This is something I haven't seen anyone mention yet: Thri-Kreen's extra arms can make them great casters for one simple reason. You can hold four spellcasting focuses and really stack those +x spellcasting modifier items. Most of them do require attunement, but you could grab 3-4 magic staves/wands and attune to/hold them all. All three would give you bonuses to your spell attack rolls and/or saving throws, and if you're lucky they'd all have charges that you can burn on more spells.
Your second set of arms can only hold light weapons, so at most that would be two staves, because they don't have the "light" property.
Still, if you got to upper levels and had a Staff of the Magi, and a Staff of Power, and a Robe of the Archmagi, that's a +6 on top of your +5 for Charisma, and the +6 for your Proficiency bonus, for a total of +17 on your Spell Attack Rolls, while still having two hands free to hold onto a flying broom, grab spell components, open doors, etc.
That sounds more like an end-game boss for a party to fight than a player-character. An enemy that only misses on a natural 1 would be terrifying, especially if it's something like a L18 Sorcerer, L2 Warlock, so it's reliably hitting with 8 Eldritch Blasts per turn for an entire combat, without even needing to use spell slots.
Quickened Agonizing Eldritch Blast + Action Agonizing Eldritch Blast, for 8d10+40 damage (average 84 damage per turn with almost no resource expenditure).
Here's a reason the thri-kreen's four arms are so powerful: you can hold a shield in one primary hand, complete the somatic and material components for a spell in a non-dominant one, and still have your other hands to dual-wield shortswords or daggers. If that isn't the racial ability pack for an OP caster, especially for an artificer, paladin, ranger, or anyone else with shield proficiency and spellcasting, I don't know what is.
If your DM rules that your shield is small and light enough to hold in a non-dominant hand (and I think that a buckler or similar light shield is light enough), you could even hold a FREAKING GREATSWORD OR HEAVY CROSSBOW while also blocking with a shield and casting somatic and material spells, without a single feat. Just imagine a ranger or paladin getting away with that.
Between this build and the hadoozee glide, I don't know what the 5e designers and playtesters were thinking when they okayed these races, but these guys needed a little more time to double-check their work.
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Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
Here's a reason the thri-kreen's four arms are so powerful: you can hold a shield in one primary hand, complete the somatic and material components for a spell in a non-dominant one, and still have your other hands to dual-wield shortswords or daggers. If that isn't the racial ability pack for an OP caster, especially for an artificer, paladin, ranger, or anyone else with shield proficiency and spellcasting, I don't know what is.
If your DM rules that your shield is small and light enough to hold in a non-dominant hand (and I think that a buckler or similar light shield is light enough), you could even hold a FREAKING GREATSWORD OR HEAVY CROSSBOW while also blocking with a shield and casting somatic and material spells, without a single feat. Just imagine a ranger or paladin getting away with that.
Between this build and the hadoozee glide, I don't know what the 5e designers and playtesters were thinking when they okayed these races, but these guys needed a little more time to double-check their work.
Absolutely anyone can cast while wielding a greatsword, because re-readying the sword after the cast is an item interaction. It's also cheating for a Thri-Kreen to wield a shield on one of their secondary arms. 5E hasn't got bucklers.
Your second set of arms can only hold light weapons, so at most that would be two staves, because they don't have the "light" property.
Still, if you got to upper levels and had a Staff of the Magi, and a Staff of Power, and a Robe of the Archmagi, that's a +6 on top of your +5 for Charisma, and the +6 for your Proficiency bonus, for a total of +17 on your Spell Attack Rolls, while still having two hands free to hold onto a flying broom, grab spell components, open doors, etc.
That sounds more like an end-game boss for a party to fight than a player-character. An enemy that only misses on a natural 1 would be terrifying, especially if it's something like a L18 Sorcerer, L2 Warlock, so it's reliably hitting with 8 Eldritch Blasts per turn for an entire combat, without even needing to use spell slots.
Quickened Agonizing Eldritch Blast + Action Agonizing Eldritch Blast, for 8d10+40 damage (average 84 damage per turn with almost no resource expenditure).
I think there could be some wiggle room on the bolded. Per the race it says
Secondary Arms
You have two slightly smaller secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. The secondary arms can manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, pick up or set down a Tiny object, or wield a weapon that has the light property.
It seems well within the description that a caster can use the secondary arms for small items like a focus or component pouch could be used in the secondary arms. Now, I'm not familiar with what magic items are used as a focus, but if they are tiny objects, I could see the secondary arms being able to wield them.
Your second set of arms can only hold light weapons, so at most that would be two staves, because they don't have the "light" property.
Still, if you got to upper levels and had a Staff of the Magi, and a Staff of Power, and a Robe of the Archmagi, that's a +6 on top of your +5 for Charisma, and the +6 for your Proficiency bonus, for a total of +17 on your Spell Attack Rolls, while still having two hands free to hold onto a flying broom, grab spell components, open doors, etc.
That sounds more like an end-game boss for a party to fight than a player-character. An enemy that only misses on a natural 1 would be terrifying, especially if it's something like a L18 Sorcerer, L2 Warlock, so it's reliably hitting with 8 Eldritch Blasts per turn for an entire combat, without even needing to use spell slots.
Quickened Agonizing Eldritch Blast + Action Agonizing Eldritch Blast, for 8d10+40 damage (average 84 damage per turn with almost no resource expenditure).
I think there could be some wiggle room on the bolded. Per the race it says
Secondary Arms
You have two slightly smaller secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. The secondary arms can manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, pick up or set down a Tiny object, or wield a weapon that has the light property.
It seems well within the description that a caster can use the secondary arms for small items like a focus or component pouch could be used in the secondary arms. Now, I'm not familiar with what magic items are used as a focus, but if they are tiny objects, I could see the secondary arms being able to wield them.
I would agree that a wand being used as an arcane focus could be used (it being a tiny item), but there's no third staff being carried, because a staff is a weapon that doesn't have the light property, meaning it can't be held in the secondary set of hands.
So if that wand is a +3 Wand of the War Mage, you could get your spell attack modifier up to +20.
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This is something I haven't seen anyone mention yet: Thri-Kreen's extra arms can make them great casters for one simple reason. You can hold four spellcasting focuses and really stack those +x spellcasting modifier items. Most of them do require attunement, but you could grab 3-4 magic staves/wands and attune to/hold them all. All three would give you bonuses to your spell attack rolls and/or saving throws, and if you're lucky they'd all have charges that you can burn on more spells.
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Your second set of arms can only hold light weapons, so at most that would be two staves, because they don't have the "light" property.
Still, if you got to upper levels and had a Staff of the Magi, and a Staff of Power, and a Robe of the Archmagi, that's a +6 on top of your +5 for Charisma, and the +6 for your Proficiency bonus, for a total of +17 on your Spell Attack Rolls, while still having two hands free to hold onto a flying broom, grab spell components, open doors, etc.
That sounds more like an end-game boss for a party to fight than a player-character. An enemy that only misses on a natural 1 would be terrifying, especially if it's something like a L18 Sorcerer, L2 Warlock, so it's reliably hitting with 8 Eldritch Blasts per turn for an entire combat, without even needing to use spell slots.
Quickened Agonizing Eldritch Blast + Action Agonizing Eldritch Blast, for 8d10+40 damage (average 84 damage per turn with almost no resource expenditure).
Here's a reason the thri-kreen's four arms are so powerful: you can hold a shield in one primary hand, complete the somatic and material components for a spell in a non-dominant one, and still have your other hands to dual-wield shortswords or daggers. If that isn't the racial ability pack for an OP caster, especially for an artificer, paladin, ranger, or anyone else with shield proficiency and spellcasting, I don't know what is.
If your DM rules that your shield is small and light enough to hold in a non-dominant hand (and I think that a buckler or similar light shield is light enough), you could even hold a FREAKING GREATSWORD OR HEAVY CROSSBOW while also blocking with a shield and casting somatic and material spells, without a single feat. Just imagine a ranger or paladin getting away with that.
Between this build and the hadoozee glide, I don't know what the 5e designers and playtesters were thinking when they okayed these races, but these guys needed a little more time to double-check their work.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
Absolutely anyone can cast while wielding a greatsword, because re-readying the sword after the cast is an item interaction. It's also cheating for a Thri-Kreen to wield a shield on one of their secondary arms. 5E hasn't got bucklers.
I think there could be some wiggle room on the bolded. Per the race it says
It seems well within the description that a caster can use the secondary arms for small items like a focus or component pouch could be used in the secondary arms. Now, I'm not familiar with what magic items are used as a focus, but if they are tiny objects, I could see the secondary arms being able to wield them.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I would agree that a wand being used as an arcane focus could be used (it being a tiny item), but there's no third staff being carried, because a staff is a weapon that doesn't have the light property, meaning it can't be held in the secondary set of hands.
So if that wand is a +3 Wand of the War Mage, you could get your spell attack modifier up to +20.