D&D 5E Sell Me On Tasha's

[Reynard]

I a going to disagree with the consensus here and say it's an excellent book for DMs. Pretty much everything from page 116 on is for the DM, and pretty darn useful. I suspect a lot of responses here are from people who have been focused on the player side of the book and who have not really gone too in depth with the DM side of the book.

Could you go into more detail on how the DM stuff supports the exploration and social pillars?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Could you go into more detail on how the DM stuff supports the exploration and social pillars?

I seem to recall you already own Adventure in Middle-Earth, but the rules for Journey and Audience, along with Scenery element that have mechanical effects and the the modular monster actions from the Loremaster guide are god send when I DM.

 

[Mistwell]

Could you go into more detail on how the DM stuff supports the exploration and social pillars?

Exploration:

Sidekicks fills in some missing stuff for Hirelings and Followers, which often played a role in our old Exploration activities in earlier versions of the game. This includes Experts, Spell Casters, Martials, etc..

Environmental Hazards: This is a great section which really helps fill some exploration sector gaps in the game. This allows you to really bring out the physical and color manifestations of a region during exploration.

Puzzles: I think this section is helpful, though I disagree with their degree of difficulty ratings here. Some "easy" are hard, and some medium are easier than the easy, depending on your group. But it is a good set of example puzzles, with good handouts, and it's a large section.

Social: Parleying with Monsters section is solid. I wish it were longer but what there is, is good. It also has rules for when PCs want to research different monsters, which I think was always missing from the prior rules. I often have players ask me "What do I roll to know about X" and I have to make something up on the fly which sometimes later I regret. This section really lays it out well.

 

[Reynard]

I seem to recall you already own Adventure in Middle-Earth, but the rules for Journey and Audience, along with Scenery element that have mechanical effects and the the modular monster actions from the Loremaster guide are god send when I DM.

They are great tools. I have also built models around typical "crew" type checks like a ship or spaceship in Starfinder that allow the whole party to contribute in such situations. I was just curious what, if anything, 5E had done with it.

 

[Reynard]

Environmental Hazards: This is a great section which really helps fill some exploration sector gaps in the game. This allows you to really bring out the physical and color manifestations of a region during exploration.

Thanks. Out of curiosity, does this present a full subsystem so the DM has the tools to build their own, or is it just a few examples of things? Examples are great but the best tool you can give a GM is the underlying system by which the things were designed.

 

[tetrasodium]

Is there anyone producing the kind of book I am talking about? It is easy to find monster books and player options books and adventures among 3rd party publishers but I don't see tools in the vein of the 3.x environment books or similar. Even "Strongholds and Followers" turned out to be very player facing and monster book-y.

A5e/Levelup probably meets it to some degree but i still Work in progress, coincidentally exploration challenges was previewed today

 

[Mistwell]

Thanks. Out of curiosity, does this present a full subsystem so the DM has the tools to build their own, or is it just a few examples of things? Examples are great but the best tool you can give a GM is the underlying system by which the things were designed.

It's rules about how certain effects and encounters enhance a theme for a region. They focus on triggers for effects, a list of effects, and there is some customization for them. But mostly it's examples, with lots of tables for random or selected effects.

 

[Reynard]

A5e/Levelup probably meets it to some degree but i still Work in progress, coincidentally exploration challenges was previewed today

That's the kind of thing that might get me interested in that project.

 

[Krachek]

For social and exploitation some class variant and feats are interesting.
The section on patron is nice.
Sidekick rules are available on UA.
Not a must, not game changing,

 

[THEMNGMNT]

As a DM, I don't find a ton of useful content in Tasha's, but I do love the player-facing content.