D&D 5E Is Tasha's Broken?

[Bill Zebub]

Player options are absolutely one of the times where fun should be prioritized over realism. A Lizardfolk's Bite attack lets them deal as much damage as a shortsword and quickly, nonmagically regenerate by biting an enemy and eating a small part of their body. That's not realistic at all, but it's fun as hell and makes for a great racial ability.

I totally agree, and the other thing about "realism" is that it's just a flexible catchall for everybody's pet peeves. People will be claim one aspect of un-realism ruins the game for them, while being totally unfazed by three others. It's not really the realism (or lack thereof) but positioning it that way allows us to pretend it's an objective criticism, not just a personal preference. EDIT: At least, that's my suspicion. And it's probably subconcious.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Clearly the solution(s) is racial level limits, race as class, and making humans the most powerful race! Gygax knew what he was doing when he did that!

My favorite D&D derivative has race as class.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can understand those words, but I find the meaning so bizarre as to be surreal. Decades of precedent, in D&D, other games, fiction, movies, etc., including the fluff and non-ASI racial abilities still in 5e, are not erased because Tasha’s makes this one change. 20 years from now you will be able to ask even a non-gamer to describe elves or dwarves or orcs and you won’t find anything changed.

But none of the current material will reflect those types, because to do other wise would be hypocrisy on WotC's part.

 

[Bill Zebub]

But none of the current material will reflect those types, because to do other wise would be hypocrisy on WotC's part.

Huh?

Oh, is this your "If it's about essentialism then no aspect of the races can be different" thing?

If so then, yeah, you're definitely going to see something that looks like hypocrisy to you.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Player options are absolutely one of the times where fun should be prioritized over realism. A Lizardfolk's Bite attack lets them deal as much damage as a shortsword and quickly, nonmagically regenerate by biting an enemy and eating a small part of their body. That's not realistic at all, but it's fun as hell and makes for a great racial ability.

How far do you take that? When does fun get too ridiculous?

 

[Bill Zebub]

How far do you take that? When does fun get too ridiculous?

I'm not sure there's an upper limit.

(More seriously, I suspect there are just different takes on this question that probably can't be reconciled.)

 

[Malmuria]

Do you also think it is racist to imply that bears are stronger than foxes due their species? Also, how it becomes non-problematic if you represent that strength via a feature such as powerful build rather than the ability score.

This simply seems like rather incoherent argument to me. Either we accept that non-human species can have capabilities and tendencies that differ from humans, and it OK to represent that mechanically, or we accept that non-human species cannot exist except maybe in purely cosmetic sense. These are the logically coherent options.

How far and high can a 5e house cat jump? If they take a 10' running start, they can long jump a number of feet equal to the Str score and high jump a number of feet equal to 3+Str mod; without the running start, they can jump half those values (either long or high).

The strength score of a cat is...3 (-4 mod).

...5e is not a simulationist game

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

How far do you take that? When does fun get too ridiculous?

My rule of thumb is "when the fun becomes game-breaking". Other people might have different lines, though.

For me, so long as the ability is fun and balanced, it's a good ability. That's all I care about. I don't care if it's unrealistic. I can suspend my disbelief enough to see how a single halfling in this setting could have the same Strength score as the strongest Goliath in a world with flying fire-breathing lizards and psychic humanoid squids that eat brains.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

How far and high can a 5e house cat jump? If they take a 10' running start, they can long jump a number of feet equal to the Str score and high jump a number of feet equal to 3+Str mod; without the running start, they can jump half those values (either long or high).

The strength score of a cat is...3 (-4 mod).

...5e is not a simulationist game

If a Badger and a Commoner in D&D 5e play 10 games of Dragonchess, on average, the Badger will win 3 of those 10 games.

So, yeah, I completely agree with you.

 

[Bill Zebub]

If a Badger and a Commoner in D&D 5e play 10 games of Dragonchess, on average, the Badger will win 3 of those 10 games.

So, yeah, I completely agree with you.

Why is that unrealistic? I've read The Wind in the Willows. Badgers can be quite civilized.