"If a creature you can see within 10 feet of you hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to swipe your tail and roll a d8, applying a bonus to your AC equal to the number rolled, potentially causing the attack to miss you."
So does the AC boost last until your next turn, or is it just for the one attack?
I think the the intent is likely that this apply to only the attack. There's no way the RAW is RAI, and the bonus lasing forever is intended. I don't think anything in Tasha's was actually playtested.
+1d8 AC vs all attacks is the Shield spell but worse (4.5, not 5, and range-limited). Since the ability isn't always on - you only have it while raging and while you have neither claws nor fangs - there's a strong argument for the bonus lasting until your next turn, and your GM will have to house-rule a duration to balance you anyway. I'd playtest it to try and find a balanced answer - claws are *really* good, so I'd use them as the litmus for the tail.
To me, this reads as applying only to the attack you are reacting to. You are swiping your tail using your reaction, which is a one-time action, and it is the swipe which increases your AC.
The only other viable reading of RAW, IMHO, is that it gives a permanent boost to AC. This, however, soon gets ridiculous as you can add with every attack which hits. Within a couple of combats you would end up unhitable without a crit.
Given a choice between no limit and the one and only implied limit, I choose the (very strongly) implied limit.
If you look at the text for the Shield spell there is a very important bit of text in that spell's description that is not found in the Path of the Beast tail ability. The "until your next turn" clause is of utmost importance here. Any ability in the game that modifies your stats will clearly state if it lasts for more than one instantaneous moment. Without such a phrase in the tail ability's verbiage, we're left to assume it only lasts for one attack. "Potentially causing the attack to miss you" is definitely singular on purpose, but I can see how it isn't worded clearly enough to be certain of that interpretation. Sometimes you have to use comparisons to other game text to find the pattern of their meaning.
You only get one reaction per turn, so it's only good for that one attack you are reacting to.
Yeah except the shield spell also takes a reaction and will help protect you against every attack until your next turn. That's where the confusion comes in. It is possible for one reaction to cover multiple attacks in 5e. But since the tail ability doesn't have similar text, it only effects one attack.
I read it as just the one attack as well....overall its good if you do not have another thing to use your reaction for a lot.
Overall I have a hard time thinking of when the Bite would be viable....really only when you are low on health and have to rage? It would be pretty niche overall.
You only get one reaction per turn, so it's only good for that one attack you are reacting to.
Yeah except the shield spell also takes a reaction and will help protect you against every attack until your next turn. That's where the confusion comes in. It is possible for one reaction to cover multiple attacks in 5e. But since the tail ability doesn't have similar text, it only effects one attack.
Agreed. It's like a battle master's "parry" only this one adds to AC for that attack, instead of reducing damage. But both use up your reaction and subsequent attacks happen as normal. So the shield spell is a lot better...it also protects from magic missiles.
I read it as just the one attack as well....overall its good if you do not have another thing to use your reaction for a lot.
Overall I have a hard time thinking of when the Bite would be viable....really only when you are low on health and have to rage? It would be pretty niche overall.
At level 20 you can use it to guarantee you enter every battle at no less than hp = floor(max health divided by 2)+5, making you like an L20 moon druid but worse for tanking. Below that, I'm not sure... it's a maximum of 60 points of healing across the entire minute (and a minimum of 12), and it shuts itself down early if you heal up competently or your rage ends early. If it could at least heal you regardless of your health total, you could credibly use it out of combat as trading your rage for emergency healing.
"If a creature you can see within 10 feet of you hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to swipe your tail and roll a d8, applying a bonus to your AC equal to the number rolled, potentially causing the attack to miss you."
So does the AC boost last until your next turn, or is it just for the one attack?
Think of it as the same as the defensive use of the Valor Bard's Combat Inspiration
Don't forget it has no qualifier or resource attached to it. You're raging is the only requirement and its every reaction, which as a Barb the only other thing you'd use that for is opportunity attacks, and while those are important, there's a big drop off of DPS between 1 and 0 HP. The fact it's just a skill you have access to with no real limiting factor is what makes it good IMO.
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"I once knew this fella, Aasimar raised in the Underdark. Was like a brother to me. When he escaped we couldn't take much with us. Poor, emaciated husks of the living we were. 'ts okay though. We survived and made our ways. I'll never forget the way the people from my home looked at us when we walked in the archway. Though, I'm frighteningly certain the feelings they would have, had they but the opportunity ta see us leave." --Manolovo the Traitor, Memoirs of a Scoundrel
Don't forget it has no qualifier or resource attached to it. You're raging is the only requirement and its every reaction, which as a Barb the only other thing you'd use that for is opportunity attacks, and while those are important, there's a big drop off of DPS between 1 and 0 HP. The fact it's just a skill you have access to with no real limiting factor is what makes it good IMO.
This...
It's downside may be that it doesn't block All attacks made against you until your next turn. it's advantage is that it's endlessly reusable on successive turns. Where as Shield has a maximum usage level based upon spell slots. Which for most people is not going to be very many times. Meaning that over multiple combats or long combats they equal out on their amount of blocking that they do.
Also The ability by RAW is definitely only for a single attack. It says it's triggering requirements which is a person you can see, They hit you with an attack, and you use your reaction. It tells you what you can do, which is roll the 1d8 and apply it to your normal AC number, And then it caps it all off by saying Potentially causing THE ATTACK to miss you.
This all tells us when we can use it. How to use it, and what it applies to. The attack that triggered it and we used our reaction for. This is Totally RaW.
Don't forget it has no qualifier or resource attached to it. You're raging is the only requirement and its every reaction, which as a Barb the only other thing you'd use that for is opportunity attacks, and while those are important, there's a big drop off of DPS between 1 and 0 HP. The fact it's just a skill you have access to with no real limiting factor is what makes it good IMO.
100%
I have a level 5 bugbear beast barb and, shocker, I’m playing to his reach abilities by way of the sentinel feat and a +1 halberd and man, for all the talk about claws, can we talk about tail for a sec?
I’ve heard it said that spellcasters live and die by their cantrips, unlimited resources that just can’t run out. Same thing with tail. Granted, everything else being equal, I’d rather save my reaction for OA’s by way of sentinel- but while recklessly attacking in combat wearing only a breastplate (and no shield), there’s more than a little relief in knowing that you’ve got access to a potential extra 1-8 points of AC if you’re really in a pinch. Never mind primary tail attacks- my magic halberd’ll be more than fine for that. But the extra AC is goddamn priceless, and its presence will (ought to) change the tactics of any intelligent enemy.
If only I could figure out what I could reliably do with my bonus action (love of god, don’t say PAM)…
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"If a creature you can see within 10 feet of you hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to swipe your tail and roll a d8, applying a bonus to your AC equal to the number rolled, potentially causing the attack to miss you."
So does the AC boost last until your next turn, or is it just for the one attack?
I think the the intent is likely that this apply to only the attack. There's no way the RAW is RAI, and the bonus lasing forever is intended. I don't think anything in Tasha's was actually playtested.
+1d8 AC vs all attacks is the Shield spell but worse (4.5, not 5, and range-limited). Since the ability isn't always on - you only have it while raging and while you have neither claws nor fangs - there's a strong argument for the bonus lasting until your next turn, and your GM will have to house-rule a duration to balance you anyway. I'd playtest it to try and find a balanced answer - claws are *really* good, so I'd use them as the litmus for the tail.
To me, this reads as applying only to the attack you are reacting to. You are swiping your tail using your reaction, which is a one-time action, and it is the swipe which increases your AC.
The only other viable reading of RAW, IMHO, is that it gives a permanent boost to AC. This, however, soon gets ridiculous as you can add with every attack which hits. Within a couple of combats you would end up unhitable without a crit.
Given a choice between no limit and the one and only implied limit, I choose the (very strongly) implied limit.
You only get the bonus to AC for one attack roll.
If you look at the text for the Shield spell there is a very important bit of text in that spell's description that is not found in the Path of the Beast tail ability. The "until your next turn" clause is of utmost importance here. Any ability in the game that modifies your stats will clearly state if it lasts for more than one instantaneous moment. Without such a phrase in the tail ability's verbiage, we're left to assume it only lasts for one attack. "Potentially causing the attack to miss you" is definitely singular on purpose, but I can see how it isn't worded clearly enough to be certain of that interpretation. Sometimes you have to use comparisons to other game text to find the pattern of their meaning.
You only get one reaction per turn, so it's only good for that one attack you are reacting to.
Yeah except the shield spell also takes a reaction and will help protect you against every attack until your next turn. That's where the confusion comes in. It is possible for one reaction to cover multiple attacks in 5e. But since the tail ability doesn't have similar text, it only effects one attack.
I read it as just the one attack as well....overall its good if you do not have another thing to use your reaction for a lot.
Overall I have a hard time thinking of when the Bite would be viable....really only when you are low on health and have to rage? It would be pretty niche overall.
Agreed. It's like a battle master's "parry" only this one adds to AC for that attack, instead of reducing damage. But both use up your reaction and subsequent attacks happen as normal. So the shield spell is a lot better...it also protects from magic missiles.
At level 20 you can use it to guarantee you enter every battle at no less than hp = floor(max health divided by 2)+5, making you like an L20 moon druid but worse for tanking. Below that, I'm not sure... it's a maximum of 60 points of healing across the entire minute (and a minimum of 12), and it shuts itself down early if you heal up competently or your rage ends early. If it could at least heal you regardless of your health total, you could credibly use it out of combat as trading your rage for emergency healing.
Think of it as the same as the defensive use of the Valor Bard's Combat Inspiration
Don't forget it has no qualifier or resource attached to it. You're raging is the only requirement and its every reaction, which as a Barb the only other thing you'd use that for is opportunity attacks, and while those are important, there's a big drop off of DPS between 1 and 0 HP. The fact it's just a skill you have access to with no real limiting factor is what makes it good IMO.
"I once knew this fella, Aasimar raised in the Underdark. Was like a brother to me. When he escaped we couldn't take much with us. Poor, emaciated husks of the living we were. 'ts okay though. We survived and made our ways. I'll never forget the way the people from my home looked at us when we walked in the archway. Though, I'm frighteningly certain the feelings they would have, had they but the opportunity ta see us leave." --Manolovo the Traitor, Memoirs of a Scoundrel
This...
It's downside may be that it doesn't block All attacks made against you until your next turn. it's advantage is that it's endlessly reusable on successive turns. Where as Shield has a maximum usage level based upon spell slots. Which for most people is not going to be very many times. Meaning that over multiple combats or long combats they equal out on their amount of blocking that they do.
Also The ability by RAW is definitely only for a single attack. It says it's triggering requirements which is a person you can see, They hit you with an attack, and you use your reaction. It tells you what you can do, which is roll the 1d8 and apply it to your normal AC number, And then it caps it all off by saying Potentially causing THE ATTACK to miss you.
This all tells us when we can use it. How to use it, and what it applies to. The attack that triggered it and we used our reaction for. This is Totally RaW.
100%
I have a level 5 bugbear beast barb and, shocker, I’m playing to his reach abilities by way of the sentinel feat and a +1 halberd and man, for all the talk about claws, can we talk about tail for a sec?
I’ve heard it said that spellcasters live and die by their cantrips, unlimited resources that just can’t run out. Same thing with tail. Granted, everything else being equal, I’d rather save my reaction for OA’s by way of sentinel- but while recklessly attacking in combat wearing only a breastplate (and no shield), there’s more than a little relief in knowing that you’ve got access to a potential extra 1-8 points of AC if you’re really in a pinch. Never mind primary tail attacks- my magic halberd’ll be more than fine for that. But the extra AC is goddamn priceless, and its presence will (ought to) change the tactics of any intelligent enemy.
If only I could figure out what I could reliably do with my bonus action (love of god, don’t say PAM)…