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

[Campbell]

I'm curious who said it was crippling rather than regularly annoying with no good purpose.

I mean walking around with a sharp stone in your shoe or even stepping on Lego isn't crippling, but that doesn't mean I want to do it.

Yeah. It does not have to be crippling to feel bad. The broader disagreement for me personally was coloring the tendency to pick races that align with your class as power gaming. I personally do not have a dog in the fight as far as how the rules should be constructed, but the virtue signaling around taking a race with ASIs that did not jive with your class was a bit much.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The different Attributes are value neutral: there is no balance factor to whether a +2 is for Constitution or Intelligence. Years prior to Tasha's, Crawford and Mearls had already said the difference was flavor and not balance. Samd with the Proficiencies involved.

That is not power creep, because it isn't even better in any real way.

Really? So dexterity isn't objectively better to other stats?

 

[Irlo]

Really? So dexterity isn't objectively better to other stats?

It depends on the class, doesn't it?

 

[Micah Sweet]

No. The point was that when they decided what ability scores were used with a race they mostly disregard classes and other PC options and just went with what matched the lore/feel they wanted. That's why you have the odd double mental score boosts here and there and how often con is used.

Half orcs didn't get a strength boost because they make good fighters as much as the fact they are usually generally stronger so they make good fighters.

Ah, the old days when they did stuff because it seemed to make sense, and not because some loud people demanded a half-orc sorcerer with a starting 16 charisma.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It depends on the class, doesn't it?

Not really. Dex affects so many things.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't understand this. It seems too controlling and would give me a bad vibe at a table. It's official, therefore it should in most cases be allowed. I don't really like how they dealt with the ability score thing - it was lazy, uninteresting, and accomplishes very little. But it's legal, nevertheless.

Something being official is, by itself, a terrible reason to just allow an option. WotC is just another 5e publisher, whose importance is inflated because they own the IP.

 

[TwoSix]

Yeah. It does not have to be crippling to feel bad. The broader disagreement for me personally was coloring the tendency to pick races that align with your class as power gaming. I personally do not have a dog in the fight as far as how the rules should be constructed, but the virtue signaling around taking a race with ASIs that did not jive with your class was a bit much.

Exactly this. I learned to play in the '90s, I have no desire to go back to the era of "If you think about the mechanics of your character at all, you're a bad roleplayer."

 

[Neonchameleon]

Really? So dexterity isn't objectively better to other stats?

For most characters dexterity and constitution are the second and third most important stats behind whatever your primary stat is. The number of Dex 14-16 adventurers is fairly silly.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Ah, the old days when they did stuff because it seemed to make sense, and not because some loud people demanded a half-orc sorcerer with a starting 16 charisma.

And that was how you got Appendix T - the polearm chart. And level caps. And THAC0. And different multiclass rules for humans.

I for one prefer decent feedback being taken account of to whatever ideas (possibly fuelled by nose candy and often fuelled by ridiculous deadlines and a lack of playtesting) the writers came up with.

 

[TwoSix]

And that was how you got Appendix T - the polearm chart. And level caps. And THAC0. And different multiclass rules for humans.

I for one prefer decent feedback being taken account of to whatever ideas (possibly fuelled by nose candy and often fuelled by ridiculous deadlines and a lack of playtesting) the writers came up with.

Let's be brutally honest, trying to add more verisimilitude is the single worst reason to add a rule into a TTRPG. Add rules because they fit a pressing rules need and a re a solid game construct, and then layer the simulation on via narrative.