Tales of the Valiant Lineage Guide

Introduction

Your lineage in Tales of the Valiant is your character's biological and ancestral identity: the inherited traits, physical features, and innate abilities that come from who your people are, regardless of where you were raised. Eight lineages are available in the Player's Guide: Beastkin, Dwarf, Elf, Human, Kobold, Orc, Syderean, and Smallfolk. The Old Margreve adds four more: Alseid, Bearfolk, Erina, and Piney. Labyrinth Worldbook adds Derro, Dragonborn, Gearforged, Minotaur, and Satyr as full lineages, plus Midnight Dwarf, Star Elf, and Spellborn Syderean as variant or expanded lineage options. Player's Guide 2 adds Dhampir, Elemental Scion, Goblin, Rachisan, Sapopova, Shade, and Tosculi as full lineages; Duergar, Drow, and Sea Elf as lineage variants; and Aberrant Syderean plus new Beastkin options as expansions. Book of Blades does not add new lineages for this guide. Each lineage plays a distinct role and opens different options at the table.

What makes ToV's lineage system different from most fantasy systems is the explicit decoupling of ability scores from ancestry. No lineage gives you a +2 to Strength or a +1 to Wisdom. Every character uses the same point buy framework, meaning your lineage choice is entirely about the traits you want (movement options, resistances, saving throw advantages, unique abilities) rather than number optimization. This design makes every lineage viable for every class.

Lineage also doesn't include your cultural upbringing. That's Heritage, a separate choice covered in the Tales of the Valiant Heritage Guide. Lineage and Heritage combine to create a full picture of your character's origin without either system doing all the work.

This guide covers the Player Guide lineages, Player's Guide 2 lineages, The Old Margreve lineages, Labyrinth Worldbook lineages, variant lineage options, mechanical ratings, class pairing recommendations, and links to in-depth per-lineage guides.

If your lineage choice is part of a mounted, familiar, or animal-ally build, use the Monster Vault Animal Allies and Summons Guide for source-labeled mount, companion, summon, and party utility creature options.

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Which Lineage Is Right for You?

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Lineage Overviews

Beastkin ●

The most mechanically flexible lineage in the game. Beastkin's Natural Adaptation is the defining choice: Avian grants a flying speed at level one (the most powerful movement ability available to any character without magic), Agile gives climbing speed and knockdown resistance, Aquatic gives a swim speed and 20-minute breath hold, and Sturdy gives natural AC (13 + DEX) and enhanced carry capacity. The Natural Weapon (1d6, your choice of STR or DEX modifier, your choice of damage type) is a permanent no-cost melee option that scales with Monk's Martial Arts. Animal Instinct grants Perception or Survival proficiency. The right Beastkin build depends entirely on the adaptation you choose first, and the adaptation should match a class that gets the most out of it. Avian Beastkin is a top-tier pick for Monks, Rangers, and Rogues; Sturdy is excellent for Barbarians and casters who want to skip the armor investment.

Read the full Beastkin Lineage Guide →

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Dwarf ●

The most durable lineage baseline in ToV. Dwarven Toughness adds 1 HP per character level: simple, permanent, and compounding. At level 10 that's 10 bonus HP; at level 20 it's 20. Over a full campaign, Dwarven Toughness contributes more total HP than many combat talents. Dwarven Resilience gives advantage on saves against being poisoned and resistance to poison damage, not the most common save type, but relevant frequently enough at every tier of play. Darkvision rounds out a clean, no-frills package that does exactly what it promises. Dwarves don't have flashy adaptations or reactive abilities; they have permanence. For Fighters, Paladins, and Clerics who plan to spend their career on the frontline, the compounding HP is frequently the difference between surviving a boss fight and going down.

Read the full Dwarf Lineage Guide →

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Elf ●

Elves are built around perception, charm-resistance, and longevity. Heightened Senses gives advantage on Perception checks relying on sight or hearing, treats dim light as bright light, and sees through light obscurement normally, making Elves the best natural scouts in the game without any talent investment. Magic Ancestry provides advantage on saves against being charmed and immunity to magical sleep, which matters against a consistent category of enemy spells across every tier. Trance is the quietest power: completing a long rest in 4 hours instead of 8 gives Elves logistical advantages in time-pressured campaigns and allows them to maintain a half-alert state during their rest period. Elves don't have the flashy power ceiling of Avian Beastkin, but their trait package is consistently useful across every type of session: combat, exploration, and roleplay.

Read the full Elf Lineage Guide →

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Human ●

Humans are defined by one thing: the Ambitious trait, which grants both a free skill proficiency and a free talent from any list (meeting prerequisites). A first-level Human has access to talents that other characters don't reach until 4th level: Combat Casting, Weapon Discipline, Aware, Ritualist. This is the single most build-defining lineage trait in the game because it front-loads an Improvement into character creation. A Human Wizard who takes Ritualist at level 1 has ritual casting from session one. A Human Fighter who takes Combat Conditioning at level 1 starts with 2 extra HP and gains 2 more per level. The flexibility to access magic, martial, or technical talents with no restriction is the widest design space of any lineage, and Human rewards players who know what they want to build well in advance.

Read the full Human Lineage Guide →

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Kobold ●

Kobolds are the most mechanically distinct lineage in the Player's Guide. Tinker's Fascination gives a d8 bonus to any tool ability check (not proficiency; a flat d8 rolled and added to the result). This is additive with proficiency and expertise, making Kobolds the most reliable tool users in the game at every level. Natural Adaptation divides by size: Small Kobolds get Fierce (reactive attack against Large+ creatures that just attacked you), and Medium Truescale Kobolds get natural AC (13 + DEX) plus resistance to one energy damage type of your choice. Darkvision completes the package. Small Kobolds reward aggressive close-range builds that provoke big enemies; Truescale Kobolds reward durable frontline builds that want natural armor and energy resistance. Both options are strong in the right context.

Read the full Kobold Lineage Guide →

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Orc ●

Orcs are survivors. Heightened Senses gives the same excellent Perception advantage and dim-light vision as Elves; both lineages share one of the best passive sensory packages in the game. Stalwart is the unique mechanical innovation: when subjected to an effect requiring a save at the end of your turn, you can instead choose to make the save at the start of your turn. This can end a debilitating ongoing effect before you suffer another round of its damage or restrictions, a subtle but significant action economy advantage against boss monsters with save-end conditions. Orcish Perseverance is the most dramatic survival trait in any lineage: instead of dying from suffocation or exhaustion-related death, Orcs enter a death-like stasis and simply stop aging until healed or destroyed. In the right campaign, this is functionally narrative immortality.

Read the full Orc Lineage Guide →

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Syderean ●

Sydereans are the lineage of outsider blood: part mortal, part something else. Far Sight gives darkvision to 60 feet and the ability to see in magical darkness to 30 feet, the only baseline lineage trait that pierces magical darkness, which matters enormously in encounters featuring darkness spells. Otherworldly Form gives necrotic resistance and doubles survival time without air, food, water, or sleep, a significant environmental buffer. Natural Adaptation divides into Celestial and Fiendish: Celestial Sydereans get Blessed Guise (once per long rest, grow spectral wings for 1 minute with flying speed and optional radiant damage conversion on hits); Fiendish Sydereans get Dreadful Guise (once per long rest, frighten nearby creatures who fail a CHA save, plus optional necrotic or fire damage conversion). Both adaptations are once-per-long-rest powerful rather than always-on, which makes Sydereans more dependent on timing their transformation than Beastkin Avians who fly constantly.

Read the full Syderean Lineage Guide →

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Smallfolk ●

Smallfolk are Small creatures, which means they cannot wield Heavy weapons and have specific interactions with space and hiding. Grounded gives a daily reroll of any failed save, generating 1 Luck regardless of the new result. That's a once-per-day insurance reroll on the save that most threatens you, which is broadly excellent. Small Stature lets Smallfolk move through spaces occupied by Medium or larger creatures and attempt to hide when obscured by a creature that size, useful for positioning and escape in melee. Natural Adaptation splits into Gnomish (darkvision 60 feet, minor illusion cantrip) and Halfling (advantage on saves against charmed and frightened). Gnomish favors casters and scouts; Halfling favors melee characters who need mental save protection. Both are strong. The Heavy weapon restriction is the real limitation of the lineage: builds committed to greatswords or mauls should look elsewhere.

Read the full Smallfolk Lineage Guide →

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Alseid (The Old Margreve) ●

Alseid are fast, perceptive, and awkward in exactly the way a quadruped lineage should be. A 40-foot walking speed is a huge always-on advantage for scouts, skirmishers, and any character who needs to control range without spending class resources. Heightened Senses makes them strong natural explorers, Light Hooves supports stealth and trackless movement, and Hybrid Humanoid gives advantage on saves against exhaustion and frightened. The drawback is real: ladders, stairs, trapdoors, manholes, and similar vertical or tight spaces can punish careless positioning. Alseid are strongest in wilderness-heavy campaigns where movement and sensory dominance matter every session.

Read the full Alseid Lineage Guide →

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Bearfolk (The Old Margreve) ●

Bearfolk are sturdy presence characters rather than pure damage engines. Thick Coat gives cold resistance and protection from extreme cold, which is either campaign-defining or quietly useful depending on the adventure. Wild Heart is the real party-facing trait: while you are conscious and not incapacitated, nearby allies have advantage on saves against being frightened. Apex Predator lets you add Strength or Constitution to Charisma checks a limited number of times per long rest, giving Bearfolk a social lever that fits intimidating warriors and forceful protectors. They are best when the party wants a frontline character who also changes the emotional temperature of a scene.

Read the full Bearfolk Lineage Guide →

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Erina (The Old Margreve) ●

Erina are one of the strongest scout lineages in the expanded lineup. Darkvision, Heightened Senses, poison resistance, and advantage on saves against poisoned already make a very practical package. The burrowing speed is the standout feature, letting Erina solve terrain, infiltration, escape, and ambush problems that most lineages cannot approach without magic. Spines adds passive punishment during grapples, which is not build-defining by itself but makes enemies pay for locking you down. Erina are especially good for Rogues, Rangers, Druids, and other characters who turn unusual movement into encounter control.

Read the full Erina Lineage Guide →

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Piney (The Old Margreve) ●

Piney are defensive plantfolk with a surprisingly efficient adventuring kit. Hybrid Humanoid/Plants gives advantage on saves against exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, and effects that make you fall unconscious, which covers several effects that can otherwise end your turn or remove you from play. Living Wood is the headline feature: a reaction AC boost against a visible melee attacker, usable a number of times per long rest equal to proficiency bonus. Photosynthetic support is more than flavor in wilderness campaigns because sunlight can satisfy food needs and improve short-rest Hit Dice recovery once per long rest. Piney are excellent for Druids and Clerics, but any melee character or fragile caster can use the defensive reaction well.

Read the full Piney Lineage Guide →

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Derro (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Derro are Small underworld survivors with 120-foot Superior Darkvision, advantage against charm and fear, psychic resistance, and extra protection against dread and void taint effects. They are strongest in campaigns that actually use darkness, psychic horror, the Void, and deep exploration. In bright surface adventures, the sunlight drawback and specialized defenses make them more campaign-dependent than universally powerful.

Read the full Derro Lineage Guide →

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Dragonborn (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Dragonborn are durable draconic humanoids built around Draconic Ancestry. The ancestry choice determines Breath Weapon damage, damage resistance, and identity, with options including familiar elemental types plus necrotic void dragonborn and radiant yellow dragonborn. Breath Weapon is a bonus-action area tool with PB uses per long rest, while Dragon Hide gives the steady defensive value.

Read the full Dragonborn Lineage Guide →

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Gearforged (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Gearforged are living souls in constructed bodies. Their core package is excellent: disease immunity, poison resistance, advantage against paralysis, petrification, and poison, no need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, and an Upgrade choice between integrated weapons, temporary Large size, or emergency repairs. Quick Fix is the broadest option, but all three upgrades support distinct builds.

Read the full Gearforged Lineage Guide →

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Minotaur (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Minotaur are Strength-forward martial explorers with natural horn attacks, Charge damage, bonus-action shove pressure, and Labyrinth Sense. Charge is best when treated as forced movement rather than just extra damage, while Labyrinth Sense can be a ribbon in simple campaigns or a defining exploration feature in maze, dungeon, and planar-route campaigns.

Read the full Minotaur Lineage Guide →

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Satyr (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Satyr are Fey skirmishers with a 1d8 horn attack, Bounding Leap reaction movement after melee hits, and Fey Resilience against charm, unconsciousness, spells, and magical effects. They are especially good for melee Rogues, Monks, and Rangers who want to hit, reposition, and avoid being pinned in place.

Read the full Satyr Lineage Guide →

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Midnight Dwarf (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Midnight Dwarf is a Dwarf variant shaped by the Void. It trades the standard Dwarf's straightforward toughness for darkvision, dead-world and Void survival, difficult-terrain speed protection, psychic resistance, and doubled survival time without air, food, water, or sleep. It is a sidegrade, not a universal upgrade.

Read the full Midnight Dwarf Lineage Guide →

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Star Elf (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Star Elf is an Elf variant built around divine ancestry, Trance, and Stellar Stride. PB uses of misty step in bright or dim light is an excellent mobility feature for casters, duelists, and armored champions. The light requirement matters, but when the party can manage lighting, Star Elf can outmaneuver many standard Elf builds.

Read the full Star Elf Lineage Guide →

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Spellborn Syderean (Labyrinth Worldbook) ●

Spellborn is a Syderean Natural Adaptation expansion rather than a separate base lineage. It keeps the Syderean chassis and adds Energy Form: a one-minute arcane transformation with resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, immunity to restrained, and once-per-turn damage conversion to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder.

Read the full Spellborn Syderean Lineage Guide →

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Dhampir (Player's Guide 2) ●

Dhampir are living characters touched by undeath. Their 30-foot climb speed works on vertical and upside-down surfaces while their hands are free, and Dark Thirst turns their fangs into a sustain tool with necrotic damage, temporary hit points, and advantage on a follow-up attack. They also gain darkvision and undead-adjacent poison and exhaustion defenses. The sunlight Perception drawback matters in outdoor campaigns, but in dungeons, cities, ships, and ruins, Dhampir are excellent skirmishers.

Read the full Dhampir Lineage Guide →

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Elemental Scion (Player's Guide 2) ●

Elemental Scions are humanoids shaped by earth, fire, water, or wind. Their defensive floor is strong: poison resistance, one elemental resistance, darkvision, and advantage against several debilitating conditions. The Natural Adaptation determines the build: Earthborn handles rough terrain and tremorsense, Fireborn adds light and melee fire damage, Waterborn brings swim speed and fluid movement, and Windborn grants hover flight. The lineage is strongest when the chosen element matches the campaign terrain.

Read the full Elemental Scion Lineage Guide →

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Goblin (Player's Guide 2) ●

Goblins are Small, mobile opportunists. Nimble Escape gives bonus-action Disengage or Hide, which is excellent on any class that does not already have a crowded bonus action. Strength in Numbers adds proficiency bonus damage when you damage a creature with a weapon or spell attack while an ally is within 5 feet of it. That makes Goblin a team-striker lineage: it rewards focus fire, flanking-style pressure, and hit-and-run tactics.

Read the full Goblin Lineage Guide →

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Rachisan (Player's Guide 2) ●

Rachisan are Small plant-featured humanoids. Hybrid Humanoid gives plant-adjacent defensive advantages, Green Thumb boosts plant-related checks and ignores plant-growth difficult terrain, and the Natural Adaptation choice defines the role. Alliumite is reactive blinding control, Cruciferan adds rest-based party support, and Tuberkith gives rare blind immunity plus awareness while unconscious. Rachisan are best for players who value utility and support more than raw damage.

Read the full Rachisan Lineage Guide →

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Sapopova (Player's Guide 2) ●

Sapopova are Small amphibious frogfolk and toadfolk. Swim speed, water breathing, and Superior Vision make them excellent scouts in wetlands, sewers, rivers, islands, and flooded ruins. Frogkin adds Athletics and strong jumping; Toadfolk adds cheek storage and a Tiny-item improvised ranged attack. They are campaign-sensitive, but when water and visual scouting matter, Sapopova are one of the strongest PG2 explorer lineages.

Read the full Sapopova Lineage Guide →

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Shade (Player's Guide 2) ●

Shade is a lineage for characters suspended between life and death. A Shade chooses a previous living lineage to determine size, speed, height, weight, and appearance, then uses the Shade trait package: poison defense, Phantasmal Form, and Spectral Sight. Phantasmal Form is the headline feature, granting nonmagical weapon resistance, hover flight, movement through creatures and objects, and better escape from grapples and restraints. It is a strong infiltrator and haunted-survivor option.

Read the full Shade Lineage Guide →

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Tosculi (Player's Guide 2) ●

Tosculi are Small waspfolk with hive-born tactics. Glide protects against falls and creates horizontal repositioning on vertical maps, while Hive Mind gives short-range telepathy for scouting and silent coordination. Hiveborn Duty splits between Detached Drone, which adds Golden Song condition pressure, and Roving Trooper, which adds a stinger and poison rider. Tosculi are best when the party plays tactically and terrain has height.

Read the full Tosculi Lineage Guide →

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Duergar (Player's Guide 2) ●

Duergar are a Dwarf lineage variant for underworld campaigns. They trade the standard Dwarf's straightforward toughness for Duergar Resilience, Superior Darkvision, and Enlarge. Enlarge is the defining feature: once per long rest, a bonus action makes you Large, doubles weapon damage dice, and gives advantage on Strength checks and saves. The variant is less universal than standard Dwarf, but it is much more explosive for martial builds.

Read the full Duergar Lineage Guide →

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Drow (Player's Guide 2) ●

Drow are an Elf lineage variant adapted to the underworld. Superior Darkvision to 120 feet and Trance give them strong dungeon logistics, while Arachnid Kismet adds spider-scorpion interaction benefits and a Luck trigger when attack rolls or saves include the number 8. They are more table-dependent than standard Elves because darkness, underworld factions, and the sunlight drawback all matter.

Read the full Drow Lineage Guide →

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Sea Elf (Player's Guide 2) ●

Sea Elf is an Elf lineage variant for aquatic play. It keeps Trance and gains swim speed, water breathing, cold-water comfort, darkvision, and bonus-action Dash while completely submerged. In ship, island, river, reef, sewer, or flooded-ruin campaigns, Sea Elf is excellent. In dry inland campaigns, it becomes a flavorful but narrower Elf sidegrade.

Read the full Sea Elf Lineage Guide →

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Aberrant Syderean (Player's Guide 2) ●

Aberrant is a Syderean Natural Adaptation expansion rather than a separate base lineage. It keeps the Syderean chassis and adds Unnatural Form, a one-minute transformation that creates a 10-foot radius of difficult terrain for chosen creatures, improves grapple checks in that area, and lets you convert damage to poison or psychic once on each turn. It is the Syderean option for players who want alien area control instead of celestial, fiendish, or arcane expression.

Read the full Aberrant Syderean Lineage Guide →

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Heritage Overview

Heritage represents your character's cultural upbringing: the community, traditions, and environment that shaped who you became, separate from who you were born as. Every character selects one Heritage at character creation, and you can choose any Heritage regardless of your Lineage.

ToV includes 14 Heritage options in the Player's Guide: Anointed, Cloud, Cosmopolitan, Cottage, Diaspora, Fireforge, Grove, Nomadic, Salvager, Slayer, Stone, Supplicant, Vexed, and Wildlands. The Old Margreve also adds forest-focused heritage options for campaigns using that sourcebook. Book of Blades adds Horse Lord, Martial Law, and Privileged. Labyrinth Worldbook adds Boatwright, Exalted, Fallen, Maze-Born, Messenger, Oldwood, Steam-and-Brass, Stygian, and Void-Touched. Player's Guide 2 adds Conflicted, Coterminous, Covenant, Feysworn, Hivebound, Ironwrought, Islander, Joymonger, Kithren, Seafarer, and Waterside. Each heritage grants a package of traits (typically a passive ability, skill/tool proficiencies, an active feature, or a language package) plus languages beyond Common.

Heritages are the second half of the character identity layer. Where your Lineage defines what you are physically and ancestrally, Heritage defines what you learned and how you were raised. A Beastkin who grew up hunting in the wilderness (Slayer or Wildlands) plays very differently from a Beastkin raised in a city of mages (Cloud or Cosmopolitan), even with identical Lineage choices.

The full Heritage breakdown, including the all-books matrix, mechanical ratings for each Heritage option, and recommended pairings by Lineage, is maintained in the Heritage Guide.

Read the full Heritage Guide ->

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Hot Takes

Hot Take: Human is a strong option when a first-level talent supports the build, but it is not a default answer for every campaign. Aerial Beastkin, Dwarf, and the sourcebook lineages can offer more when mobility, durability, terrain, or a specific trait solves the campaign's actual problem. Choose the lineage by the decision it changes at the table, then use the linked guide for the detailed tradeoff.

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Final Notes

Lineage selection in Tales of the Valiant is ultimately a two-part decision: what traits do you want to be active every session, and what story do you want to tell at the table? The mechanical guidance in this hub and its linked guides will tell you which lineages have the highest ceilings and the most consistent floors. But the best lineage for your character is the one whose traits you'll remember to use, whose flavor matches your concept, and whose identity creates interesting situations at the table, not the one with the highest optimization score.

Use the comparison table to narrow your shortlist, then dive into the individual lineage guides for the detailed breakdown of class pairings, heritage recommendations, talent picks, and example builds. Every lineage in ToV is viable, The Old Margreve adds four forest-forward options worth real consideration, Labyrinth Worldbook adds some of the game's strongest setting-specific ancestry choices, and Player's Guide 2 greatly expands water, underworld, elemental, undead, plantfolk, goblin, and hive-style builds. Book of Blades does not change the lineage list, but Horse Lord, Martial Law, and Privileged can change which lineage-and-heritage combinations fit mounted, military, or social campaigns best. What separates a great lineage choice from a weak one is how well it integrates with the class, heritage, and playstyle you bring to the rest of the sheet.