D&D 5E 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.

 

[Mistwell]

I don't like the change to the cantrips like that. I really dislike stealth errata. If this was an issue, why is it only being changed now?

 

[Weiley31]

Well good thing I still got the original version of both Booming Blade and Greenflame Blade.

Also yes I'm glad Circle of Wildfire got in. And yes the Bladesinger art is pretty interesting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Has anyone compiled what is known of what variant class features are in the book?

Do Monks get to punch when they spend ki as an action?

 

[Azzy]

Ooh, that bit about Battlemasters has piqued my interest. I already preordered the book, but waiting is the hardest part. I can't wait to dig into all the class options.

 

[cbwjm]

Well good thing I still got the original version of both Booming Blade and Greenflame Blade.

Also yes I'm glad Circle of Wildfire got in. And yes the Bladesinger art is pretty interesting.

Circle of Wildfire is one of the more interesting druid subclasses, makes me want to actually play a druid.

 

[Don Durito]

If nothing else, they did what I expected and revamped the SCAG attack cantrips to be less cheese prone. Eagle eyed folks have pointed out that the bit of Booming Blade we can see now has a range of Self. That kills using it with Warcaster or Spell Sniper.

I'm confused why can't you use it with Warcaster, and how could you possibly use it with Spell Sniper?

Edit: Ok I can see that Spell Sniper doubles range...but surely any sensible GM would rule that because it's a melee attack you would need a reach weapon to increase the range. I thought this was meant to be the edition where natural language and common sense ruled the day.

I'm not really sure I see the issue with Warcaster. But in any case, if they don't want players to use melee cantrips for opportunity attacks they should write in the spell "this may not be used for opportunity attacks". Failing that I'll make a decision if it comes up without the need to legalistically parse langauge.

In any case, all martial characters need some kind of scaling for Opportunity attacks. Maybe a flat D8 per tier is the way to do it?

 

[cbwjm]

I'm confused why can't you use it with Warcaster, and how could you possibly use it with Spell Sniper?

Edit: Ok I can see that Spell Sniper doubles range...but surely any sensible GM would rule that because it's a melee attack you would need a reach weapon to increase the range. I thought this was meant to be the edition where natural language and common sense ruled the day.

I'm not really sure I see the issue with Warcaster. But in any case, if they don't want players to use melee cantrips for opportunity attacks they should write in the spell "this may not be used for opportunity attacks". Failing that I'll make a decision if it comes up without the need to legalistically parse langauge.

In any case, all martial characters need some kind of scaling for Opportunity attacks. Maybe a flat D8 per tier is the way to do it?

War caster requires a spell that targets (only) the creature you're using the opportunity attack against. Since the blade cantrips are now target of self they are invalid. That's RAW anyway, I'd still allow it to be used for war caster.

 

[Don Durito]

War caster requires a spell that targets (only) the creature you're using the opportunity attack against. Since the blade cantrips are now target of self they are invalid. That's RAW anyway, I'd still allow it to be used for war caster.

But you can't target yourself with a melee attack - so it doesn't really make any clear sense. So the spell targets yourself, so you can target someone else - so the ultimate target is still someone else. If the intention is to prevent it interacting with war caster this is a reallly stupid way to go about it. We're supposed to be playing a game not doing our taxes.

As I said, if they don't want it to work with opportunity attacks they should say "this cannot be used as a melee attack".

 

[cbwjm]

But you can't target yourself with a melee attack - so it doesn't really make any clear sense. So the spell targets yourself, so you can target someone else - so the ultimate target is still someone else. If the intention is to prevent it interacting with war caster this is a reallly stupid way to go about it. We're supposed to be playing a game not doing our taxes.

As I said, if they don't want it to work with opportunity attacks they should say "this cannot be used as a melee attack".

It's not the melee attack that is a requirement for war caster, it's the spell. I think I'd rather not have every spell that feels like it should be able to be used as an opportunity attack but can't, have an extra line in it to tell the player. I wouldn't be surprised if war caster had nothing to do with it, probably had more to do with twin spell since a lot of people (or maybe a small amount of people who are quite vocal about it) didn't like the sorcerer being able to have multiple attacks at level 3 with booming blade.

I'm fine with the change and will probably just house rule it. For people playing AL, they'll have to miss out and come up with something else... maybe something in Tasha's with take the blade spells place for this.

 

[Don Durito]

I predict people in AL will do it one way or another depending on how they read the spell, whether they notice the change, and whether they even read the spells that closely in the first place.

Which is probably just about the same as it is now. It's not hard to make the intent clear if that's what they want to do. They don't have to use put a line in every spell. The rules are not a legal document. It's bizarre to treat them like one. They could for example put a sidebar next to the spells in the book that says something like:

"When exactly can you use melee attack cantrips?"
You can only use these spells when you take the attack action on your turn and when you do it takes the entire attack action meaning you can't make use of additional attacks. The only exception to this is class abilities such as the Sorcerer's quicken spell or the Eldritch Master feature which allow you to cast a cantrip as a bonus action. Therefore, these spells can't be used for opportunity attacks, or with a Battlemaster's Commander's Strike, or with other features that allow you to make an attack outside of your turn".