D&D 5E The New D&D Book: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything!

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The new D&D book has been revealed, and it is Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, "a magical mixture of rules options for the world's greatest roleplaying game." The 192-page book is due out November 17th, with standard and alternate covers, and contains more subclasses, spells, character options, group patrons, and rules. Oh, and psionics!

Cover art is by Magali Villeneuve

WHAT WONDERFUL WITCHERY IS THIS?

A magical mixture of rules options for the world's greatest roleplaying game.

The wizard Tasha, whose great works include the spell Tasha’s hideous laughter, has gathered bits and bobs of precious lore during her illustrious career as an adventurer. Her enemies wouldn’t want these treasured secrets scattered across the multiverse, so in defiance, she has collected and codified these tidbits for the enrichment of all.

• EXPANDED SUBCLASSES. Try out subclass options for every Dungeons & Dragons class, including the artificer, which appears in the book.
• MORE CHARACTER OPTIONS. Delve into a collection of new class features and new feats, and customize your character’s origin using straightforward rules for modifying a character’s racial traits.
• INTRODUCING GROUP PATRONS. Whether you're part of the same criminal syndicate or working for an ancient dragon, each group patron option comes with its own perks and types of assignments.
• SPELLS, ARTIFACTS & MAGIC TATTOOS. Discover more spells, as well as magic tattoos, artifacts, and other magic items for your campaign.
• EXPANDED RULES OPTIONS. Try out rules for sidekicks, supernatural environments, natural hazards, and parleying with monsters, and gain guidance on running a session zero.
• A PLETHORA OF PUZZLES. Ready to be dropped into any D&D adventure, puzzles of varied difficulty await your adventurers, complete with traps and guidance on using the puzzles in a campaign.

Full of expanded content for players and Dungeon Masters alike, this book is a great addition to the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Baked in you'll find more rule options for all the character classes in the Player's Handbook, including more subclass options. Thrown in for good measure is the artificer class, a master of magical invention. And this witch's brew wouldn't be complete without a dash of added artifacts, spellbook options, spells for both player characters and monsters, magical tattoos, group patrons, and other tasty goodies.

Here's the alternate cover:

UPDATE! An online event called D&D Celebration from September 18th-20th will be hosted by Elle Osili-Wood, which is "an epic live event with panels, gameplay, & previews of the book!" See the video in the Tweet below!

Gather your party and join the adventure at  D&D Celebration 2020, an online gaming event open to fans all over the world!

Celebrate the release of  Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden  with a weekend of Icewind Dale–themed virtual play sessions and help us create the biggest virtual tabletop roleplaying game event ever! Fans will also get the chance to preview some content from  Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the forthcoming book featuring massive rules options, subclasses, and more for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Watch featured play sessions with D&D luminaries and learn something new with a slate of panels led by the D&D design team and community.


UPDATE! Check out the Nerdarchy site for some previews.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Has, Well… Everything for 5E D&D

The follow up to 2017’s Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, on Nov. 17, 2020 fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons upcoming Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything must indeed possess powerful …

nerdarchy.com

UPDATE! Other news items around the web about this book:

With D&D's Next Rulebook, Character Creation Will Never Be the Same

Although Dungeons & Dragons’ fifth edition has added as many classes, races, and rules as it has since it first began, for the most part, the way players create characters has stayed the same. You pick a race, that race defines certain things about you, and so on. But the game’s next sourcebook...

io9.gizmodo.com

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything coming in November, brings new ways to personalize your characters

Wizards of the Coast has announced its next D&D book! Entitled Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, this rules expansion follows up Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and will be available on November 17th. Providing both players and DMs with the tools to level up their games, the 192 page tome will be...

gamingtrend.com

Dungeons & Dragons Announces New Book and Fall Event - IGN

The D&D team reveals an online community event in September and a new sourcebook soon to follow.

www.ign.com

D&D's next expansion, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, adds new subclasses and racial customization

Dungeons & Dragons is getting its biggest rules expansion in three years, courtesy of one powerful witch. In November, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything will hit shelves, offering D&D players several new subclasses, some exciting new spells, and a new way to create characters that’s fully...

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[DnD Warlord]

For whatever it's worth, game designers I know, both tabletop and electronic, adore fourth edition for its ruleset. I think its issue -- certainly for me, but seemingly for a lot of people -- that it was too big of a break from what many people wanted from D&D.

I literally couldn't play my 3E illusionist in 4E; there were "illusions" in 4E, but they were just skins on existing effects, when every other version of illusions in D&D have mostly been wildly improvisational, requiring DMs to adjudicate on the fly, which wasn't the direction 4E was going.

Neither side is wrong here. Seriously, the professional game designers I know are unanimous on the 4E ruleset. But the players said this well designed game wasn't the one they were looking for. I would guess it would still be in print if it wasn't called "Dungeons & Dragons."

Yeah 4e was far from perfect. I wish they had taken it and improved it for 5e (including things like you say illusions)

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Could we create paragon racial classes?

Monster pets as sidesicks?

Will we can use the new rules in D&D beyond and DM Guild?

A suicide-squad PC group with Amanda Waller's ersatz as patron?

 

[Parmandur]

The idea of an "interregnum" here doesn't make sense to me. People did not shut down their D&D games and cease all purchases on the day the final 4E product hit the shelf.

However, I could see treating Next (released in May 2012) as a minor edition of its own. If so, it would certainly count as part of the "major edition" 5E, since Next and 5E are mechanically compatible. That would extend the reign of 5th Edition to 8 years and counting.

That makes sense, and the major/minor distinction is helpfully. People were still playing BD&D or OD&D in 2013, and heck, WotC even released reprints in that timeframe. But in 2012, WotC cancelled all 4E products, and went to putting out edition neutral material and playtest.

 

[Sacrosanct]

But did you not like it because it was bad design, or because it was "bad D&D?"

Didn't say it was bad design. Said I didn't like it (the design and feel, but the feel was because of the design), which was in reference to WizBang's comment that every designer he knew adored it.

 

[Reynard]

Didn't say it was bad design. Said I didn't like it (the design and feel, but the feel was because of the design), which was in reference to WizBang's comment that every designer he knew adored it.

I thought it was clear from context he was talking about "liking" it from a good design standpoint, not a personal preference standpoint.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Yeah 4e was far from perfect. I wish they had taken it and improved it for 5e (including things like you say illusions)

I can understand wishing that one's favorite thing had been more popular (Koogle, how I yearn for thee) but given how D&D has exploded since 5e, I'm curious how you square that with your preference. Do you think that an improved 4e would have succeeded as well, or better? Or is your preference for 4e independent of concerns about market size?

No judgment either way; I'm genuinely just curious. I think the numbers show that WotC did the right thing, but it's also true that "popular" does not equate to "better".

 

[Gradine]

My personal (and definitely the definitive) opinion is that 4e was easily the best tabletop square-grid class-based Strategy JRPG simulator ever made. Give me something like Final Fantasy Tactics built with 4e's system and I'd be a happy person.

As a D&D game? .....Eh?

Okay, definitive opinion placed, let us move on now.

 

[Undrave]

Anyways, while I recognize some people stated Beast of Earth had a swim speed option, I still think it's more likely that they keep simple parallelism and just do different abilities with charge/flyby/??. I think the more interesting question is going to be how many of the new Maneuvers made it into the book, as some of them like Restraining Strike were hilariously overpowered. Furthermore, there's healthy criticism that Battlemaster was already the best fighter stub, so while it is modular enough to get maneuvers it also doesn't deserve a disproportionate buff. IMO the fix is to just buff the other subs by giving them more/better out of combat features - Champion for example should have much better Athletics/Acrobatics checks, like maybe a form of reliable talent or something.

I really hope they kept the skill maneuvers, they were a great way to add out of combat utility to the Battlemaster at low design cost.

I like the psi die mechanic. If it doesn’t make it for Psionics I hope it makes it for another righter type

I liked it too! Apparently people didn't like to "learn a new mechanic" -_- and people found it "confusing" that the high roll was bad and the low roll was 'good'... like it was that hard to grok? Bleh.

(Yeah, I'm a day in the past. So sue me). I just got out of a long meeting looking at tiny text on videoconference slides, and with my blurry vision I misread this as "Oath of Hedonism". That would be a ... different... sort of Paladin.

That'd be a FANTASTIC Paladin you mean

My personal (and definitely the definitive) opinion is that 4e was easily the best tabletop square-grid class-based Strategy JRPG simulator ever made. Give me something like Final Fantasy Tactics built with 4e's system and I'd be a happy person.

Man, I loved the heck out of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance when 4e came out, that's probably why I like it so much.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Despite the fact that I hate witchy hats, I'm looking forward to this book.

 

[Charlaquin]

I can understand wishing that one's favorite thing had been more popular (Koogle, how I yearn for thee) but given how D&D has exploded since 5e, I'm curious how you square that with your preference. Do you think that an improved 4e would have succeeded as well, or better? Or is your preference for 4e independent of concerns about market size?

No judgment either way; I'm genuinely just curious. I think the numbers show that WotC did the right thing, but it's also true that "popular" does not equate to "better".

I think it’s a mistake to attribute 5e’s explosive growth to its design alone. There were a great many factors that contributed to 5e’s success, and while I do think it’s design is among them, I don’t think it’s nearly as impactful as some of the others. The playtest period some are calling an “interregnum?” It was functionally a multi-year long 5e marketing campaign. Everyone wanted to see what WotC was going to do with the new edition of D&D.

Then of course you have the advent of live streaming D&D both advertising the game and finally breaking D&D out of the “older cousin” model of intake. Before, if you wanted to learn to play D&D, you either had to figure it out yourself, or learn from an already-enfranchised player. Since 4e alienated a lot of the enfranchised player base and Pathfinder gave them an alternative that still “felt like” the D&D they were used to, which significantly limited the game’s growth. Now that streaming games are a thing, Matt Mercer can fill the role of the “older cousin” for anyone who wants to learn. And considering 4e actually did sell well, but struggled to grow the brand, I think it would have done incredibly if it had had its own Critical Role.

Then of course there were factors that held 4e back, like the tragic circumstances surrounding the planned tie-in VTT.

It’s obviously impossible to know how well 4e would have done in different circumstances. But it is hard to deny that it would have done much better if it had enjoyed the same beneficial circumstances 5e did instead of the detrimental ones it actually faced. How well either game has sold is therefore not a strong indication of the quality of their design.

I do think 5e would be doing even better now if it had embraced more of 4e’s good design choices.