Review by C.J. Bunce
Next Tuesday Wizards of the Coast releases its new set of rules options and subclasses for Dungeons & Dragons in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, featuring the storied mother of witches and daughter of Baba Yaga as she pulls back the curtain to reveal new spells and other magic miscellany. Tired of the standard 5th Edition rules and want to spice up your play a bit? Tasha’s book is all about options–options to flip the framework of characters on end, options to expand strictures of backgrounds and races, maybe even changing that trait you always wished you could modify for your favorite character class. It’s for players and Dungeon Masters as a supplement to the Player’s Handbook, the Monster Manual, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and can be paired with any previously issued adventure. Pre-order it now here at Amazon for Tuesday delivery. What’s all inside?
Following in the footsteps of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and incorporating more than a year of playtest feedback from the D&D community’s Unearthed Arcana website, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduces class features and subclasses which add options to the current character classes, with new attention in this volume to the artificer class, who use magical tools to unlock the powers within objects. Want to personalize your character like never before? If you incorporate these rules, you can–even disconnect lineage from race. Up your game with group patrons who can help mold a character’s story, offer up perks like in a real-world guild or union, and DMs can also have the patron run assignments for member players.
New rules promote the idea of a Session Zero–a first meeting to get all players on the same page upfront. Tasha delivers new, customizable spells and new magical objects (I’d skip Tasha’s caustic brew, but a fulminating treatise may be in your league), plus items that can take their form as body tattoos (and an all-purpose tool–who wouldn’t love to have that while stuck in a cave in Ten-Towns?).
You’re guaranteed to have fun with a chapter on puzzles, adaptive riddles and mysteries that can be brought into any hero’s saga, to enter a room, unlock a chest, avert a trap, or break out alive. Try “Exact Change” first, then work your way up to the mosaic puzzles–in gameplay, of course.
It may seem like the sky’s the limit, because it is. Some long-time players may want to stick to the tried and true and this may not be for them, but others may want to make those game tweaks they’ve long wished for. Plus sidekicks and parley with monsters!
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything arrives Tuesday with a standard cover by Magali Villeneuve and an alternate game shop shimmering cover by Wylie Beckert. Pre-order Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything now here at Amazon and look for it everywhere Tuesday, November 17, 2020.
