Optimizing Volo PC races
I think you misspelled "Kobold"
Moon Druid removes practically all the drawbacks.
Pack tactics is nice and all, but resistance to magic, immunity to poison and a couple free spells are really nice.
Beg, Cower and Grovel man, Beg, Cower and Grovel.
Asides from being an amusing mental image, it's a really strong ability.
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Are you referring to the reach advantage or something else?
The reach advantage is all right but not really impressive as far as I can see. Even if you play with battlegrids, it's not a qualitative advantage, just an incremental thing that makes melee kiting slightly easier. But Mobile feat is clearly better.
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Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
There's an opportunity cost to taking a feat. I don't think you can say that the Mobile feat is better than the Bugbear reach PLUS some other feat instead of Mobile?
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
There's an opportunity cost to selecting Bugbear as your race, too.
I can't think of a scenario where <Bugbear reach> is better than <Mobile human>, so when someone says Bugbears are OP I'm curious whether they're referring to some other part of the Bugbear package, like the Str bonus or Darkvision. Or maybe they have some new and better way to use Reach. I dunno, that's why I'm asking--I come to these boards for new insights, and maybe this person had one.
I feel like RAW, grappling with a bugbear may be OP. Going to test play it out soon. But in theory, if I'm reading the rules right, a bugbear can grapple from an extra 5' away. If the grapple succeeds, the target has 0 movement until they break free. But the bugbear is still not adjacent, so they can't attack their grappler unless they have reach (or break the grapple). Seems kinda silly, and as a DM I would at least allow an attack at disadvantage (swiping at the bugbear's arms instead of better targets). But RAW I don't think they can.
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
There's only a narrow set of circumstances in which that's better than Mobile, and a broad range of circumstances under which it's worse.
If the enemy starts 10' away, the bugbear rapier rogue can stab him from 10' away and then move 30' and Hide. The Mobile human rogue can move 5' toward the enemy, stab him from 5' away, and then move 35' and Hide. Same result.
If the enemy starts 5' away, the bugbear rapier rogue is in trouble. He can stab him from 5' away, then Cunning Action: Disengage and move 30' away, but the enemy can just pursue him and attack again. The Mobile human can stab the enemy from 5' away and then move 40' away.
It's pretty hard to come up with a corner case where the Bugbear is better. (One example: three Tiny enemies in the same 5' square 10' away at the start of the turn. The Bugbear Rogue can attack and fall back without being attacked back; the Mobile human will get attacked even if he does an offhand attack. But that is an extreme corner case and relies on exact positioning at the start of the turn.)
What is the actual scenario where an extra 5' of reach is better than an extra 10' of movement, ability to ignore difficult terrain when Dashing, and immunity to opportunity attacks from creatures you've attacked? How do you leverage that 15' reach whip into a tactical advantage instead of just a capability?
Until there is some faq/errata saying these don't work...
Lizardfolk Druids: All your wild shape forms gain a +3 bonus to AC or improve their "natural armor" to +3.
Lizardfolk Monks: You can leave wisdom at 12 or 14 and pump everything into Dex and Con. Better unarmed damage early on, and the ability to choose between bludgeoning, slashing or piercing.
Lizardfolk Monk/Rogue Multiclass: Beefy Dex striker with better than average AC and lots of attacks.
Lizardfolk Druids: All your wild shape forms gain a +3 bonus to AC or improve their "natural armor" to +3.
Lizardfolk Monks: You can leave wisdom at 12 or 14 and pump everything into Dex and Con. Better unarmed damage early on, and the ability to choose between bludgeoning, slashing or piercing.
Lizardfolk Monk/Rogue Multiclass: Beefy Dex striker with better than average AC and lots of attacks.
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