What the heck is with Shadar-Kai

[Skrum]

They are so far above any other racial option I'm like searching for an explanation.

- Necrotic Resist, a very common damage type
- Trance (not that notable, but nifty)
- elven, so gain access to one of the best feats in the game in Elven Accuracy

And finally....Blessing of the Raven Queen. What the actual &^&$

Misty Step that isn't misty step, meaning it can be used while raging, while in silence, while bound, etc etc etc. And AND, it gives resistance to all damage. And now with MotMV, it's usable proficiency bonus times per LR.

I just can't get over how good this is.

[strangebloke]

They're HELLA busted, yeah. Might be the best race in the game now, though the new kobolds are up there too.

[Skrum]

They're HELLA busted, yeah. Might be the best race in the game now, though the new kobolds are up there too.

Kobolds are really good, it's true. I think a couple of things make them not quite as good as Shadar-Kai though

- not elves. Elven Accuracy really is that good; not being an elf is a notable weakness compared to a race that is an elf
- small size. The situations where being small is useful are so unlikely to come up I'm going to say being small is strictly worse than being medium. It's a pretty significant weakness too, not being able to use another very powerful feat in GWM
- Draconic Cry is a bit table dependent. If you don't play with the alternative flanking rules, this ability becomes extremely good. But a lot of tables do use those rules, which reduces the value of this quite a bit.

[Psyren]

Don't forget Darkvision and three free proficiencies (two tools/weapons + Perception).

Misty Step that isn't misty step, meaning it can be used while raging, while in silence, while bound, etc etc etc.

Just as a reminder, regular Misty Step can also be used while bound (no somatic component.)

[Skrum]

Don't forget Darkvision and three free proficiencies (two tools/weapons + Perception).



Just as a reminder, regular Misty Step can also be used while bound (no somatic component.)

OK that's true. But still. It not being a spell is pretty significant. Can't be countered, for instance.

[Dork_Forge]

They're really good, but MPMM took some races and just threw out any notion of balance. Shadar Kai are absolutely crazy, and then you look at a pretty good side-grade in the Eladrin, or the nuts melee capacity of the Bugbear.

Then on the other end of the spectrum some races got practically trashed in comparison (Aasimar for instance).

[Psyren]

Uh no, Aasimar did great. Celestial Revelation might be numerically a bit smaller, but bonus action instead of action is still massive and a net positive for most builds. Consumption and Shroud also lost their friendly fire aspects, and Healing Hands got a buff, because 2.5*proficiency on average beats 1*level.

And that's on top of being able to choose Small size for indoor mounted builds, and getting an additional +1 to your ability scores even if you chose Cha for the +2.

[strangebloke]

They're really good, but MPMM took some races and just threw out any notion of balance. Shadar Kai are absolutely crazy, and then you look at a pretty good side-grade in the Eladrin, or the nuts melee capacity of the Bugbear.

Then on the other end of the spectrum some races got practically trashed in comparison (Aasimar for instance).

Pretty much every race in the book got buffed, some more than others (orc is like a whole new race) but the ones that are 'trashed' are more like the new fire genasi. It got buffed, but it was arguably one of the worst races outside volo's to begin with whereas now its... still worse than PHB tiefling with floating ASIs.

[stoutstien]

Uh no, Aasimar did great. Celestial Revelation might be numerically a bit smaller, but bonus action instead of action is still massive and a net positive for most builds. Consumption and Shroud also lost their friendly fire aspects, and Healing Hands got a buff, because 2.5*proficiency on average beats 1*level.

And that's on top of being able to choose Small size for indoor mounted builds, and getting an additional +1 to your ability scores even if you chose Cha for the +2.

The healing actually comes out a little bit behind but overall I agree they came out okay. The change is make it perfect for my star spawn priest build.

[Dork_Forge]

Uh no, Aasimar did great. Celestial Revelation might be numerically a bit smaller, but bonus action instead of action is still massive and a net positive for most builds. Consumption and Shroud also lost their friendly fire aspects, and Healing Hands got a buff, because 2.5*proficiency on average beats 1*level.

And that's on top of being able to choose Small size for indoor mounted builds, and getting an additional +1 to your ability scores even if you chose Cha for the +2.

Let's break it down then, first the most glaring error and I don't know what's going on with WotC that it got published: They're still Cha dependent on some stuff. That makes no sense with their design shift and looks like sloppy editing of the original.

Healing hands: Changing a healing ability from a certainty to dice rolling needs to be better than what they made it. Whilst the average is sometimes better than the level equivalent, you're as likely to roll under the average as you are over it. And then even if you do take the average... it just isn't better across the board. Starting at 8th level and getting worse as levels increase, it dips in and out of being slightly better as proficiency increases. This change is one of the things that held the Aasimar player in one of my games back from switching over, she really doesn't like the idea of giving up a certain 10 (atm) for some dice, especially since Healing Hands comes into play most days.

Celestial Revelation: This isn't 'a bit smaller,' proficiency instead of level is just a straight-up nerf at every level except 1st. If they had changed it to more frequently than once per long rest then maybe this wouldn't be the case, but it still is once per long rest.

Necrotic Shroud: minor improvement, still Cha dependent.

Radiant Consumption: Nothing about the wording says it doesn't do friendly fire anymore. At most it just doesn't hurt you, which is small consolation when you're already resistant to the tiny amount of damage it now does anyway.

You can't freely use the choose-your-own stats because multiple parts of the race are still Cha dependent, the damage is a piddly shadow of its former self, the healing ability lost the only thing it had going for it- its reliability, and the only net benefit is the transformation is now a bonus action.

Choosing to be small is little benefit, especially since that makes the bonus action transformation worse with a lot of mounted builds that use subclass companions.

Pretty much every race in the book got buffed, some more than others (orc is like a whole new race) but the ones that are 'trashed' are more like the new fire genasi. It got buffed, but it was arguably one of the worst races outside volo's to begin with whereas now its... still worse than PHB tiefling with floating ASIs.

Minotaur is arguably just worse

Goblin traded respectable nova damage for less damage and charm resistance (a wash at best)

Aarakocra became less appealing than Owlin or Fairies.

[MisterD]

I have A STR based Vengeance Paladin that is a Chosen of the Raven Queen so no Elven Accuracy for me, but it is in theme. And is fun.

[Psyren]

The healing actually comes out a little bit behind but overall I agree they came out okay. The change is make it perfect for my star spawn priest build.

d4*prof ranges from 5-24 on average (and can spike as high as 48, though that's unlikely) vs. 1-20, so I'm still not seeing it. Maybe at a couple of levels in there 1*lvl catches up or briefly pulls ahead but on average the new progression should be superior at most levels and definitely at the lowest and highest end.

Let's break it down then, first the most glaring error and I don't know what's going on with WotC that it got published: They're still Cha dependent on some stuff. That makes no sense with their design shift and looks like sloppy editing of the original.

Healing hands: Changing a healing ability from a certainty to dice rolling needs to be better than what they made it. Whilst the average is sometimes better than the level equivalent, you're as likely to roll under the average as you are over it. And then even if you do take the average... it just isn't better across the board. Starting at 8th level and getting worse as levels increase, it dips in and out of being slightly better as proficiency increases. This change is one of the things that held the Aasimar player in one of my games back from switching over, she really doesn't like the idea of giving up a certain 10 (atm) for some dice, especially since Healing Hands comes into play most days.

Celestial Revelation: This isn't 'a bit smaller,' proficiency instead of level is just a straight-up nerf at every level except 1st. If they had changed it to more frequently than once per long rest then maybe this wouldn't be the case, but it still is once per long rest.

Necrotic Shroud: minor improvement, still Cha dependent.

Radiant Consumption: Nothing about the wording says it doesn't do friendly fire anymore. At most it just doesn't hurt you, which is small consolation when you're already resistant to the tiny amount of damage it now does anyway.

You can't freely use the choose-your-own stats because multiple parts of the race are still Cha dependent, the damage is a piddly shadow of its former self, the healing ability lost the only thing it had going for it- its reliability, and the only net benefit is the transformation is now a bonus action.

Choosing to be small is little benefit, especially since that makes the bonus action transformation worse with a lot of mounted builds that use subclass companions.

Already covered the healing, and for the rest:

Revelation: you're still ignoring that activating this as a BONUS ACTION is much less costly than an ACTION in terms of overall DPR, especially when most fights get decided within ~3-4 rounds. This is especially true for Soul because bonus action flight means you're much more likely to get into the fray on your first round rather than wasting it, particularly if flying enemies, difficult terrain or other obstacles are a factor.
Cha dependency: Yes, you'll probably still want to use a Cha-based class with this race, but at best that means you're no worse off than you were before. You also get a +1 you didn't have before. (Note too that you're overblowing this point anyway - Radiant Soul and Radiant Consumption Aasimar don't actually need Cha for anything.)
Radiant: You might be resistant, but taking no damage every round still beats taking some damage every round.
Able to be Small size: This matters because thanks to the Cha dependency, one of the best classes for this race is going to be paladin, so being able to mount up inside any dungeon is going to be pretty impactful for them.

[Skrum]

orc is like a whole new race

As a huge fan of orcs (they are my favorite race), I'm pretty salty about the changes they got lol. Yes they got Relentless Endurance, but Aggressive got significantly worse, and they lost 2 skill proficiencies. That's...not good. The got an ability that they should've had to begin with, but all of their existing traits got taken away or nerfed. I'm not going to say it was a completely lateral change because Relentless Endurance really is pretty good, but eish, I was thinking it'd be more like "orcs get Relentless Endurance, and also new ability X."

[Psyren]

As a huge fan of orcs (they are my favorite race), I'm pretty salty about the changes they got lol. Yes they got Relentless Endurance, but Aggressive got significantly worse, and they lost 2 skill proficiencies. That's...not good. The got an ability that they should've had to begin with, but all of their existing traits got taken away or nerfed. I'm not going to say it was a completely lateral change because Relentless Endurance really is pretty good, but eish, I was thinking it'd be more like "orcs get Relentless Endurance, and also new ability X."

Relentless Endurance wasn't the only benefit. Adrenaline Rush, while now having a use limit, is much more versatile now - it's explicitly the Dash action, so it scales with other boosts to your walking speed. In addition, it triggers things that trigger on you Dashing or can benefit you in instances that care if you're Dashing, like Chases. And finally, you aren't locked to moving closer to an enemy, you can use your bonus Dash to retreat from danger or run to an ally's side. And on top of all that, you get temporary hit points for using it.

I agree with Primal Intuition being an unfortunate loss but I understand why they got rid of it. Orcs were the most scrutinized race going into these changes so any cultural implications through their racials have potential to be misconstrued. Better to keep things as physiological as possible, which the current racials do.

[stoutstien]

Healing hands being 1d4 per Prof works out to
Low/average/high
2/5/8
3/7.5/12
4/10/16
5/12.5/20
6/15/24

Not bad or good. Better if you can do something like a gift chain lock to maximize it but all in all it's not a bad chunk of HP. I preferred the fixed amount just because it was unique.

[Skrum]

Aggressive was already "move up to your speed" so it's dash without being called dash. I believe a piece of errata also said the ability just couldn't be used to end up further away, so especially on a battle field with enemies around, that wasn't very limited at all (for melee builds. I agree this is more of a positive change for ranged builds).

But the quite limited times per day really bugs me. The ability is better, but not THAT much better. But because every racial is now proficiency bonus times/LR, it gets the limit despite it being at best a mediocre ability.

Tortles got their racial skill list expanded! And they were already a better race than orcs, pre or post MotMV! I just don't see what they were seeing.

[Dork_Forge]

d4*prof ranges from 5-24 on average (and can spike as high as 48, though that's unlikely) vs. 1-20, so I'm still not seeing it. Maybe at a couple of levels in there 1*lvl catches up or briefly pulls ahead but on average the new progression should be superior at most levels and definitely at the lowest and highest end.

No... That's not how that works?

Average 5-15

Max 8-24

The average just isn't good enough to warrant the randomness.

Revelation: you're still ignoring that activating this as a BONUS ACTION is much less costly than an ACTION in terms of overall DPR, especially when most fights get decided within ~3-4 rounds. This is especially true for Soul because bonus action flight means you're much more likely to get into the fray on your first round rather than wasting it, particularly if flying enemies, difficult terrain or other obstacles are a factor.

No... I actually specifically mentioned that in the post you quoted.

This is a once per LR ability, meaning you'll probably want to save it for toughre fights. On top of that, the damage difference is so significant that you have to do something offensive with that relatively gained action, and succeed with it, for it to matter at all.

A fly speed equal to your walking speed does not necessarily mean you'll get anywhere faster.

Cha dependency: Yes, you'll probably still want to use a Cha-based class with this race, but at best that means you're no worse off than you were before. You also get a +1 you didn't have before. (Note too that you're overblowing this point anyway - Radiant Soul and Radiant Consumption Aasimar don't actually need Cha for anything.)

Paladins could play an Aasimar already and get relevant ability bumps, the +1 isn't new in general, just a bit more flexible.

And I'm not overblowing this point at all, one of three options is dependent on a Cha-based DC. Light also uses it, that's less of a practical issue and more a glaring design fault. Making Shroud a Cha based option nukes its appeal thoroughly, reducing appealing options for most classes by a third seems like a fail.

Radiant: You might be resistant, but taking no damage every round still beats taking some damage every round.

When the trade off is doing minor chip damage instead of actually significant damage, that doesn't become so rosy. The damage aura is now just a ribbon unless you're fighting a horde with some kind of weakness to radiant damage.

Able to be Small size: This matters because thanks to the Cha dependency, one of the best classes for this race is going to be paladin, so being able to mount up inside any dungeon is going to be pretty impactful for them.

Not only is this a very niche benefit from 5th level onwards, a mastiff has 5 hit points. They aren't going to be mounted in a dungeon for long when it will die at the drop of a hat.

[Psyren]

@stoutstien, thanks for the correction.

Aggressive was already "move up to your speed" so it's dash without being called dash. I believe a piece of errata also said the ability just couldn't be used to end up further away, so especially on a battle field with enemies around, that wasn't very limited at all (for melee builds. I agree this is more of a positive change for ranged builds).

But the quite limited times per day really bugs me. The ability is better, but not THAT much better. But because every racial is now proficiency bonus times/LR, it gets the limit despite it being at best a mediocre ability.

Tortles got their racial skill list expanded! And they were already a better race than orcs, pre or post MotMV! I just don't see what they were seeing.

Looking at the errata file linked earlier, Aggressive wasn't changed - you have to be closer to the enemy than you started, being equidistant is as forbidden as being further away.

And again, not being called Dash does matter. For example, Aggressive doesn't work with the Mobile feat, but Adrenaline Rush does.

@D_F: Tougher fights might take longer but they're also the ones where every round counts, so being able to do something as a bonus action is still a benefit. Doing zero damage for the first round because you needed to turn your aura on is a big deal. Light being based on Cha barely means anything in practice; you can simply cast it on one of your objects or something unattended and negate the save entirely, so the Cha dependency is still vastly overblown. You can dump Cha entirely as an Aasimar now and so long as you're not Necrotic, you're no worse off. And a Peryton is medium and has much more than 5 HP, on top of you being able to share your spells with it, but you can also ride your Beast of the Land or Steel Defender etc.

[Dork_Forge]

@stoutstien, thanks for the correction.

And your opinion of it now you know it's half what you thought it was?

And again, not being called Dash does matter. For example, Aggressive doesn't work with the Mobile feat, but Adrenaline Rush does.

What? The only part of the Mobile feat Aggressive doesn't work with is the ignoring difficult terrain bullet point, the one that likely comes up least and probably isn't why anyone is taking it?

@D_F: Tougher fights might take longer but they're also the ones where every round counts, so being able to do something as a bonus action is still a benefit. Doing zero damage for the first round because you needed to turn your aura on is a big deal.

Using your action for your transformation =/= doing nothing. Depending what you chose you can be frightening or actively damaging the enemy, and then you have your bonus action. Which you can use on things like the mounts you're suggesting later in this post, buff spells etc.


Let's say this is a Scourge (or whatever the replacement is called) at 5th level in a tougher fight taking 6 rounds. For disclosure I pulled that number out of thin air before doing any math.

This will assume a single enemy because, well it doesn't make a difference to anything if it's one or many and it makes the numbers a little faster.*

Edit: * I now realise the more enemies hit by the aura the more significant the lead the Volo's version has, which... just illustrates my point.

Damage is only from the transformation assuming one hit per turn
Volos: 55 (11*5)
MPMM damage: 36 (12*3)

So that's a difference of 19 that the gained action needs to account for, let's say a Paladin with a +4 Str:

Longsword (dueling) - 21 (if both hit)

Glaive - 19

For that action to really matter you need to hit both attacks to pull ahead very slightly or break even, or smite on a single hit.

This is the best-case scenario for the MPMM Aasimar, at every level the damage difference that action needs to account for will increase. It never catches up, it only falls further behind, pressuring you to burn more resources on that action to make up the difference.

And then when it's all over you get to heal yourself for who knows how much, yay.

Light being based on Cha barely means anything in practice; you can simply cast it on one of your objects or something unattended and negate the save entirely, so the Cha dependency is still vastly overblown.

What? I explicitly said that the light part of it wasn't much of a mechanical issue, it just highlights 'what were they thinking?' Please don't state I'm overflowing something when you're misrepresenting my position.

You can dump Cha entirely as an Aasimar now and so long as you're not Necrotic, you're no worse off. And a Peryton is medium and has much more than 5 HP, on top of you being able to share your spells with it, but you can also ride your Beast of the Land or Steel Defender etc.

Oh, so you only need a 13th level Paladin now instead of a 5th, you really showed me there.

And you mean the mounts that require your action to command to do anything but move and dodge? You're trading damage from the action for damage from the bonus action.

You're jumping through a lot of hoops here and it still isn't a clear benefit.

[Psyren]

And your opinion of it now you know it's half what you thought it was?]

Still fine.

What? The only part of the Mobile feat Aggressive doesn't work with is the ignoring difficult terrain bullet point, the one that likely comes up least and probably isn't why anyone is taking it?

I don't care "why they take it," a mechanical difference is a mechanical difference.

Using your action for your transformation =/= doing nothing.

Actions still generally have more impact on a fight than bonus actions, so it's still generally a buff, especially for martials.

What? I explicitly said that the light part of it wasn't much of a mechanical issue, it just highlights 'what were they thinking?' Please don't state I'm overflowing something when you're misrepresenting my position.

"Cha dependent" is definitely overblowing.

Oh, so you only need a 13th level Paladin now instead of a 5th, you really showed me there.

You're right, all character builds and dungeon crawls usually stop by 5th level. You showed me too!

[Nefariis]

Apparently it's just me that think Aarakocra introduced the opportunity for the dumbest shenanigans by rewriting what I thought was already just 'meh' anyways.

The text says that your "fly speed is equal to your walking speed".

So a Mobile Elk Barbarian / Rogue Scout has an advantage and expertise on grapples, a reaction move 50ft, and on turn movement of 95ft. Add Haste and Boots of Speed for 400 feet of fly speed or 200 for reaction off turn reaction movement - and this build is ignoring monk / not even the most optimized for speed.

This was just such an unneeded change

[strangebloke]

Why are we talking about Aasimar?

Anyway, I think the Shadar-Kai is good, perhaps even the best race overall, but its not truly bonkers. Everything outside Blessing of the Raven Queen is pretty standard elf stuff, and while BotRQ is insane I'm not sure it beats out oldschool Aaracockra flight cheese or the insane DPR of the new kobold ability.

I've seen that new kobold ability in action, its insane in combination with a lot of stuff that's already crazy strong. The party kobold updated to this ability relatively recently and the party hexblade with EA took out half a dragon's life bar in a single turn. Triple advantage + expanded crit range + crit smites = lots of damage, who knew. Then my BM and the paladin jumped in and the whole fight was over.

[x3n0n]

Apparently it's just me that think Aarakocra introduced the opportunity for the dumbest shenanigans by rewriting what I thought was already just 'meh' anyways.

The text says that your "fly speed is equal to your walking speed".

So a Mobile Elk Barbarian / Rogue Scout has an advantage and expertise on grapples, a reaction move 50ft, and on turn movement of 95ft. Add Haste and Boots of Speed for 400 feet of fly speed or 200 for reaction off turn reaction movement - and this build is ignoring monk / not even the most optimized for speed.

This was just such an unneeded change

Well, the old version already had a *base* fly speed of 50, and the other flying races (and Winged Boots) share the new wording. Everyone I've seen comment thinks this is a nerf, not a buff.

[Psyren]

Why are we talking about Aasimar?

He believed they got quote "trashed."

Well, the old version already had a *base* fly speed of 50, and the other flying races (and Winged Boots) share the new wording. Everyone I've seen comment thinks this is a nerf, not a buff.

Base 50 is nice (not so much 25 walking speed) but generally, walking is easier to buff than flying.

[strangebloke]

Base 50 is nice (not so much 25 walking speed) but generally, walking is easier to buff than flying.

On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, its not that much easier? Longstrider and mobile and monk bonuses both apply to speed, not just fly speed. Unless you can get over 50 speed with bonuses that only apply to walking speed, this is strictly a nerf. Only things I'm aware of is Elk totem and zephyr strike, which don't even work together (and zephyr strike only works on one turn).

And like. If you go elk totem you're still slower than an oldschool Aaracockra, even when raging, and you've given up the ability to go bear totem or wolf totem.

[Hael]

Shadar Kai is really strong. But strong in the conventional sense, not game breaking like flight speed can be or how pack tactics used to be.

I’m more irratated with how good the Harengorn bard was I just played with over the weekend. Its yet another unbelievably good caster option that provides them all they need to escape, and to get initiative when they need it.

Its all getting a little too easy with some of these races.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

My question would be: how do you rate it compared to Custom Lineage?
My general sense would be that CL is probably better for SAD characters at lower levels. Starting with an 18 and 1/2 feat is tough to compete with for many classes. As you level the Elf eventually gets more uses of the quazi-Misty Step and catches up with it's main Ability.
For MAD classes I don't really see CL as a bump since you're trading your 16s for a 15 and an 18. The elf is probably at least on par out of the box.

[Skrum]

My question would be: how do you rate it compared to Custom Lineage?
My general sense would be that CL is probably better for SAD characters at lower levels. Starting with an 18 and 1/2 feat is tough to compete with for many classes. As you level the Elf eventually gets more uses of the quazi-Misty Step and catches up with it's main Ability.
For MAD classes I don't really see CL as a bump since you're trading your 16s for a 15 and an 18. The elf is probably at least on par out of the box.

A good point. And yeah, I'm inclined to agree. TCL sub 5 (even 8) is pretty hard to compete with.

I hate TCL though lol. Won't play one on principle.

[Dork_Forge]

Still fine.

We've established that it isn't the same, so is it a buff or a nerf?

I don't care "why they take it," a mechanical difference is a mechanical difference.

'Doesn't work with Mobile' isn't the same as 'doesn't work with one, minor, part of Mobile,' contrary to how you were presenting it an Aggressive ORc has plenty of reasons to take Mobile, it actually synergises with Aggressive pretty well.

Actions still generally have more impact on a fight than bonus actions, so it's still generally a buff, especially for martials.

So you're just going to completely ignore the damage deficit that action has to overcome for "actions still generally have more impact?" The action of setting the transformation up is doing something and martials are better off with it than a spell caster (Action Surge, Rage, Cunning Action, SotW, Patient Defense, Hunter's Mark etc.).

You glossed over any actual detail and just reiterated your stance, that is not a defense or an argument for it.

"Cha dependent" is definitely overblowing.

Again, you're ignoring the majority of what I'm saying to double down on what suits you. One of three options is Cha dependent and a core spell keys off it for no reason. It's a design flaw at minimum and shooting the fear option in the foot at worst.

You're right, all character builds and dungeon crawls usually stop by 5th level. You showed me too!

If you have to wait until 13th level to have a meaningful benefit from part of your race, then that isn't a good sign. And you certainly have crawls after that, I'm running two Tier 3 ones right now! And the Aasimar has been leveraging her entire racial suite of features since level 3 (when we started).

The Peryton example was clutching at straws and you know it.

Apparently it's just me that think Aarakocra introduced the opportunity for the dumbest shenanigans by rewriting what I thought was already just 'meh' anyways.

The text says that your "fly speed is equal to your walking speed".

I don't think this has the effect you think it does, it's always been very easy to ramp the flying speed with buffs that just don't specify 'walking.'

Shadar Kai is really strong. But strong in the conventional sense, not game breaking like flight speed can be or how pack tactics used to be.

I'd agree with this, the teleport can come in clutch at times, but it won't drastically alter gameplay.

I’m more irratated with how good the Harengorn bard was I just played with over the weekend. Its yet another unbelievably good caster option that provides them all they need to escape, and to get initiative when they need it.

I'd really agree with this, Harengon is a very powerful option for pretty much everyone. It's actually a little worse on the Bard since they get some initiative boost from Jack of All Trades.

Its all getting a little too easy with some of these races.

The power creep is real and getting worse by the book.

My question would be: how do you rate it compared to Custom Lineage?
My general sense would be that CL is probably better for SAD characters at lower levels. Starting with an 18 and 1/2 feat is tough to compete with for many classes. As you level the Elf eventually gets more uses of the quazi-Misty Step and catches up with it's main Ability.
For MAD classes I don't really see CL as a bump since you're trading your 16s for a 15 and an 18. The elf is probably at least on par out of the box.

I don't really rate CL that highly, I think a single +2 is just clunkier than V Human with the only real pay off being the option of darkvision. So IMO Shadar Kai blows that out the water.

[Skrum]

I don't really rate CL that highly, I think a single +2 is just clunkier than V Human with the only real pay off being the option of darkvision. So IMO Shadar Kai blows that out the water.

Dark vision is really good though.

Also, because of the feat, it's not really a +2, it's generally a +3, plus the other benefits of the feat. That's really strong. When other characters are just taking their first feat, TCL is capping their main stat. That's incredibly good for casters especially.