D&D 5E Are there any races post-tashas that compare with mountain dwarf for casters?

[tetrasodium]

Tasha's introduced the ability to swap racial +N stat bumps for some other stat among other things to radically change which races can work for what classes. skillA for skillB, armor or simple weapon for Simple/martial weapon or tool, Martial weapon for Simple/martial weapon or tool, & toolA for toolB are useful sure, but none of those things are likely to make anyone suddenly decide race:class combo is suddenly great. Missing from that list are cantrips, presumably because eldritch blast shouldn't be a cantrip

By default mountain dwarf gives +2 con, poison resist, darkvision, battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer, and warhammer proficient, +2 strength, light & medium armor proficient. The weapons are fairly useless to a caster so convert to an easy 4 maybe 5 skills depending on if you can convert darkvision to a skill or not, two different +2 ability scores, along with light/medium armor proficiency most casters other than cleric will lack one or both of.

There are a few races that give a cantrip or some limited one off spells that are rarely top shelf spells & having spell slots doesn't mean you can use those slots on those spells. The dragonmark races add a bunch of spells to your class's spell list but you still need to learn/prepare them normally keeping them from really competing. What it really makes obvious is the lack of things like brutal critical/relentless endurance or even bugbear's reach level transformative racial stuff for casters. Goblin fury of the small could be awesome but exempts itself with1/long res

Anything that I'm missing?

 

[Krachek]

Tiefling have horns and tail and look mean,
Half orc can now be smart too.
Honestly all other races can be a good wizard.

 

[Ogre Mage]

In the PHB, I think the half-elf still rivals the mountain dwarf as a caster. A floating +2, +1, +1 (under Tasha's variant), darkvision, 30 ft. speed (vs. 25 for dwarf), resistant to charm magic, immune to sleep magic, proficiency in two skills of your choice and a language proficiency of your choice (plus common and elvish) is great for most PCs.

 

[BacchusNL]

Tortle is probably pretty close. It kind of depands on wether you will have to share your medium armor loot with other people in the party.

 

[Oofta]

Sure. The list is quite long so I'll put it in a spoiler.

Spoiler: The Definitive List

Any race at all because the minimal benefit from any particular race doesn't really matter if it's a fun character to play.

You're welcome.

 

[BacchusNL]

Sure. The list is quite long so I'll put it in a spoiler.

Spoiler: The Definitive List

Any race at all because the minimal benefit from any particular race doesn't really matter if it's a fun character to play.

You're welcome.

I'm pretty sure optimising a character is a large part of the fun for many players though.

 

[Remathilis]

By default mountain dwarf gives +2 con, poison resist, darkvision, battleaxe, handaxe, throwing hammer, and warhammer proficient, +2 strength, light & medium armor proficient. The weapons are fairly useless to a caster so convert to an easy 4 maybe 5 skills depending on if you can convert darkvision to a skill or not, two different +2 ability scores, along with light/medium armor proficiency most casters other than cleric will lack one or both of.

Anything that I'm missing?

4 maybe 5 skills depending on if you can convert darkvision to a skill or not,

Anything that I'm missing?

Yes. Darkvision isn't tradeable unless you are using the build your own lineage, which excludes you from being a mountain dwarf.

And at best, you are getting darkvision, poison resist, +2/+2 asi, 2 languages, 3 simple/tool choices and 4 simple/martial/tool choices. I guess you can be a master craftsman and pick 7 tool choices, or go crazy learning 7 simple weapons, but I fail to see how either of those make exceptional wizards.

Yeah, unless your dream is to be proficient in every artisan tool, I don't see this as game breaking.

Play what you want

 

[tetrasodium]

Yes. Darkvision isn't tradeable unless you are using the build your own lineage, which excludes you from being a mountain dwarf.

And at best, you are getting darkvision, poison resist, +2/+2 asi, 2 languages, 3 simple/tool choices and 4 simple/martial/tool choices. I guess you can be a master craftsman and pick 7 tool choices, or go crazy learning 7 simple weapons, but I fail to see how either of those make exceptional wizards.

Yeah, unless your dream is to be proficient in every artisan tool, I don't see this as game breaking.

Play what you want

The +2/+2 is a huge impact. because the standard array goes from 15/14/13/12/10/8 to something like 17/16/13/12/10/8 or 17/14/13/14/10/8 allowing great int, good to great con, enough dex to cap out that medium armor, & still ok wis/cha for saves if one of those doesn't get swapped with strength for whatever reason like heavy armor goal. Pairing that kind of am array with light/medium armor proficiency easily puts it a few steps ahead because AC is almost always useful while a panic button like a lot of races have just looks sad with things like ("i can cast x once/long rest but it doesn't count as known/prepared" or "I can do extra damage against larger foes once/long rest")

Take two optimizers like @BacchusNL mentioned earlier call them Alice & bob. Alice is playing a mountain dwarf so pretty much always has better ac than bob & where it counts likely has better attributes outside "where did they put their low stats". Bob has played that mountain dwarf in a previous campaign & wants to play something different. On occasion bob might get a chance to use whatever racial goodies he got, but the limitations & corner case needs will always remind him of just how much better Alice's +N half plate & better attribute is.. I don't see it as a problem with mountain dwarf because the choices are still lots of good ones for martial classes, this is more a failing for races that synergize well with casters in ways other than "+2 to their prime stat"

 

[Charlaquin]

People are all jazzed on Mountain Dwarves right now, but I think what many fail to realize is that by opening up every race to be able to boost the primary ability of any class, there are actually a lot more viable options. Yeah, it’s nice to get a +2 in your secondary ability instead of just +1, and all the swappable proficiencies seem neat. But honestly, getting a tortle’s AC boost or a Tabaxi’s speed or a Yuan-Ti’s magic resistance without having to start with less than a 16 in your spellcasting ability is probably much better.

 

[Weiley31]

Well, if the fact that it's a Plane Shift article isn't held against it, the Aven from the Amonkhet. The Hawk headed subrace option lets you basically get +2/+2 as well, proficient in Perception, and no disadvantage on range attacks made at long range. So imagine having a Birb Wizard who can fly and unleash magical doom upon foes from the sky.

A Rogue Hawk headed Aven could be quite the sniper, with some of the Tasha options, as well.

Also Theros Satyr if you add in the usual suspects like Charlaquin has mentoned.