With Tasha's Cauldron of Everything how good is a High Elf (using standard array). My friend is plaining to make a Paladin and was thinking of going High Elf so he gets booming blade (and will get War Caster later). I personlay think it will work good for him as he can put a +2 in str and +1 Chr so he will have a 17 str, 14 con and chr at Level 1. Since he will not need the elven wepons as pe Beyond he will get 4 tools also.
Am I right or wrong that this would be a powerful starting race?
Shuffling the ability score increases around doesn't matter all that much. It's a slight leg up at most. The real issue is the Cantrip itself. It'll be used a lot at low levels, I'm sure, but once Extra Attack becomes a factor it won't. War Caster is nice, but taking the feat just for one cantrip on the off-chance of an Opportunity Attack seems...let's just say I wouldn't do it. Other classes and subclasses, like the Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, and Bladesinger, all get far more mileage out of such spells.
One of the problems surrounding the "meta" of War Caster is people only think of it in terms of Cantrips. It's useful, sure, but it's small potatoes. The feat allows for the casting of any spell with a casting time of 1 Action that targets only the creature. They could use spells like command or banishment. Or even hold person if their Oath grants it to them.
Shuffling the ability score increases around doesn't matter all that much. It's a slight leg up at most.
I disagree here. Paladin is one of the more stat intensive base classes in the game. Really only Monks have more pressure on their ASIs, IMO. Between weapon attack, charisma, and constitution, you have three stats that you really want to start as high as possible, two of which you really would like to max out over the course of your progression. The difference between starting with racial bonuses to at least two of Str/Dex, Con, and Cha vs. not having that is, at least in point buy games, a big deal.
With Tasha's stat swapping, *any* race gets to start with some combination of the desired stat bonuses, which brings all races up to the level of what were previously 'very good' paladin races, and making non-racial benefits much more noticeable. In that light, high elf does go from being a mediocre (not bad, mind) paladin race to being one of the better paladin races, and yeah, the ability to pick up Booming Blade is a good get, particularly when combined with War Caster.
Yes, War Caster is more significant for some other classes - bladelocks, melee bards, clerics arguably - but paladins do have some great concentration spells that they'd like to shore up their con saves for, and sword & board paladins do like the additional freedom in terms of casting somatic-but-not-material spells while wielding their weapon & shield. And even the threat of booming blade opp attacks are quite useful for any paladin embracing a tanking role.
Granted, War Caster is more significant if you're planning on multiclassing to pick up Shield or Endure Elements, and if you do that then you can probably grab booming blade from the multiclass, too, so getting it from high elf doesn't mean as much. But for single classed paladins, yeah, post Tasha's I think High Elves are in fact a strong race worth consdering.
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Personally, I still rate the pre-tasha top tier paladin races of Vumans, Aasimar, Eladrin, Half Elves, and Tritons higher, but not by nearly so much as I would without Tasha's stat swapping in play.
There isn't a big difference between 18 and 20. A paladin can easily get by with a 16 or 18 Strength and max their Charisma for saving throws and prepared spells. Like, if you wanted to make a high elf paladin with the standard array, using just the PHB, a starting spread of 15 10 12 14 10 14 wasn't terrible. With point-buy, you could get 15 10 12 12 12 14. Yeah, Con was a little low. But they could take a +Strength Feat, like Athlete, and max Charisma all by 16. And if you only get three ASIs, wrapping up between levels 12+15, then you might end with 16 10 14 14 10 16... or 16 10 14 12 12 16. Neither were bad. Both are certainly playable. This edition of the game is incredibly forgiving. Starting with just a +2 modifier isn't going to break anything.
If someone wanted to play a mountain dwarf warlock with an array of 10 13 16 12 10 15, they're not going to hold the party back.
It's an OK race, but not spectacular. Something to remember about booming blade is, he's not going to use it quite as much after he gets to make two melee attacks/turn unless he plans out ways to make that happen. Even then, he's better off going high half elf to get booming blade rather than pure high elf.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
If someone wanted to play a mountain dwarf warlock with an array of 10 13 16 12 10 15, they're not going to hold the party back.
And this is why I hate the tashas race changes so much. The "problem" of having a slightly lower stat was completely overblown, considering the benefits to choosing some races such as mountain dwarf or yuan-ti pureblood. A mountain dwarf with a 14 int, still makes a fantastic wizard, but there were decisions to make. Now, you line up high elf vs mountain dwarf, and the mountain dwarf is strictly superior for most (not all, but most) applications.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
People are just comparing BB against Extra Attacks in terms of damage, but there's more to consider. If you're trying to get enemies to focus on you, penalizing them for trying to move - and that penalty not taking up your precious Reaction - can be a pretty big deal.
People are just comparing BB against Extra Attacks in terms of damage, but there's more to consider. If you're trying to get enemies to focus on you, penalizing them for trying to move - and that penalty not taking up your precious Reaction - can be a pretty big deal.
Paladins don't have any spells which consume their reaction. Nor can I think of any features, from the base class or an Oath, which do. Which means they basically only have them for an Opportunity Attack, unless they were to multiclass. Or otherwise, acquire a spell with a casting time of 1 Reaction from a feat; such as taking Magic Initiate (Sorcerer) to get shield.
The issue with booming blade is complex. Damage-wise, it doesn't begin to compete with two weapon attacks until 11th-level. Some magic weapons, like a flame tongue longsword, compound this further. The cantrip also forces their attacks into an all-or-nothing situation, which means if they miss they waste the turn. It's great on reactions with War Caster because the target technically can't stop moving, so they take the full damage. But as a means of control, paladins already have ways of locking an enemy down. All have access to compelled duel at 2nd-level. Oath of the Ancients grants ensnaring strike at 3rd-level. Oath of Vengeance grants hold person at 5th-level.
With Tasha's Cauldron of Everything how good is a High Elf (using standard array). My friend is plaining to make a Paladin and was thinking of going High Elf so he gets booming blade (and will get War Caster later). I personlay think it will work good for him as he can put a +2 in str and +1 Chr so he will have a 17 str, 14 con and chr at Level 1. Since he will not need the elven wepons as pe Beyond he will get 4 tools also.
Am I right or wrong that this would be a powerful starting race?
I spell Goodly.
Shuffling the ability score increases around doesn't matter all that much. It's a slight leg up at most. The real issue is the Cantrip itself. It'll be used a lot at low levels, I'm sure, but once Extra Attack becomes a factor it won't. War Caster is nice, but taking the feat just for one cantrip on the off-chance of an Opportunity Attack seems...let's just say I wouldn't do it. Other classes and subclasses, like the Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, and Bladesinger, all get far more mileage out of such spells.
One of the problems surrounding the "meta" of War Caster is people only think of it in terms of Cantrips. It's useful, sure, but it's small potatoes. The feat allows for the casting of any spell with a casting time of 1 Action that targets only the creature. They could use spells like command or banishment. Or even hold person if their Oath grants it to them.
I disagree here. Paladin is one of the more stat intensive base classes in the game. Really only Monks have more pressure on their ASIs, IMO. Between weapon attack, charisma, and constitution, you have three stats that you really want to start as high as possible, two of which you really would like to max out over the course of your progression. The difference between starting with racial bonuses to at least two of Str/Dex, Con, and Cha vs. not having that is, at least in point buy games, a big deal.
With Tasha's stat swapping, *any* race gets to start with some combination of the desired stat bonuses, which brings all races up to the level of what were previously 'very good' paladin races, and making non-racial benefits much more noticeable. In that light, high elf does go from being a mediocre (not bad, mind) paladin race to being one of the better paladin races, and yeah, the ability to pick up Booming Blade is a good get, particularly when combined with War Caster.
Yes, War Caster is more significant for some other classes - bladelocks, melee bards, clerics arguably - but paladins do have some great concentration spells that they'd like to shore up their con saves for, and sword & board paladins do like the additional freedom in terms of casting somatic-but-not-material spells while wielding their weapon & shield. And even the threat of booming blade opp attacks are quite useful for any paladin embracing a tanking role.
Granted, War Caster is more significant if you're planning on multiclassing to pick up Shield or Endure Elements, and if you do that then you can probably grab booming blade from the multiclass, too, so getting it from high elf doesn't mean as much. But for single classed paladins, yeah, post Tasha's I think High Elves are in fact a strong race worth consdering.
...
Personally, I still rate the pre-tasha top tier paladin races of Vumans, Aasimar, Eladrin, Half Elves, and Tritons higher, but not by nearly so much as I would without Tasha's stat swapping in play.
There isn't a big difference between 18 and 20. A paladin can easily get by with a 16 or 18 Strength and max their Charisma for saving throws and prepared spells. Like, if you wanted to make a high elf paladin with the standard array, using just the PHB, a starting spread of 15 10 12 14 10 14 wasn't terrible. With point-buy, you could get 15 10 12 12 12 14. Yeah, Con was a little low. But they could take a +Strength Feat, like Athlete, and max Charisma all by 16. And if you only get three ASIs, wrapping up between levels 12+15, then you might end with 16 10 14 14 10 16... or 16 10 14 12 12 16. Neither were bad. Both are certainly playable. This edition of the game is incredibly forgiving. Starting with just a +2 modifier isn't going to break anything.
If someone wanted to play a mountain dwarf warlock with an array of 10 13 16 12 10 15, they're not going to hold the party back.
It's an OK race, but not spectacular. Something to remember about booming blade is, he's not going to use it quite as much after he gets to make two melee attacks/turn unless he plans out ways to make that happen. Even then, he's better off going high half elf to get booming blade rather than pure high elf.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
And this is why I hate the tashas race changes so much. The "problem" of having a slightly lower stat was completely overblown, considering the benefits to choosing some races such as mountain dwarf or yuan-ti pureblood. A mountain dwarf with a 14 int, still makes a fantastic wizard, but there were decisions to make. Now, you line up high elf vs mountain dwarf, and the mountain dwarf is strictly superior for most (not all, but most) applications.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
People are just comparing BB against Extra Attacks in terms of damage, but there's more to consider. If you're trying to get enemies to focus on you, penalizing them for trying to move - and that penalty not taking up your precious Reaction - can be a pretty big deal.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Paladins don't have any spells which consume their reaction. Nor can I think of any features, from the base class or an Oath, which do. Which means they basically only have them for an Opportunity Attack, unless they were to multiclass. Or otherwise, acquire a spell with a casting time of 1 Reaction from a feat; such as taking Magic Initiate (Sorcerer) to get shield.
The issue with booming blade is complex. Damage-wise, it doesn't begin to compete with two weapon attacks until 11th-level. Some magic weapons, like a flame tongue longsword, compound this further. The cantrip also forces their attacks into an all-or-nothing situation, which means if they miss they waste the turn. It's great on reactions with War Caster because the target technically can't stop moving, so they take the full damage. But as a means of control, paladins already have ways of locking an enemy down. All have access to compelled duel at 2nd-level. Oath of the Ancients grants ensnaring strike at 3rd-level. Oath of Vengeance grants hold person at 5th-level.