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

[BacchusNL]

I don't have the book itself yet but something that caught my ear when I saw a revieuw is that you always move around your racial bonusses, right? So a +2+2 always becomes +2+2 somewhere else and not +2+1+1, right?
That would normally be a limiting factor but wasn't there a race in Eberron that gives baseline +3 charisma? Swapping that around could be decent for many classes aswell.

@Charlaquin has a very good point there, I think. Although there might be some "optimal" choices for some classes (It's all setting-specific in the end ofcoarse, but a race with high AC + good prof's + darkvision + good stats can often be considered "optimal" in many cases) I think the main take-away from the changes in Tasha's is that the playing field is a lot more open and a ton of races are able to be competitive choices.

 

[tetrasodium]

I don't have the book itself yet but something that caught my ear when I saw a revieuw is that you always move around your racial bonusses, right? So a +2+2 always becomes +2+2 somewhere else and not +2+1+1, right?
That would normally be a limiting factor but wasn't there a race in Eberron that gives baseline +3 charisma? Swapping that around could be decent for many classes aswell.

Customizing Your Origin​

At 1st level, you choose various aspects of your character, including ability scores, race, class, and background. Together these elements help paint a picture of your character’s origin and give you the ability to create many different types of characters. Despite that versatility, a typical character race in D&D includes little or no choice—a lack that can make it difficult to realize certain character concepts. The following subsections address that lack by adding choice to your character’s race, allowing you to customize your ability scores, languages, and certain proficiencies to fit the origin you have in mind for your character. Character race in the game represents your character’s fantasy species, combined with certain cultural assumptions. The following options step outside those assumptions to pave the way for truly unique characters.

Ability Score Increases​

Whatever D&D race you choose for your character, you get a trait called Ability Score Increase. This increase reflects an archetypal bit of excellence in the adventurers of this kind in D&D’s past. For example, if you’re a dwarf, your Constitution increases by 2, because dwarf heroes in D&D are often exceptionally tough. This increase doesn’t apply to every dwarf, just to dwarf adventurers, and it exists to reinforce an archetype. That reinforcement is appropriate if you want to lean into the archetype, but it’s unhelpful if your character doesn’t conform to the archetype.

If you’d like your character to follow their own path, you may ignore your Ability Score Increase trait and assign ability score increases tailored to your character. Here’s how to do it: take any ability score increase you gain in your race or subrace and apply it to an ability score of your choice. If you gain more than one increase, you can’t apply those increases to the same ability score, and you can’t increase a score above 20.

For example, if the Ability Score Increase trait of your race or subrace increases your Constitution by 2 and your Wisdom by 1, you could instead increase your Intelligence by 2 and your Charisma by 1.

There is similar for skills tools & proficiencies.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I don't have the book itself yet but something that caught my ear when I saw a revieuw is that you always move around your racial bonusses, right? So a +2+2 always becomes +2+2 somewhere else and not +2+1+1, right?
That would normally be a limiting factor but wasn't there a race in Eberron that gives baseline +3 charisma? Swapping that around could be decent for many classes aswell.

That got changed in the latest batch of errata..

Changeling Traits (p. 18). In Ability Score Increase, “one ability score of your choice” has been changed to “one other ability score of your choice.

 

[BacchusNL]

Also, special mention to halflings (esspecialy Stout and Ghostwise). Their kit has always been loaded and now every class can use it.

 

[teitan]

It IS an optional rule. Don’t like it? Don’t use it.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

That got changed in the latest batch of errata..

And then they added the custom lineage in Tasha's which lets you start with a 18 in any score...

 

[TwoSix]

Elves in general are pretty good too, since they can make the same trade-off for weapon proficiencies. Standard array I’d probably prefer mountain dwarf, but point buy makes the additional +2 over a +1 in the secondary not as big of a deal.
Personally, I favor custom lineage, since you can start with an 18 with proper feat choice which opens up a lot more options in the critical Tier 2 range.

 

[Shiroiken]

The ability to swap racial ability bonuses is a problem for me, and why I almost certainly won't use it. Part of the balance of the game is around certain races having certain ability bonuses. Allowing the swapping of those abilities changes that significantly. I would much rather have allowed a player to remove a +1 from their racial ability score and add it to one based on their starting class. For example, a Half-Orc Wizard (one of the most common examples of "I want to play") could reduce either their +2 Str or +1 Con in order to gain +1 Int.

In addition, when you allow the swapping of various proficiency, you make races with extra abilities (particularly the dwarf and elf) much more powerful. Due to this, the number of PCs for these races will radically increase with many groups, while those with few abilities will shrink or even vanish. Obviously there are players who don't care about power, but those are the same players who'd play the Half-Orc Wizard without needing this.

 

[Crit]

I consider the difference between +2/+2 and +2/+1 to be noteworthy, but only a part of the option. I think that racial features are underrated here, from Gith (armor, weapons and spells) to Yuan Ti (spell resist and spells) to Warforged (AC and sleep) to Aracockra (flight). And Tortle (AC), too. I think innate spell casting, extra defenses, condition immunities, flight are all things worth considering over 1 ability score point.

I really enjoy moving around racial bonuses because it makes any race theoretically viable for any class. I wouldn't try and play a Yuan Ti fighter before, but now I am and new stories can be told.

 

[squibbles]

For a backline full caster, the goblin's bonus action disengage is amazing--like, bananas good. Fury of the small, like you mention, works with spells as well--though it's by far less impactful than the disengage.