Customizing Character Origins with Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... We look at Tasha's new Custom Character Origins section and discuss how this impacts the game, and what ancestry options seem a whole lot cooler now that we have blown open the versatility and range of what is offered in Dungeons & dragons 5e
DUNGEONS OF DRAKKENHEIM is coming to Kickstarter in 2021! We’re partnering with Ghostfire Games to publish the complete adventure for Fifth Edition.
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TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:58 - Customizing Character Origins
4:15 - Mountain Dwarf
6:35 - Halfling
7:30 - Elves
9:13- Half-Elves
11:23 - Custom Origin
13:17 - Tieflings, Aasimar, & More
14:42 - Firbolgs
15:29 - Aarakocra
16:28 - Tortles
17:25 - Yuan-ti
18:55 - Impact On The Game
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After i explained to my DM that my Goliath Wizard was raised by Elves, he replaced one of my features and gave me elven Weapon Training and the Elven language.
I do like this option a lot
Buy your Dm some pizza
Which feature did you lose? I like these changes but I’d be upset if I lost Mountain Born or Powerful Build
I lost natural athlete. I really didn't need that because of my 9 Strength score. I was more in for dexterity (17)
My tiefling fighter is practically a thief so my dm had me roll int with my bonus and apparently I rolled high enough so I obtained thieves cant to replace one of my languages.
Finally, a dexterous Ninja Tortle
Just make sure not to make him too old. He needs to be young to do those acrobatics -- maybe a teenager?
Honestly I just wanted to play a tortle just for this idea.
The new Tashas options ruin humans, if you want versatile characteristics and a ton of other abilities like dark vision, etc. just choose a Dwarf, their 2 +2 are like having an additional ASI, plus they have many other abilities. Choosing a human makes no sense.
A Ninja Tortle that hides retracting into his shell
@@sciencescripture Variant Humans still get a free Feat, which is pretty good stuff. However you are right, this unintentionally made the Mountain Dwarf super powerful right out the gate.
Co-worker: "Hey, what ya watching?"
Me: "Dungeon Dudes!"
Co-worker: backs away cautiously
Me: "It's not what you think!"
in the wise words of matt mercer - "that is why one prepares for interchangeability"
I was gonna like the comment but it's at 69, so I can't
@@thomasbdugan come back
@@Hazel-xl8in Yeah we need to get it up to 669 now.
LOL! Thankfully not the same as Dudes and Dungeons. 🤣
I'm currently playing Tim the Time Tortle, A Chronurgy wizard who just wants people to slow down and enjoy life. Toss in the lucky feat and he's a handful for GMs.
I hope u speak... really... slowly... when... roleplaying... him...
Imagine if someone casts Haste on him and he starts talking normally
Was he trained by a guy named Mr. Wizard?
@@Eshiay lol that's hilarious
Now all I can think of is Treebeard from LOTR. "Don't be hasty"
My doods, Grung Battlerager Barbarian with a strength bonus and being a pugilist or grapple master = Battletoads!
I would allow it
@@panwall1327 I made it prior to Tasha's, so before I could give him the strength boost. Haven't played it yet, but the combos are potentially ridiculous. Spiked armor works with the Grung's poisoning ability to add poison damage. Grappling causes skin contact causing your victim to make saves vs poisoned condition plus damage from the spiked armor. If they fail the save, they get disadvantaged to escape the grapple and you get advantage to grapple while raging, so it's almost impossible for them to escape. Grapple Master feat gives advantage to attacks against any creature you're grappling. So much synergy and thematically awesome! I really want to play it.
Your character prety much a Toxicroak.
I’ve rolled up a grung rune knight with the same intent, except they get to become large
@@mojorn8837 lol was just talking with my DM about it last night and he suggest adding some levels of Rune Knight to get that ability.
Tortle, draconic ancestry sorcerer is a mood
20 AC ???? better than real dragon's
Dragon Tortle, its time to hit the seas.
BOWSER?¡
@@ggogaming7441 AC calcs don’t stack, my guy. Nice try, though.
@@MM-lv7iy that just sad
well get a shield to be 19AC and a ring of protection+ Defense for an 21AC That more than a Red dragon AC
I can now legally play the SWOLBOLD
Pack tactics? More like PACK ON DA MUSCLES
I was considering a mountain dwarf with most of their extra proficiencies swapped out for more tools; "If you name it, I can build it" can be a fun part of a character of just about any class. Turn it up to 11 by playing an Artificer...
i let one of my players do that, a mountain dwarf rogue had zero use for the armor and weapons training so yeah they got a fistful of tools to fuck around with
I made a future Psi Warrior doing exactly this. He was raised and educated by a rogue mind flayer who rescued him from ceremorphosis, so most of his dwarven training(armor and weapon proficiencies specifcally) has been replaced with a pile of tool proficiencies to help represent his different upbringing. Really looking forward to the campaign I eventually use him in.
@@sixofone8663 As a DM I'm more likely to allow exceptions and optional rules if they mostly add to characterization and out-of-combat utility; tool proficiencies tend to fall into that category, especially once you already have a few. Since proficiencies in particular represent personal history/experience/training, there are all sorts of ways that a character with non-default proficiencies would make sense (e.g. the backstory @y2a1979 came up with here). Now I kinda want to see a mountain dwarf clan historian/loremaster/cultivator of traditional arts, done as at least partially a College of Lore bard with an excessive number of skill and tool proficiencies. Focus spell choices on knowledge and craftsmanship to really have the character make sense...
Yeah, this is one of my favorite ideas too. Mountain Dwarf Artificer is just sooooo insane with the potential tools
I was building a mountain dwarf. Decide for a bard and remove the weapons and armor and now she has high char and dex and 15 int so she can get bussy with any kind of kit or tool. We are gonna have fun
Why is the Satyr is always forgotten? They also get magic resistance and have a base speed of 35ft. That’s pretty amazing!
They are also a "fey" and not a "humanoid", so they are immune against spells that target only humanoids such as Hold Person.
I rule that any race with magic resistance doesnt.
Dude, and with the new Ranger's increased speed, you'll be as fast as an animal.
@@gordonross3270 Do you give them something to compensate?
@@hewhogoesbymanynames no. They are plenty good without it. With elemental resistance or a base 35 speed plus extra proficiency.
Loving my half orc armorer artificer. That relentless endurance has been a godsend in my ability to tank with only a d8 hit die, especially at early levels.
Yeah Relentless Endurance is the reason why my Warlock is a Half-Orc too... I called him Oscar, after realising the potential.
His Patron is a Devil and he has fallen in love with the Devils Daughter.
So he is basically some commoner Half-Orc who is in love with this daughter of a powerful Trademaker. As I realised how close it was, I had to call him Oscar.
His true Love wrote a book about them, to tell the whole world that she loved him.
But he still isn't happy about the title... Tusk Love.
About to start playing a Warforged Order of Scribes wizard. Sentry’s Rest + Find Familiar means I can read books all night long and take solo watches for an entire night. Not to mention I get to build a mini me that I can talk to while lonely
its funny, I built a mountain dwarf as a sorcerer even before tashas cauldron. basically a mountain dwarf who grew up expecting to be a fighter, but wound up with wild magic. an angry small woman who can wear armour and smash things with a hammer, and is tired of having fireballs center on herself
I was hesitant at first, but once I really read it and wrapped my head around it I really turned around. Most of the flavor in a character is how you role play it. Just opens up the options and that's not a bad thing. PCs are supposed to be exceptional individuals.
What I like is that you are not limited in what race you have to play to play a particular class. I like how it only changed ability scores and proficiencies, both things that you would not be born in it
@@thetwizard9290 i like the versatility of that, but i also think that the reason behind is a little bit wrong, cos of course you nor i born with "ability scores" defined, but when we talk about species is a little bit different, I mean, for me, is completely natural that a specie like tabaxi, be more agile than a human, so a dex bonus is something natural, so it is for a minotaur to have more strenght that a human (or a feline like the tabaxi). for me is fine, is a game, you can make whatever you want, but i think the hability score bonuses are more biological, and then the words race and species get mixed
@@rubenmunoz2912 NPCs of those races don’t get those bonuses. This is because it is not something that those people are born with, just what adventurers get to push them towards a particular architipe, and they get it because of how they were raised, not from birth. That’s how I view it anyway.
Edit: obviously everyone is free to change how they view ability score bonuses from races in their own way. One thing I would like to mention is that most playable races would be races, not species, since many can breed, or a least breed with a race that can breed, with each other
A flying Tempest Cleric does sound very scary
i wonder how the fly speed capstone would interact with your wings. as a DM, my instinct (and what i’m scared of) is to make it become a faster fly speed, but idk
@@Hazel-xl8in I would also say just add it or add half, like how Gloomstalkers gain darkvision at lvl3 with Umbral Sight
@cak01vej maybe your pixies don’t fly faster, but i would certainly expect a pixie in my world that was also wearing a pair of winged boots to be the fastest thing you’d ever seen
@cak01vej I'm thinking because it's not everyday you get to play a lvl20 campaign, I'm gonna give my players as much as I can without being too broken. Especially because of how fast you have to actually move to fly in real life, it would make sense that you can cover way more ground in one turn by flying.
My Half-Orc Sorcerer was okay with the normal rules, +2 STR gave me a dump stat and she used CHA to prove that strength isn't always "ME HIT HARD!"
I had this same experience with my dragonborn warlock.
I love the way the new rules encourage you to look at the traits that are not ability score increases or specific proficiencies when coming up with a character concept. One of my new favorite characters is the half-orc armorer or battle smith because of what relentless endurance and savage attacks do when paired with those subclasses.
That's a great point! It really helps expand the possible combinations and center traits or abilities that have more roleplay opportunity than the number.
On the subject of a Tiefling using these rules, I created a Zariel bloodline Tiefling who's parentage comes from a Spine devil. I swapped the Charisma for the Strength, and the Strength for Wisdom and made a Strength Based monk (Path of the Living Weapon from Exploring Eberron) that can using smite spells. He's that giant, muscular, powerful martial artists that utilizes solid foundation and Hung Gar kung fu-style strikes with fists like actual adamantine which gives him a very different play style that is more aggressive, more linear in terms of his movements.
Started my first campaign. My character is a spore druid. He spent years cultivating various plants and fungi on his skin but one tries to overtake his mind. So my goal is to get rid of it without killing the other plants he considers family.
My group responded positively to my backstory. It's been a lot of fun, my dm voices the evil mushroom pusing me towards evil.
Dude that's awesome. I'm also playing a spore druid with a fungus trying to take over their mind (or fuse with it), and it's at a point where they kind of think in unison, referring to themself as "we" and "us", and when they disagree with each other they get all wonky.
Here's to sentient fungus.
I've ALWAYS been fascinated with the idea of an Elf Barbarian, just...imagine how epic the rage of such a LONG-LIVED creature must be, how much of a grudge can they keep? how much they remember of entire lifetimes of being wronged?
Also totally Agree that a Mountain Dwarf Rogue would be fun as hell to play, you could literaly make him an exile of his clan that gave up on his own customs and picked up his rogue-ish abilities to survive as a "Clanless" Dwarf all on his own!
Looks like I can fully realize my beastly socially anxious tiefling druid. Now, I just need a stable gaming group...
The cool thing is that with Tieflings they don’t need to be demons or devils, you could make a rashkasha or Medusa Tiefling.
@@acarnivorouslizardfolk1033 well thats scary now
@@cesargeney5268 a little. I think if you look for it, you can find art for Rashkasa Tieflings.
@@acarnivorouslizardfolk1033 thats gonna be some cool backstory
@@cesargeney5268 indeed! Hope I could help some people.
I've found that in my groups, playing a less optimal race/class combo has not been a big deal. I'm playing a Dwarven diviner in one campaign, and have not had a problem with the effective -1 to my primary stat bonus. However, there are two caveats: 1) The group is fairly large, so my minor drawback's impact is spread out over the team and 2) the campaign, a fantasy-Victorian setting in which we are investigators, makes the advantages of a diviner strong enough to make the lack of bonus to Int score much less relevant.
That said, when Tasha's came out, I asked the DM if I could swap his Strength bonus out for Int, per the rules in Tasha's. Not because I wanted that +1 bonus to my rolls, but because the character's backstory worked better with those bonuses. He was an academic who had never been a soldier nor trained to be one. His role with law enforcement is as an Inspector, not a guard or other combat oriented character. It just made more sense. I like the archetypes being there; players new to fantasy RPGs might be too lost among the options if there aren't a few tried-and-true characters to fall back on. At the same time, these new options stress to those same players that archetypes are a guide, not a law. You can have fun ideas that break the mold, and NPC's can be very different than their societies. I was very happy with these rules and implemented them in my campaign right away.
Yeah, I tend to roll my eyes on people who use the TCoE rules for more power, but I love how they let you make the characters mechanically closer to what makes sense for their personality and history.
i agree, the RP advantage outweighs any minor mechanical issues.
These rules gives a second life to dragonborn.
Rogue Dragonborn can now exist
Wildmount gave a second life to Dragonborn
@@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar that was a good try from them, clearly in the good direction but still a lackluster race (only on a mecanical point of view for sure).
The Unexpectables have given Tortles some decent love, but I look froward to seeing them more now!
This is such cool content. Im glad you two are here to deconstruct this d&d stuff
I'm glad I'm not the only person who has the concept for a mountain dwarf abjurer running around in my mind.
My very first 5e character was a Tortle fighter at an adventurer's league event! Now they're so much more flexible.
Only from a strict optimization viewpoint. You lose the against type RP advantage and party race and class diversity. All races can now be of maximum mechanical synergy with all classes. This favors races that have a total of +4 to stats. The variant human feat advantage is now of less advantage since they get a total of + 2 stat bonus with no racial advantage of versatility that other races also have.
I'm glad that many players are happy about this. I'm still having trouble accepting the idea of a halfling with a STR 20 in a non-comedy game. And I've played and enjoyed strength-based halflings with the realistic limitations of their stature.
You could still have a 20 str handling before tashas, it would just take 1 more asi to do so.
@@matthewparker9276 I'm not sure you can manage that until you hit level 8 (unless I'm wrong, and I may be, no halfling subrace gets a Str bonus). But now you can come out of the gate with it (take that +2 from Dex and put it on Str). I know it's still illogical either way, but I can accept an 8th level chatter having inhuman abilities more easily (for some reason).
I like how this allows players to play more offbeat race-class combinations without feeling penalized, but I do worry that it also tends to take some of the flavor away from races. For my next campaign I've decided to allow my players to move one of the stat increases, but not both. (or in the case of a half elf, they can move the all, since 2 are already a choice. For a Triton, I'd say they could move 2 of the 3 +1s, but let's be real - nobody plays Tritons.)
Of course, I always thought it was fun to play offbeat combos even before this change. My last character was a Halfling Wizard.
I suppose it depends on whether you see the 'racial' stats modifiers as inherent to that race/species or as because the members of that race train those stats. I mean, it's not unreasonable to say that half-orcs' STR boost is inherent, that typical members of that species are stronger than typical humans because of their physiology. Then again, it's also not unreasonable to say that average members of that species are strong compared to average humans simply because they live in a culture that values physical strength and thus they train vigorously to a greater extent. I suppose what I'm saying is that it comes down to whether you see stats as nature, nurture, or a combination of both. Your option of allowing one stat to shift suggests perhaps in your game world, it's a bit of both.
@@BlueTressym yeah, it's fine to think of it either way, but I like the notion that the different races do have some predispositions, whether genetic or cultural.
I think there's room for any of these approaches in any given campaign setting, and I may choose a different approach in a future campaign.
@@Brashnir I think as long as you can create a backstory that justifies the change, it's fine. Why did your mountain dwarf turn to scholarly pursuits instead of following the clan traditions (to switch from STR to INT), and who was their tutor?
There can definitely be a nature vs. nurture discussion, but I agree that there should still be some racial and cultural flavorings that reflect the worlds the characters live in.
Ability scores are not as worrisome to me as the skill and proficiency changes.
@@BlueTressym Even if you view the bonuses as inherent moving them can still make sense. Because X race has a bonus to Y stat the can coast by on genetics and spend more time focusing on Z stat instead.
I feel like this reduces the concept of an off-beat character concept. If you can move the con bonus from a dwarf elsewhere, the association of dwarves as tough gets weakened. It makes me think of my mom's doberman and my mini dachshund; I love my dachshund, but there's no way an average dachshund will be as tough, strong, or agile as a doberman. It's just not in the genetics or body shape/size.
Professor Dungeon Master on dungeon craft with his +1 vest of comment deflection also has a great take on this. Great video gentleman!! 😊
He is less happy about the whole thing though :P
I have to say I agree with most of his points.
Wait, which is the not gentle one? Lol
Finally! Variant human isn't the king of everything when you aren't sure of what Race to play
I think I've made more dragonmark humans than variant humans honestly, simply for the flavor
Your excitement on this subject is infectious and now I'm excited lol
This opens up the potential for some really interesting character concepts and I’m looking forward to seeing what people bring to the table.
Thanks to that new feat, I'm currently playing a Halfling Barbarian in one of my tables (Path of the Beast).
This did benefit my character a bit in that I finally had an "official" means by which my half-Orc, half-Halfling could speak Halfling but not Orcish. Otherwise I'm of mixed opinion: on one hand it gives players a means to reflect that their character is a unique individual for their species, maybe what prompts them to leave home and pursue a life of adventure. On the other hand, it means certain players will try to min-max their species of choice into a role they're commonly not suited to, sacrificing that potential for character growth
Certainly one of the most interesting, but potentially confusing, aspects of the book.
Great video as always - love the advice for new and old players and DMs!
That's great news about your Drakkenheim book! Nice to see somebody actually excited about Tasha's. Between people saying we've been doing this for years so it doesn't matter or saying it's power creep that is ruining the game (sometimes in the same breath), the online reaction hasn't been as enthusiastic as I've felt it should be. I'm more determined than ever now to try out my Kobold barbarian.
I've been playing a drow paladin and it's absolutely fantastic. I absolutely love the badass warrior elf idea.
The way Kelly says Firbolg has me laughing. I currently play a eldritch knight firbolg and its amazing and super fun
It's almost as bad as the way Monty said Genasi.
that would be a fun character. A rune knight would have been fun too
@@Observer31 Thurnden is his name and he is a blast to play.
@@thomasowen3678 Except they pronounced them correctly. There is a pronunciation guide.
Currently playing a Firbolg divine soul Sorcerer Tasha came out as we hit 10th lvl and your vids have been a great resource
This session was great. I'm just getting back into the game after 35 years. Playing a half Drow half East Asian Human bard. This vid helped me think more about the value of a cool character origin.
I suspect we will see a lot of Hill Dwarf Sorcerers
Or surprisingly tortles since they have a high natural ac
We already had a Mountain Dwarf sorcerer in our Curse of Strahd campaign, and he was mad powerful even without changing his stat bonuses
I’ve done this before. He was a blue draconic sorcerer that used shocking grasp primarily (Lightning Palm Monk). But with the racial +1, draconic bloodline +1, CON bonus, and Tough feat, I wasn’t that worried about being on the frontline as a sorcerer
Imagine a hill dwarf Paladin with +2 str and +1 cha. You can get your spellcasting ability up higher without giving up as much con.
@@chrisvelo2595 yes, a Tortle sorcerer would be strong, but also think of a Loxodon sorcerer, whose AC is based on their con. If you played a Loxodon divine soul sorcerer, you could have your character involved with Hollyphaunts!
Changeling abilities granted through Draconic Ancestry for a sorcerer specializing in Subtle Spell, enchantment spells, and proficient in deception and insight?
The all-time slimiest Used Car(t) Salesman in your campaign setting.
Next npc found
I love homebrewing subclasses, so I find myself always lining up all subclasses of a certain class together and analyzing their similarities to figure out how to create a balanced homebrew subclass. I think it would make a great series if you can go over each class, and inspect how its subclasses function in order to give a good guide to dungeon masters on how to homebrew a balanced subclasses for each class.
Your work always inspires me to express my creativity in this game 😊
Very cool, very fun episode. Really got my imagination running wild. Great news on the Drakkenheim book. I look forward to seeing that.
This means one of my Dragonborn family tree is going to grow now a lot more . Also a Dragonborn Monk (+2 dexterity and +1 Wisdom) with a draconic Breath and resist to the type of damage picked with the the draconic breath
the changling are now super powerful.
they can now have an 18 in any ability + shapechange at level 1
There was an errata last year where they changed that. Now you have a +2 and a +1 but they have to be on different abilities.
@@hellishrebuke8169 the changeling is different it has a +2 charisma and the other ability is a +1 to any ability. (this is different from the half elf and human features that have a +1 or 2 +1s to any ability) in other words the changiling feature of +1 to any ability is similar to the free feat that variant humans get or the the tortis AC or the flying of the arrakroca.
@@Greginda11 it used to work like that, but M M is correct, Wizards of the Coast issued an official errata changing it to work like all the other races last year. Some DM's might still let you though, and either way it's still powerful!
I’ve been waiting for this video since Tasha’s came out :) I love the options, and look forward to hearing your views 👍
Wood Elf Barbarian of the Eagle Totem has always been one of my favorite 5e combinations. And this makes it so much more viable.
Finally, now everything is a better human
Why play human when all races can use the custom lineage and get that tasty feat.
Free lv1 feat for Gloom Stalker, Shadow Sorc, Twilight Cleric, or Devil Sight Warlock still very good tho. And there also some group who play human-only campaign.
I’m interested in where Wildfire and Stars would fit on your Druid tier list. Whenever I finally get to play again I’m looking at a Star Druid.
Star druid is B tier levels 1-9, then at 10 and onwards it’s a straight up S tier. Just my personal take on it, without having played or seen it in play (Disclaimer).
@@eran5005 it seemed pretty strong, especially with the added tankiness in star form.
I have just started a campaign with 4 level 3 characters, one of whom is a star druid. The bonus action attack from starry form makes it seriously powerful at that level, and all three other players felt underpowered. (And the guiding bolts, and guidance!) I think the reaction from the star map will be really impactful in terms of action economy, too. I would highly recommend it, from my perspective as DM it feels like A tier at least.
my first ever character was a tiefling noble BM fighter. I'm going to play her again soon, so now i don't have to worry about having a low strength score when i take polearm master + sentinel
She's going to be amazing!
Id like to see your views on the other parts of origin changes especially the skill swapping options love your vids always nice to see reasons explained so clearly
I like that I can play a Dragonborn without the terrible breath weapon or sometimes useless strength bonus.
Dragonborn get the Breath Weapon no matter what you know
It's a racial thing
Might as well play a Lizardfolk then
Because it's not really a *Dragonborn* without probably the most iconic Dragon thing to do
*Blasting Elemental magic out of your face*
@@ancientreddragon5617 They keep the breath weapon if you use custom lineage?
@@LordTonzilla Yes they do
The custom lineage only applies to the Ability Score Improvements
Not the innate racial abilities of a race
Like Elves, Tieflings, or Half Orcs can't just lose their Darkvision
Aasimar and Aracockras can't loose their wings
And so on and so forth
@@ancientreddragon5617 nope, I think he meant the custom lineage, where you create your own race with a feat and +2, therefore he can make it look like a Dragonborn and have a feat instead of a +1 strength and a breath weapon
I do wonder if the Custom Origins does allow you to take race feats
Made a sailor background aarokocra barbarian, angry seagull
Have been wondering if i could make him a goose
Check out Goonie Birds or Blue Footed Boobies
I saw a parrot aarakocra in a pirate game once. Pretty cool
The goose would obviously be a rogue.
Nice to learn your thoughts about all of these options, including the cautions about power creep and other issues
16:30 - made me wonder about the possibilities for developing more about those tortles in the sewers of Drakkenheim
I've been wanting to play a lightfoot halfling arcane trickster 9/bladesinger X since Tasha's was released. Magical Ambush + Naturally Stealthy + Cunning Action Hide is just such an insanely OP combo.
As a DM, I see the system as a useful tool to tweak a race (or build new ones) for my campaign worlds.
For players, I see this as a great opportunity to min-max. At what point do we just say all races are the same and give more ability points? I have a player playing a half-orc sorcerer. He invested heavily in CHA since he had no racial mod for it and will sink points from ASIs into it, but he's finding playing against type rewarding. He doesn't need to be optimized.
It's possible that you've just described the core of 6th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.
Late comment, but this is my issue; if any race can fill any role, then what makes any of them unique.
@@SomeDigitalGhost races have traits beyond their stats and proficiencies
@@TheArtistKnownAsNooblet You lose them when you use Tasha's rules.
The only difference between Variant Human and Custom Lineage is a skill or darkvision
Not the only difference. Custom lineage allows a player who takes a half feat to start the game with an 18 in their primary stat when using the standard array
NO! Using point buy, +2 +1 ability from a feat means that you can get an 18 at level 1. Your other abilities might be lower, but the 18 starting stat means they are significantly more powerful if you're trying to min/max. You can GWM with an 18 at level 4. No other race lets you do this.
5:10 What really interests me are the loxodons. 1) elephant people are really cool, and i can't se a way for it not to be awesome. 2) your constitution based unarmored defence matches super well with your constitution for concentration.
To me, variety is the spice of life and I like the fact they are doing much to allow the character creation process to be *so* flexible :D It's great, just like this guide is ;)
I was playing an aarakocra barbarian in a game before tashas came out. I'm so interested in revisiting that with tashas rules now. it was fun cause I had a reach weapon with polearm mastery, so I was flying & had reach. no melee could hit me
How does that work, do you hold and use the weapon with your bird feet?
@@GrassPokeKing they have arms
Dustin Fabricante Oh, was I thinking of the Kenku?
Only Power Gamers and Min/Maxers needed this. the rest of us like to use the old rules to spice up the story! #BigBrainTime
Quiet Patrick, you're scaring him!
I love your discussion of role play and dm implications!
Fun vid as always! I'm a bit surprised you didn't go more over the Proficiencies customization options as well, since those have great flavor potential. Like, now my Drow Bard raised above-ground can have gotten regular Elf Weapon Training instead with the other Wood Elves! Which means she thinks of rapier & hand-crossbow as cool bard weapons, even though they make her look more Drow-y now too, and doesn't entirely realize how traveling around with them may have opened herself up to hostility... It doesn't change her toolkit significantly (just Longbow proficiency which she wouldn't be using regularly anyway) but it sure helped me envision that "weapon-training" part of her background and adds more interesting wrinkles to her character.
I love this interpretation of the rules!! I've seen too many people being angry about the race thing seeing it as a statement about race when it just let's you make more incredible characters!!
Totally agree! Great for the game.
I think this video captures my concerns about the optional ancestry rules. They are really rules that exist due to the tendency toward optimization and push certain ancestries, that were already better than others, even further beyond. You even noted this point with the Yuan-ti. I worry that mechanics have been put so far in the forefront that players believe anything less than an optimal character is unacceptable and that this, in turn, limits the scope of roleplay a bit. There is nothing wrong with optimization but as an MMO veteran I worry about the the proliferation of discussions that label certain ancestries as bad (because they offer fewer features) and others as good (because they offer more features). Of course playing a wizard with 8 int at lv 1 is not better or more noble than playing a wizard with 18 int at lv 1, but I think too many players get hung up on stats, especially considering how player friendly 5th edition is. Finally, I worry that ancestry will become a cosmetic choice with no real impact beyond physical features and life span.
You have noted in another response that these rules are optional, and that is of course true. Still, I think it is fair to discuss the merits and differing views surrounding these system changes. Thanks for the videos and good luck in all future endeavors!
I do have to ask though. Is creating races as only a cosmetic choice a bad thing? I mean I prefer it when the classes have most of the interesting mechanical choices since those might be the reasons you play the classes.
Some of the options like yuan ti have always been too good and for the tables that don't like how strong their features are, I see them banned. But if we were to make it a cosmetic choice only then there would be no reason to ban them at all except for story reasons with the DMs world.
@Sean Havern This. This comment is not rated enough, and I would like to like it 2000 times. Two weeks ago I was speaking with a player of mine, and he said that he felt "obliged" to take a +2 every 4th level, instead of taking a feat, because abilities are the most important thing. This kind of thinking made me realize that players are becoming all min/maxers, unfortunately, and Tasha has only worsened this attitude.
@@chrisvelo2595 I personally do not like ancestry being reduced to a cosmetic choice because I think it removes something from the game and ignores the real differences that exist amongst the ancestries. This process of reducing to cosmetic could be finished by removing the features from certain races, but that again is placing mechanics over immersion/role play and in my opinion that is undesirable.
Of course I understand some folks do not agree with the above concerns and I think WotC was right to make these ancestry options optional. Good luck in all your gaming.
@@kazebaret And I have no inherent problem with Min/Maxers, I think highly competent characters can be great, but I lament players feeling like they have to optimize because frankly, 5e does not require optimization. It is very player friendly unless you are playing at a table where all encounters are deadly. And even deadly encounters are really not that threatening when you have spells and other tools available.
Again, I do not think you are a "good player" if you play a bard with 8 charisma, but I do not think players should feel bad about playing a dwarf wizard or elf barbarian. I chafe at the language that Tasha's "finally allows you to play an Orc Wizard." That statement is just false, it allows you to more easily optimize an Orc Wizard.
@@seanhavern2384 And especially in 5e where the abilities are capped. As far as I've seen, this problem stems out of the 3e (I'm a 1st ed player and it was not at issue at all), and I really have no idea if it can be mitigated, or solved. Don't get me wrong: I love 5e, but it is becoming less "D&D" and more "board game" with the passing of time.
The other thing that I really like about it is it lets you swap the proficiencies too for other things of similar abilities. A lot of race / class combos had overlap there with weapons especially where elves get a bunch of simple and some martial weapons that tons of classes just get for free and now you could say oh I picked up this tool or different weapon you might have wanted. Or swapping a skill you didn't really want for another you did. Tools I think are a generally underutilized part of the game and can be fun to work with when you have them!
Since you traveled far afield, I'm surprised no mention of Tritons. Putting three +1s anywhere is good for MAD builds; they have innate spell casting; with the new errata, they have cold damage resistance; have darkvision and can breathe underwater; and have limited Aquaman talk-with-sea-creature powers. A good package anywhere, but great in naval or even arctic campaigns like Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Yes the dwarf battle wizard who uses magic if his weapons are stolen and weapons in an antimagic zone
I would like to play a drow light cleric of Eilistraee, and this certainly helps.
Edit: Make that a twilight cleric instead.
Twilight/Nature cleric is very good for Eilistraee as well
@@jackdizzy123 Twilight is also pretty cool. Might play that instead depending on the rest of the party. I still would like to focus on spellcasting though, so I would swap out Divine Strike for Blessed Strikes.
@@TheHornedKing that's fair. The Twilight Cleric's channel divinity is also very useful for a drow, because you won't have disadvantage on attacks within it's radius of 30 ft, and you can get free healing without healing the enemy
@@jackdizzy123 Having looked into it a bit more, I'm actually starting lean more towards the twilight domain now. And you make a good point about how the channel divinity helps with the drow's sunlight sensitivity.
@@TheHornedKing no problem, just helping a fellow nerd brainstorm
Minotaur Monk is awesome. The horns ability boosts that unarmed attack for the first few levels, and adds some damage when you dash.
The first thing I thought of when you guys mentioned Aaracokra was an Aaracokra armorer artificer. Literally just a Chozo in flying Power Armor.
The downside is that you can't wear medium or heavy armor as an aarakocra if you want to fly
With the whole Customizing Origins, one could look at it as a way of making Custom Subraces, like say making a Tabaxi, normally a dexterous/charismatic race, to be more stronger/hearty, like a Leonin. Or, likewise, make the Leonin more Charismatic - can you say, Lion King?
As for Custom Lineage, great way to make a homebrew race that you just can't otherwise get, even by reskinning existing races/subraces.
Or bringing back races that shouldn't have lost playable status in the first place. Yes I'm still upset the Lupines lost their playable status after 3E ended.
@@derrickhaggard Well, for the Lupin, you might get something fairly close simply by reskinning a Tabaxi, although one might want to replace Stealth with Survival, and keep Perception, and move stat adjustment where applicable.
@@lockwoan01 That's true due especially given the Lupines' backstory, and nature.
@@derrickhaggard Only thing that might be out of character is a Tabaxi's climb speed on the Lupin, but even that could be worked in as a culture that prizes physical fitness.
@@lockwoan01 Correct especially since the Lupine race was known for producing most of Mysteria's best soldiers, guards, trackers, and hunters/huntresses meaning this human/wolf hybrid race was known for seeing being physically fit as a good thing for both males, and females. So the climbing speed actually fits for the Lupine due to the race being a culture that prized physical fitness.
Get ready for my stronk elves and skinny dwarves, my dudes!
We’ve been homebrewing exactly this for years m8
It's a joke lol but alright
William Mena Raabe I, for one, am ready and waiting for both our Buff Elf Overlords, as well as our Lithe Dwarf Underlords 😍
With the custom origin, you can now play an aaracokra that doesn’t have a flying speed, which is great because so many DMs don’t allow the aaracokra normally.
Also: Flightless birds
I think it would be fun to play in a party of all Mountain Dwarves with each maximized for their class. A fighter, a wizard, a cleric, a bard, and a warlock. With all of them armed with battleaxes and medium armor, their opponents would be surprised when the magic started flying!
Exactly, a party of all mountain dwarves is the most powerful party. Now that race is meaningless, everyone will gravitate to this race or a few other powerful options, like yuan it, etc certainly humans which previously had two floating stat bonuses because they were so ‘versatile’ which made up for their lack of dark vision and many other abilities, common to the other races, is now at the lowest rung on choice of race.
So hear me out:
A Yuan-Ti Totem Barbarian.
• Resist to all magic
• Resistance to everything else except psychic damage while raging.
At level fucking 3.
Oh no look at all them mind flayers over there
@@hellishrebuke8169 Because we all know how regular of an enemy mindflayers are.
@@dist0rt3dhum0r they are now.
@@iododendron3416 Right, because that's definitely how a good DM takes care of that kind of thing.
That's when you up the challenge by using min/maxed enemies, like casters smart enough to use effects that aren't bothered by your resistances as much(Web, nearly any spell causing difficult terrain, using Fly and/or other movement options to stay out of range until the rage ends, and so on), or by hiring their own barbarians to fight you. Or perhaps their new bodyguard is a Psi Warrior fighter. The combo is certainly potent, but anything has one or more potential counters if you look hard enough.
1st... again we appreciate the time stamps
I'm playing a Firbolg Paladin as my 2nd character ever and it is so much fun!
My first player character was a firbolg college of lore bard. Played him for a year long campaign a number of years ago. It was a good time
Kinda disappointed that you didnt mention a rogue tortle that can roleplay being adopted by an old rat and feeds on pizza
I don't think this really opened many doors for me; I was the person that made a halfling barbarian anyways.
Dex based barbarians are amazing. Wood Elves and Halflings are my go to races under the normal rules for barbarians and I almost always choose the totem of the eagle or the wolf with dex based barbs.
At first I was hesitant about the custom character origins because I like the idea that certain races are stronger or more dexterous than others. But after playing with it I can’t go back. I absolutely love the build diversity and potential!
I had an idea for a tiefling PC that is descended from arcanaloths, not demons or devils. His features would be quite canine, and these new rules really open things up.
Rolled up a custom lineage that looks like a kenku but is a human cursed by a hag
SIIIICK
Is there an official d&d pronunciation guide somewhere? From time to time I get caught totally off guard by the ways people pronounce things differently than me.
Today it was Genasi.
Genasi are genie people. Jinn-ah-si.
A surprising number of people have not made the connection, even though that is the whole point of the race. Grumble grumble.
There were a lot of weird pronunciations in this one.
DND Beyond includes audio pronunciations of most D&D terms. Including Genasi.
@@Capt.Thunder The problems of using a language that uses the same letter for multiple sounds. It bothers me when people refuse to pronounce things correctly like Nerdarchy with artificer or most people with mana.
@@robinthrush9672 I'm pretty sure that you can blame the Normans for most of it, bringing their wicked French ways with them, obviously.
Probably already been mentioned but with custom origin giving a +2 and a feat you can get an 18 ability score at level 1 with point buy and standard array if you take a half feat for the additional +1 in the same ability score.
It is SO much fun to watch and listen to your videos. They are educational, really easy to follow, I love all the examples and little stories you throw in, and that you never use stereotypes or cliches but are always open-minded, caring and positive.
Teenage Mutants Wizard Tortles - heroes with a Fire bolt
Nah Donatello is definitely an Artificer. 😂
I would have them all be Rogue multiclassers. Most certain choices first: Don, Artificer; Mikey; Bard; Raph, Barbarian; Leo, Fighter.
Hands down one of my single favorite aspects of Tasha.
It really is, even though a lot of groups have been doing it already, it is amazing to have it in an official book.
@@ryanulrich2147 For sure. It's nice to have Official rules for it.
Now with custom lineage the dream of the flighless penguin aarakocra can be fulfilled
I've always wanted to make like an Izaya Orihara-type character, and I've always seen it as a Yuan-ti mastermind rogue. Well, now it's actually that tad bit easier to work with since you can put that +2 into dexterity, and possibly move that +1 into wisdom or charisma. Izaya is smart, yes, but most of his knowledge and technique come from cleaver decision making and social networking, so insight and deception would probably be more important to this character than investigation or history.
I like playing characters that aren't optimised. It's what makes the role-playing fun. Having to over come your shortcomings.
Had a storm sorcerer mountain dwarf before tasha’s came out.
Dex was my lowest stat and I picked up heavily armored at level 4. So naturally, strength was my secondary stat behind charisma.
I even turned the character into a bit of a front liner with cantrips and metamagic.
That character is super dead now, but it’s not because my character’s shortcomings caught up to me. Just some bad rolls and a bad decision.
I had a lot of fun playing that character. Non-optimized characters can be amazing.
@@Dezbood completely agree. I've ran halfling barbarians. They're not meant to be a strong race. They turn out quite mediocre where you end up dumping your crap stat rolls into your racial bumped stats. Doesn't mean they aren't fun. All races can have any class. Doesn't mean they have to be brilliant at it.
th-cam.com/video/8fKKyaaQE3Q/w-d-xo.html i cant disagree more with you Ross Diggle
@@Maximum7077 I can't disagree more with your disagreement theboredone
@@rossdiggle yeah, it makes sense that different dnd races are in fact different. If you put an average goliath in a wrestling match against the average halfling, one is gonna have better odds of winning. I feel like this origins rule only enables greater min maxing, not greater story telling.
Last time i was this early, who am i kidding, this is my first time.
You talked about this in a Q&A...I think its great.
I play a Drow, prior to Tasha’s, that is a Barbarian with less STR (10) than most make Barbarians with. Plus, he has a little spell casting ability from being a drow. He survived an all out assault upon his House and escaped to the wilderness of the underdark and Chaotic Neutral. I focused the Point Buy into his Dex, Con, WIS, and Cha. When I get to play vs DMing, he is a lot of fun to play.
I'm still hesitant about this, not gonna lie.
Fortunately they are totally optional rules you do not have to use if you don't like them :)
@@DungeonDudes True. Thanks for highlighting this for everyone.
Always love your stuff.
Personally, I don't think this should be all that abusable. If a player already wanted to optimize their character they always could, but this makes it simpler for new players to choose whatever race/class they want to play.
@@JavierSanchez-mo2ef Personally, I think it allows for way more outside the box races than most people would normally pick. Especially ones with weird traits. I'm personally considering using the Ixalan Vampire race and being a swarmkeeper ranger with bats. Now I don't have to wonder what I'm going to do with just Charisma and Wisdom. XD
@@LupineShadowOmega Awesome. Thats true and your idea sounds pretty cool.
The only bad thing I've heard is that it motivates more people to use the already OP races like Aarakocra or
Yuan-Ti.
But those already were pretty powerful and some groups just ban them so
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hahah, I like the mechanic!
I have homebrewed some alterations to the ability swaps.
Lets say you get +2 strength and +1 intelligence
You can swap within the physical abilities, and swap within the mental abilities, but not between them
So you could make the scores +2 dex and +1 charisma, but not +2 charisma and +1 dex
This still keeps quite a abit of the flavour for races while allowing you a better ability spread
Oh that is a cool idea.
yea i prefer something like this to the nonsense that completely malleable ability scores brings with it
Hobgoblin rogue with that saving face ability to gain a +5 on an attack roll is nice for more likely sneak attack.
Aasimar war cleric, for extra crusading.
Half-orc wizard for that relentless endurance.
Warforged. Any warforged is now stronger as whatever class you choose.
in our ToA campaign we had a tortle named Nortle who ran as a kensei monk/barbarian. he was the unstoppable tank we needed to get through that jungle