. It's been a busy place. Maybe I should grab a couple of unique devils from Pathfinder 2nd ed as well. Maybe Barbatos is a good choice? There are a lot of good choices from Pathfinder.