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It sounds like Thaumaturge got a lot of the weaker options improved a bit, something I was personally hoping for.
(I'm going off of what folks have reported, so any corrections are appreciated.)
Chalice: Since this is the one I played most recently, I was really happy to see the improvements here. Base Chalice's sip option went from "2 + half level" to "level, minimum 3". No longer falling behind what mono-element Wood Kineticist gets for free is nice.
Adept now scales at double level, making a reliable source of low bleed a better investment. Sounds like the only upgrades are still circumstantial at this level, so I still probably wouldn't upgrade Chalice if I weren't planning on intentionally triggering the bleed clause.
Intensify got significantly improved: you no longer need to hit an enemy (so no more restrictive three-action combo, just a more normal two-action combo), just be within 30 feet. Adds level to the temp HP, or double level to the healing from draining the Chalice. Is turtling up that much worth two actions? Usually not, but I can at least see cases where it's handy.
Mirror: The common house-rule is in place- Mirror's Adept ability is now optional, so your reflection only explodes if you want it to. Now a much fairer option to consider, without needing to run it by your GM.
Wand: Boosted damage is now only on cooldown for one round, not 1d4 rounds! The reliability of two-or-three times a fight instead of once or twice is big. Additionally, the base damage changed from 1d4 + stat to 3d4. That's +1 average unboosted damage at first level, but it's +3 to the boosted damage since there are more dice to change to d6s.
Intensify Vulnerability is better now, adding level to damage instead of just 1 + damage dice. That makes the three action boosted option hit harder than a cantrip.
Lantern: Intensify Vulnerability now doubles the area of the bright light (presumably in addition to the old effects?). The Lantern's area of effect is also now treated as an aura, although I don't know if that makes any practical difference.
Call Implement Feat: The biggest reason I used to recommend this is now gone! If somebody is holding onto your stuff and you fail to retrieve it, you can just try again after midnight now. Before, this could become a dead feat even in the rare situation it was relevant. Now, you can reliably plan on eventually getting the object back, allowing for active skullduggery like the old "sell you something I can teleport back to me" or "here, take this scrying focus as a gift" routines.
Paired Link Feat: A solid glow-up, if I'm understanding this correctly. The old version felt like a mostly dead feat- "share touch spells (and Thaumaturge abilities) with one person up to thirty feet" would be situational on a caster, but on a non-caster... woof. Ranged Chalice, mainly? The new version is no longer limited to touch spells and no longer has a range limit. Letting the party caster ignore range considerations altogether when targeting you with spells is very solid, even if it still probably needs normal line-of-effect.
Know-It-All Feat: Reworded for the new Recall Knowledge rules, giving you an extra question.
Thaumaturge's Demesne Feat: No longer references rituals, and doesn't give an elemental sentinel. The elemental sentinel was a bit forgettable as an inclusion and was a bit unclear on heightening, so I'm not too concerned on that one.
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All-in-all, I'm happy that the class got improvements to most of the options that I used to caution new players about the usefulness of. Some easing up on swapping to passive implements would have been nice, but it's understandable if they remain effectively action-or-intensify to draw.
I really want to see the book on this one to confirm the lack of updates around things like if you can swap as part of Intensify, but overall good changes. Bringing up the weaker options is largely what Thaumaturge needed since the core class works pretty well.
I've had a lot of Thaum players (its a popular class in my groups) and I think they'll be happy to have the weaker implements getting tuned.
The Lantern's area of effect is also now treated as an aura
If the effect isn't an Aura, then it is pretty easy to make the rules argument that the effect is stationary after use even if the Thaumaturge and the lantern move to another location.
That makes no sense and the number of tables that run it that way was likely vanishingly small, but it is still good to have the official game mechanics match what people are actually going to play the game with.
Awesome. Good to see the wand get some love. 3d6 reflex at first level is damn good
And basically being guaranteed you should be able to get it off 2+ times in a fight is great. I liked the option before but if you kept rolling bad it feels not great where you get your main damage from it once in a fight just didn't feel very useful. Getting it every other round should make it a very solid choice for a ranged attack.
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Was hoping the bell got the mental and emotion traits removed at the very least...but this is still all welcome.CaptainTTRPG just dropped a video covering the class with the new changes and they actually DID remove those traits. Awesome!
Ooh, thanks! I don't know if this matters much, but it also looks like Lantern is no longer a once-per-round light-or-extinguish. It does allow for lighting up at the start of your turn and vanishing into the darkness at the end... but darkvision is already better for that, so it's not unreasonable.
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I like that the intensify vulnerability on the wand now exceeds personal antithesis damage and is on par with most weaknesses at its level. Sure, you gotta spend an extra action but this is pretty much an at-will spellcasting-like effect coming from a primarily martial class. Wand is legit good now.
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Ooh, thanks! I don't know if this matters much, but it also looks like Lantern is no longer a once-per-round light-or-extinguish. It does allow for lighting up at the start of your turn and vanishing into the darkness at the end... but darkvision is already better for that, so it's not unreasonable.
Oh, good catch! No, I like that a lot actually. Lantern is one of my favorite implements and this could give some more interesting combat utility.
Was hoping the bell got the mental and emotion traits removed at the very least...but this is still all welcome.CaptainTTRPG just dropped a video covering the class with the new changes and they actually DID remove those traits. Awesome!
That's great to hear- Bell's effects not stacking with Frightened was one thing, but not being able to apply them to anything immune to Frightened? That was rough.