D&D 5E Tasha's and optimization

[Willie the Duck]

As others have said, Dexterity being universally useful makes a tortle a niche-best option, but doesn't change that it is now a solid option for lots of builds.

Regardless, my overall take is that there were winners and losers amongst the player races before Tasha's, winners and losers amongst the player races after Tasha's, but there were changes in which ones hold what status. Despite what WotC says, that some races had attributes which didn't synergize well with each other (ex: Yuan-ti) or with the other racial abilities (Mountain Dwarves) was clearly part of the balancing mechanism.

It's also worth noting that the other options in Tasha's also changes how this plays out. I find that Fey- and Shadow Touched feats are so good* for known-spell classes like Bard/Ranger/Sorcerer/Warlock, that that often takes precedence over things like an easy 17 AC.
*simply because I am much less likely to find myself in a situation with plenty of spell slots, but no spells which would work in a given scenario.

I think the Tasha sidebar is a well intentioned, poorly implemented idea. It's not particularly well thought out, it brings back some of the metagamey elements of 3.x era. It seems like a band aid put on a paper cut that someone thought was a gushing wound and it's kind of half on, half off, like when part of the sticky part gets stuck to itself but you're frustrated and use the danged thing anyway even though you know you really don't need it.

TCoE was clearly aimed at levelling the playing field, so to speak, for classes and races and I think it did a pretty good job of it. It's a lot harder to weaken something once it's out in print. They could have gone further with some of the changes, but that risks making options too OP. As it is... there are people who say it's clearly power creep, there are people who say it didn't go far enough, but most of the people I have seen say that it's mostly a good patch to bring options that weren't as playable up to par. Anecdotal, of course, but I definitely haven't seen as much talk of power creep as when XGtE was released, or some of the reactions to older products...

I think the Sidebar was a patch, and a reasonable one given the situation, but one that was clearly hamstrung by prior decisions. Whether the patch was necessary depends on how much one believes that not being able to play Race X and Class Y with a starting prime stat of 16 really was*, and I know reasonable people who disagree on the subject.
*Or the socio-political implications thereof.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

1. If you are front-line, you need to take Athletics or Acrobatics, but both serve equally here.

This is actually wrong.
One way to escape a grapple is shoving the enemy out of range, which you can do only as athletics and which you can do instead of an attack if you have the extra attack feature.

For your other points: yes, dex is your main stat, but there are powerful feats out there, which compare well against a str increase, not so much against a dex increase, because IF you rely on dex, you need it for offense and defense, while if you have 16 str, you can wear all heavy armor without penalty.
Of course, we speak about max 16 as starting attribute. So a str based char can afford to just tae a feat at level 4 or 8 without sacrificing defense.

Also as a paladin, you could be tempted to increase charisma instead of str. A devotion paladin will get the +save aura for everyone (which increases all saves, dex,str and concentration) and a channel divinity to add cha to attacks. As a dex based paladin, I would be very hesitant to do so. Another feat that is worth taking is combat caster or resiliant fortitude. It heavily increases your chance to not lose concentration. As a str based paladin worth a thought, not so much for the dex based.

 

[Weiley31]

I just think that Tasha's +2/+1 stat bonus isn't as a big deal as everybody thinks it was. I mean, the Mountain Dwarf, and technically the Hawk-Headed Aven from the Amonkhet Planeshift web article, are the only "absured/unique" wrinkles since they both give a +2/+2. But aside from that, its nice being able to swap around any of the +2/+1 bonuses or even sticking to the old system if ya feel like it.

 

[Fenris-77]

I don't see the floating +2/+1 as a problem of any kind. In fact, I see it as a positive since it no longer mitigates for race X if you want to play Class Y, at least in terms of stat bonuses.

 

[Scribe]

I don't see the floating +2/+1 as a problem of any kind. In fact, I see it as a positive since it no longer mitigates for race X if you want to play Class Y, at least in terms of stat bonuses.

That +1 certainly seems to weigh heavily on people.

 

[Fenris-77]

That +1 certainly seems to weigh heavily on people.

Are you talking about Mountain Dwarves and their +2/+2 of legendary awesomeness?

 

[Shiroiken]

Mountain Dwarves are amazing mages (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard); +2/+2 and you get to wear medium armor is pretty saucy.

 

[Fenris-77]

Curse those Mountain Dwarves and their ages of magical study and tradition. Curse them for the fey and arcane race they are! Wait...

 

[Scribe]

Are you talking about Mountain Dwarves and their +2/+2 of legendary awesomeness?

No, the race/class question.

If one will not play a combo without floating, then that missing +1, seems to matter?

 

[Fenris-77]

No, the race/class question.

If one will not play a combo without floating, then that missing +1, seems to matter?

I suppose, sure. I'm not even remotely interested in character optimization in 5th mind you, so I haven't given it a ton of thought. I can build cheesy with the best, but it's just not something I care about. 5E has more than enough neat options that I find more interesting things to do. YMMV, or course.