D&D 5E (2014) Fantasy Grounds Previews of Tasha's Cauldron

Ahead of the November 17th release date, the product page for Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has several previews on the Fantasy Grounds website. The previews include the origins customization section, group patrons, sidekicks, and a look at the alternate class features for the ranger Beast Master.

 

[ph0rk]

Could we make use of True Strike or Blade Ward?

Without rewording, no to True Strike yes to Blade Ward; well, you could certainly True Strike and attack once, but the benefit from it doesn't take affect until your next turn.

 

[Bitbrain]

Someone compiled a Google doc of the new information.

 

[Weiley31]

In regards to Inovcations:

Animate Dead became an Invocation that allows you to supposedly use Animate Dead once per day/long rest

Eldritch Mind is in and isn't bound to Tome Pact anymore.

Eldritch Armor is out. Meaning Undeath Pact Warlocks can't be a Heavy Armored Death Knight with a Necrotic Great Axe anymore.

But if you do what I'm doing, just use the UA version of that and Spell Versatility. If anybody or your friends disagree with you, just feed them to your dog,cat, or whatever else you have in the basement or attic: you can always make new friends and you don't need that kind of negative attitude in this current year and or time.

 

[ph0rk]

Someone compiled a Google doc of the new information.

I wonder if that Psi Warrior is based on the Psi Knight, the older Psychic Warrior, or something entirely new?

Psi die at 2x per prof bonus is a new mechanic (that I suppose I don't hate, assuming some/a handful of their features are still close to at will).

 

[Dausuul]

Could we make use of True Strike or Blade Ward?

My take on those spells:

True strike is still a bad choice. You're sacrificing one attack in exchange for advantage on another attack, which is a strict downgrade in most cases. Even if you tweak the wording to allow TS to take effect on the same turn, that fundamental weakness still applies: "2 attack rolls, maximum of 1 hit" is strictly worse than "2 attack rolls, maximum of 2 hits."

The use cases for true strike remain as they were:

• You can't attack effectively this turn, but you anticipate being able to do so next turn, so you cast true strike this turn to boost your next turn's damage output.
• You have a powerful attack with limited uses, which is expended on a miss. You cast true strike to maximize your odds of landing the attack.
• You get special benefits for attacking with advantage (e.g., Sneak Attack) and have no other way to access those benefits (e.g., no allies within 5 feet of the target). You cast true strike to get advantage.

The bladesinger change reduces the opportunity cost of true strike from "1 action" to "1 attack," so the change makes true strike more attractive in scenarios 2 and 3. But it doesn't cause those scenarios to be any more common, and it doesn't open up new scenarios where TS is worthwhile.

Blade ward is a little better. Using it reduces your damage output by more than 50% (since you sacrifice, not only your second attack, but the opportunity to cast booming blade or green-flame blade with your "cantrip attack"), in exchange for, at best, a 50% reduction in incoming damage. So, as a rule, you are better off with an offensive cantrip. But blade ward would be useful in a pinch if your regular front-line defenders are out of the action; you could cast BW every turn and step in to tank for the party.

 

[Weiley31]

I wonder if that Psi Warrior is based on the Psi Knight, the older Psychic Warrior, or something entirely new?

Psi die at 2x per prof bonus is a new mechanic (that I suppose I don't hate, assuming some/a handful of their features are still close to at will).

I like this. It still keeps the Psi Die and it seems to be more like Superiority Die.

Also, I'm glad Rune Knight wasn't really gutted badly at all and the buff from Large to Huge was unexpected.

And it seems like, going by the leak, that the Sidekick classes are usable by players as well. That is pretty neat.

I do think that Psychic damage fits the Phantom's Wails better. plus I still use the notion of "Despair" as refluffed Psychic damage. Plus a Banshee seems like it would cause you to despair when it wails.

 

[Guest User]

Nor do I think a motive for errata should ever be "let's keep the game fresh". NEW CONTENT is what keeps the game fresh.

Kits and Powers and Options did not keep 2e fresh. Nor did new content keep 3e or 4e fresh....the Dragon Shaman class did not save 3e. The Seeker class or the Battlemind class did not solve the issues that 4e had.

My personal belief is Adventures keep game systems feeling fresh, not chunky salsa rule set additions.

The motive for updating BB and GFB is not keeping the game fresh, that at best, is an unintended side effect. The motive is clarifying poorly worded spells.

I understand and empathize with being frustrated at having the game mechanics change under one's feet.....but many of us, including you Mistwell, have gone through something like this before.
Two magical words will be thrust to the forefront:

Grandfather Clause.

 

[Oofta]

Kits and Powers and Options did not keep 2e fresh. Nor did new content keep 3e or 4e fresh....the Dragon Shaman class did not save 3e. The Seeker class or the Battlemind class did not solve the issues that 4e had.

My personal belief is Adventures keep game systems feeling fresh, not chunky salsa rule set additions.

The motive for updating BB and GFB is not keeping the game fresh, that at best, is an unintended side effect. The motive is clarifying poorly worded spells.

I understand and empathize with being frustrated at having the game mechanics change under one's feet.....but many of us, including you Mistwell, have gone through something like this before.
Two magical words will be thrust to the forefront:

Grandfather Clause.

Did I understand those two words correctly?

Grandfather Clause: If you're old enough to be a grandfather or look like Santa Claus there's a good chance you don't like rule changes. ​

 

[ph0rk]

Yeah, but what if you're still 500 xp from picking a sublcass, cantrip, or feat on Nov 17th?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So apparently, for Bladesinger, no Elven racial restriction and Bladesong feature can now be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and refreshes on a long rest. Extra attack now includes the ability to cast a cantrip as one of your attacks.

Not too excited by those changes, but they won't hurt my characters. Just seems...unnecessary to change the Bladesong, to me.

It does; but it makes a sticky warcaster Eldritch Knight a thing of the past and makes their War Magic feature look even more clunky and awkward.

It doesn't really make the sticky EK a thing of the past. You can just use the old version, for one thing. For another, the EK can still take an entire attack action adn then BB with a bonus action, so the warcaster part isn't that important. Just take a Sentinel instead.

It’s a substantial buff for sure and potentially a substantial nerf, depending on what a typical adventuring day looks like at your table. Going from two uses that recover on a short rest to prof bonus uses that recover on a long rest is a straight nerf until at least 5th level, after which it’s only probably a nerf, unless you regularly have adventuring days with fewer than prof bonus encounters per day or go more than two encounters without a long rest.

Overall seems like reasonable changes. Tye wording on BB and GFB needed cleaning up, letting the Bladesinger cast a cantrip with extra attack was an oft-requested feature, and the change to bladesong uses seems like a reasonable counterbalance. It’ll hut bladesingers who try to be primary melee combatants the most, which are also the ones who would benefit the most from being able to use BB or GFB with extra attack. Meanwhile, bladesingers who play like normal wizards with bladesong as a situational defensive buff will barely notice the changes.

I really strongly dislike them changing the class in a way that hurts melee focused Bladesingers. That's the point of the subclass. Luckily my group where I play a Bladesinger doesn't have long adventuring days, so I'm unlikely to run out of uses if we switch to the new version.