D&D 5E Is Tasha's More or Less The Universal Standard?

[Zardnaar]

It's a common perception, though it isn't true, you'll do just fine with a +2 instead of a +3 in a stat. I think the issue is around perception. People look at others playing with that 16 in their strength vs. their 14 and think that they can't keep up.

Tasha's shifted the goalpost to an 18.

Custom lineage and bonus half feat and there's some good ones in Tasha's.

Throw in other options eg the cleric ones (not the new domains even) and yeah.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Tasha's shifted the goalpost to an 18.

Custom lineage and bonus half feat and there's some good ones in Tasha's.

Except that's not the benchmark so much as the min maxed highest possibility. No one except the most rampant min-maxers feel bad about not starting with the highest possible score - but a lot of people hate not meeting the benchmark.

 

[Zardnaar]

Except that's not the benchmark so much as the min maxed highest possibility. No one except the most rampant min-maxers feel bad about not starting with the highest possible score - but a lot of people hate not meeting the benchmark.

But that's why some people don't like it. And there's plenty of powergamer videos on YouTube these days.

And I had a fairly negative encounter with powergamer/munchkin marrying Tasha's up with Xanathars after specifically being told you don't need the most powerful PCs and I'm not allowing this option with that one.

The Twilight clerics the big one but the fears, racial variants, new class options are lots of potential headache's.

 

[Parmandur]

But that's why some people don't like it. And there's plenty of powergamer videos on YouTube these days.

And I had a fairly negative encounter with powergamer/munchkin marrying Tasha's up with Xanathars after specifically being told you don't need the most powerful PCs and I'm not allowing this option with that one.

The Twilight clerics the big one but the fears, racial variants, new class options are lots of potential headache's.

More in theory than practice. The balance is pretty much par with Xanathar's and Core.

 

[Neonchameleon]

But that's why some people don't like it.

Not liking the +2 with a feat from Custom Lineage is fine. It's OP. It also has almost nothing to do with the fact that 0 is the old -1 and races need a +1 to meet the benchmark of 16 that WotC set both mechanically and through pretty much all the pregens they have ever produced.

You might as well say that Pun-Pun is the benchmark for an effective character in 3.X because it exists and is legal despite being a massive outlier.

 

[Zardnaar]

Not liking the +2 with a feat from Custom Lineage is fine. It's OP. It also has almost nothing to do with the fact that 0 is the old -1 and races need a +1 to meet the benchmark of 16 that WotC set both mechanically and through pretty much all the pregens they have ever produced.

You might as well say that Pun-Pun is the benchmark for an effective character in 3.X because it exists and is legal despite being a massive outlier.

Pun pun was mostly a theory craft build.

Pretty much every subclass scores a high ranking on tier lists in Tasha's. Generally A or S and I think there's only one that's lower than B.

Lots of good feats as well.

And class options like clerics getting Paladin spells including ones that normally only get used by high level paladins or bards stealing them.

Floating ASI and tool and weapon swaps are fine in theory but don't play nice being duct taped onto PHB races.

The Ravenloft races not as bad as they're designed from ground up to account for it.

 

[Parmandur]

Pun pun was mostly a theory craft build.

Pretty much every subclass scores a high ranking on tier lists in Tasha's. Generally A or S and I think there's only one that's lower than B.

Lots of good feats as well.

And class options like clerics getting Paladin spells including ones that normally only get used by high level paladins or bards stealing them.

Floating ASI and tool and weapon swaps are fine in theory but don't play nice being duct taped onto PHB races.

The Ravenloft races not as bad as they're designed from ground up to account for it.

There are no "Tiers" of any meaning in 5E.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Maybe I should be clearer then.
Rubber masks. This is what floating ASI just do.
With floating ASI, what is the difference between a halfling barb, a gnome barb, an half orc barb and any other race barb? Absolutely nothing game wise.

Should I infer from this that you think there is currently no difference between an elf rogue and a halfling rogue, or between a half elf warlock and a tiefling warlock?

I mean, really, the implication is that D&D should have exactly six races, because any two races with the same +2 ASI are effectively identical.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Pretty much every subclass scores a high ranking on tier lists in Tasha's. Generally A or S and I think there's only one that's lower than B.

Good. Anything getting lower than an A is a bad subclass that most people will not take. And the S class subclasses that spring to mind other than Twilight are for the sorcerer, largely because the sorcerer is a weak class and they bring it up to balance. Pulling down solid As means that the designers have done their job well and aren't wasting our time.

Lots of good feats as well.

Good. Feats that aren't good are worth a waste of the paper they are printed on. And they still haven't produced anything to really rival the PHB Power-feats.

What you are saying here is that the feats are actually well designed and balanced. They're worth taking but they aren't the OP feats like Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master or, worse, Sharpshooter/Crossbow Expert in combination.

And class options like clerics getting Paladin spells including ones that normally only get used by high level paladins or bards stealing them.

This means a grand total of three aura spells which bards weren't bothering to steal. Two of which (life and purity) are exceptionally situational. Vitality's actually good - but I can't say it's necessarily better than e.g. Revivify or Spirit Guardians. And honestly nine times out of ten Mass Healing Word is better than Aura of Vitality.

So that's three spells of which two are at best average, and one's solid long term healing. All of which aren't OP for a cleric and are fluffy for a cleric. So I see no problem here.

Your critique seems to boil down to "Most of Tasha's is useful and effective options and competitive with the better but not very best PHB options". Which yes, yes it is. This is a good thing.

 

[Campbell]

I do not know about universal, but at least most of the younger audience I am familiar with makes pretty heavy use of Tasha's. The local D&D Discord (mostly people in their mid 20s to early 30s) I am part of seems to be extremely pleased with the recent direction of the game.