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...

www.syfy.com

 

[Gradine]

The Seeker was a Primal Controller, which already existed in the Druid so it didn't actually have anything to do with 'grid filling'. In fact, if grid filling was a thing, we would have seen a Martial Controller and we never did.

Ah, the legend, the myth, the Martial Controller. Ironic that we never actually got one until the 5e PHB

<ducks>

 

[Undrave]

Ah, the legend, the myth, the Martial Controller. Ironic that we never actually got one until the 5e PHB

<ducks>

Which class counts as a Martial Controller??

 

[Chaosmancer]

HD aren't Healing Surges, they replace Surges, to 5e's gain, in my opinion (which, if we've all forgotten, I've previously established is the definitive opinion). "Healer" is not the role for everyone, true, but it's still a pretty popular role. 5e lets us have a dedicated healer for people who want it, but also doesn't really require a "healer" for a well-balanced party. That's a plus.

I'm not sure I understand your point. I was just looking at 4e surges a few days ago, and you could spend surges during a short rest (just like 5e) and recovered them on a long rest (just like 5e)

There are only three differences I can find.

1) You had more surges. Which was really more of a by-product of the next point

2) Surges were spent when you were healed. Which, there is good and bad here. On one hand, as I think you mean, a cleric's spell let you spend your own surge, instead of being an outside healing factor. Or drinking a potion did. But, on the other hand, you never got "more" effective hp by adding a cleric, it only allowed you to have easier access to your hp. This was balanced by the idea of the cleric also doing damage, buffing ect while healing.

3) Surges were a static value, and this is something I miss so much. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people get frustrated over low rolls from cure wounds, healing potions, or even short rests. You can burn an extra two or three dice just from the fact that you rolled 1's on the die and didn't recover nearly enough HP. And, static values would go a long way towards making healing more viable. I've got a few DMs who have ruled potions just give max value, and we might even start letting you take the average of your HD, just to help balance things out.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I think decreasing the effect of system mastery was a good move on WotC’s part for 5e. Surely you don’t think when people praise 4e’s design they’re praising the level of system mastery required, do you? 4e was praised for decreasing system mastery requirements relative to 3.5

Honestly I don't really have a good view of that since I skipped 3.5 and 4e. My impression from flipping through the books is that 4e had tons and tons and tons of options. And my impression from hearing people talk about it is that combat was really slow because of complex rules, which maybe I unfairly assumed to suggest system mastery.

But maybe this is totally derailing the thread.

Um...sidekicks, anyone?

 

[Reynard]

I always find it weird when 4E fans insist the edition would have been so much more popular if only Pathfinder had not been around. As if Pathfinder was not going strong when 5e appeared and as it overtook the hobby.

It wasn't Pathfinder that made 4E less popular than every other edition of D&D to date. It was 4E that did that.

On the upside, since 5e only does one of these rulesey books on occasion we only have to see this argument in general threads every once in a while.

 

[Charlaquin]

HD aren't Healing Surges, they replace Surges, to 5e's gain, in my opinion (which, if we've all forgotten, I've previously established is the definitive opinion).

You’re entitled to your opinion and I’m entitled to mine. You asked what, in my opinion, 5e would be doing better if it had embraced from 4e, and healing surges are one of those things. You are free to disagree with me on that.

"Healer" is not the role for everyone, true, but it's still a pretty popular role. 5e lets us have a dedicated healer for people who want it, but also doesn't really require a "healer" for a well-balanced party. That's a plus.

...Ok? “Lack of a dedicated healer role” was not one of the things I said 5e would have done better to have brought over from 4e, so this seems like a nonsequitur to me.

Feat-Based Multiclassing is great in concept; horrible in 4e's execution, where the math demands you go SAD which sorely limits your choices for interesting multi-class combos. 5e is finally getting it though, if the stuff we're hearing about Tasha's is true (hey, remember Tasha's! That's the book this thread is supposed to be about!)

Mhmm. So, again, feat-based multiclassing was a good idea from 4e that 5e would have done better to have embraced. That 4e’s execution of the idea was flawed doesn’t mean the idea wasn’t worth bringing over, and the fact that they are doing so in Tasha’s seems to edify my position on the matter.

I won't belabor the point on AEDU; but suffice to say it is not an objectively better class design system, and asymmetric class design makes for more interesting character design and party composition.

Who said anything about AEDU or symmetrical class design? I didn’t. I think Essentials made a good move by breaking free of those design constraints, and 5e did well to follow suit.

Combat roles and power sources instead led to forced symmetry that... well, eventually led to pointless classes and balance issues (oh hi Seeker!). These are all things 5e rightfully got rid of.

Roles and power sources did lead to grid-filling in 4e. That doesn’t mean they would have had to do so in 5e. They were useful design tech that 5e abandoned rather than trying to improve upon, to its detriment.

Also: "spell and power blocks that were clean and easy to parse with standardized language" always makes me a laugh, because I remember that time that a 4e PC that was on fire and immediately dove into a pond, but the DM insisted they were still on fire because the power clearly states that the condition doesn't end without a successful saving throw.

Forgive me if I don’t take seriously the argument that the design was bad because some people used it improperly.

Here, let's just do a definitive list (based, as it is, on my opinion)
Things 4e did horribly that 5e does much better:
*Math/Bounded Accuracy (Every PC is SAD or a bust)
*Rulings over Rules
*Asymmetric Class Design
*Ritual Casting
*Social & Exploration Pillars
*Theatre of the Mind Combat
*Magic Equipment
*Feat Design

For the most part I agree with these, apart from ritual casting. And while I think 5e’s Feat design is an improvement over 4e’s, I think it still has a lot of room for improvement.

Things 4e did great that 5e does better
*Hit Dice > Healing Surges
*Class Balance
*Cantrips
*Attack Actions (looking at you, 3.X Full Attack)
*Race Design

Disagreed on all counts. Healing surges are infinitely better than hit dice, 4e classes were much better balanced than 5e classes (though, I would argue that until Essentials, 4e classes may actually have been a bit too precisely balanced, and 5e did improve on it by letting things be a bit looser), cantrips are basically the same in both editions (and bringing them over was a good move), the action economies of both editions are basically the same but the wording was clearer in 4e, and race design... eh, I don’t think either edition performed spectacularly in that department.

Things 4e did great that 5e doesn't do as well
*Grid-Based Combat (specifically, Movement & Placement abilities)
*Bloodied is a great idea
*Monster design in general (other than the math)
*Feat-based Multi-classing (5e is finally catching up though!)
*OK, I also miss Themes

Agreed on all counts.

Things both 4e and 5e suck at it
*Skills (Skill Challenges are a great idea but 4e never fully stuck the landing (the terrible 4e math didn't help either), but 5e loses points for not even trying).

I think 5e’s skill system was actually a big improvement from 4e’s, though I think they hit on something truly great in the Next playtest and gradually walked it back to being merely pretty good in its final form. Skill challenges were a good idea that 5e would benefit from adopting in some form, though I don’t think the way 4e handled them would be the best way to go.

 

[DnD Warlord]

In what way? You mean like instead of Battle Master dice? Or something else?

Yee e ah imagine 1st level fighters get a d4 they can add to weapon damage. If they roll a 4 it goes away. At 3rd level it goes up to a d6 and the roll of 6 decreases it and 1 increases it. (Max of d6 right now) but you also get your subclass. Your subclass can give you manuvers (ala battle master) if you hit then add your combat die to damage you can choose to lower it a die code to make them save or disarmed

still get second wind and action surge... you get either more manuvers or other sub class features but the dice keep going up until you hit d12

 

[DnD Warlord]

I always find it weird when 4E fans insist the edition would have been so much more popular if only Pathfinder had not been around. As if Pathfinder was not going strong when 5e appeared and as it overtook the hobby.

It wasn't Pathfinder that made 4E less popular than every other edition of D&D to date. It was 4E that did that.

On the upside, since 5e only does one of these rulesey books on occasion we only have to see this argument in general threads every once in a while.

I find it funny how every time someone bashes 4e and anyone tries to defend it people like you come out to poop more on it..

 

[Oofta]

I think every edition has had it's strengths and weaknesses, including 5E. But it's not like streaming videos suddenly appeared simultaneously with 5E, bursting on the scene like some unheard of gateway drug to D&D. Matt Mercer and company's first game was in 4E they switched over to PathFinder and eventually 5E because, like a lot of people, those games simply better supported the style of game they wanted to run. Combat is important, but it's not the focus of the game. The rules are the glue that hold the game together, but it doesn't have to always be the core mechanic. While 4E was simple in some ways, in other ways it was quite complex in others. Running combat was a grind at higher levels.

When it comes to the new book, I'm glad they're releasing something like this as another set of optional rules. I think that makes more sense; the PHB is there for people who want the simple game but we can add in options if we want. My only concern would be fracturing the base, but as long as they don't overdo it like previous editions did I don't think it's going to be an issue.

 

[Charlaquin]

I always find it weird when 4E fans insist the edition would have been so much more popular if only Pathfinder had not been around.

It objectively would have had less competition and therefore better sales. Would that alone have been enough to have “saved” the edition? We’ll never know. Personally, I doubt it.

As if Pathfinder was not going strong when 5e appeared and as it overtook the hobby.

As if 5e didn’t have a multi-year marketing campaign and a massive boost from the advent of streaming games.

It wasn't Pathfinder that made 4E less popular than every other edition of D&D to date. It was 4E that did that.

But less popular with whom? Long-time fans? Yes. New fans? It was actually hugely popular with them. But the older cousin model meant that being unpopular with existing fans throttled the game’s potential for growth. A problem 5e does not have thanks to streaming.