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 …

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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...

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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.

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

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[Undrave]

So does the Eldritch Knight Fighter, and the Bladesinger Wizard, and the Hexblade Warlock, and the Valor Bard. Heck, if we're being generous you might even throw in the Arcane Trickster Rogue. "Person who combines melee weapons with magic" is a pretty broad concept that's got room for a multitude of takes.

the Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster Rogue and the two Swordy Bards do sorcery with one hand and swordery with the other.

A proper Mageknight/Gish/Swordmage should be able to do both at the same time.

 

[Charlaquin]

Since I did not follow the D&D Next playtest, care to summarize or point me to a reference for what this other skill system was like? Thanks in advance!

It went through several iterations. None of them were vastly fundamentally different than the 5e skill system. The main element that many iterations had that I think it’s a shame they dropped was the fact that the DM called for ability checks, and the player could apply whatever the bonus for proficiency was in that particular iteration if it was applicable (with DM permission, of course) and they were completely decoupled from abilities. You can of course still run 5e this way, and I do, but it was written with that as the expected baseline instead of a variant rule, and I think it’s a shame they lost that. Also, they experimented with the skill list a lot, and in my opinion the best iterations were the ones where there was no list at all. Just pick a number of tasks based on your class that you wanted to be proficient at. Marvelous.

 

[Parmandur]

It went through several iterations. None of them were vastly fundamentally different than the 5e skill system. The main element that many iterations had that I think it’s a shame they dropped was the fact that the DM called for ability checks, and the player could apply whatever the bonus for proficiency was in that particular iteration if it was applicable (with DM permission, of course) and they were completely decoupled from abilities. You can of course still run 5e this way, and I do, but it was written with that as the expected baseline instead of a variant rule, and I think it’s a shame they lost that. Also, they experimented with the skill list a lot, and in my opinion the best iterations were the ones where there was no list at all. Just pick a number of tasks based on your class that you wanted to be proficient at. Marvelous.

The dice pool approach was also pretty intriguing.

 

[Ancalagon]

In the LotR movies, Legolas is a popculture elf. He exhibits high Charisma, of the "glamorous" and "mysterious" variety. Yes Dex, but Cha too and perhaps moreso. He seems a Cha-Dex character concept.

Meanwhile, the elf monarch Galadriel, likewise exhibits high Charisma, of the "leadership" and "diplomacy" variety, also capable of intimidation, yet she lacks notable Dex. She seems more so a Cha-Int character concept.

These pop elves exhibit Charisma.

Likewise, their treehouse town exhibits high Charisma, of the "artistic appeal" variety, being an elegant fusion of Art Nouveau and Japanese esthetics.

Heightened Charisma is important for many elf concepts.

I am glad Tashas is finally making this elven aspect available officially.

I don't think this is quite right. It's not charisma. It's culture.

Imagine you are a 900 A.D. warrior, from germany. You seen greek and roman ruins, statues. You would be awed. You could feel "wow we have fallen/haven't gotten far". I've seen some of these greek and roman classical work, and they are awesome even today.

Is that charisma though? No.

 

[Charlaquin]

The dice pool approach was also pretty intriguing.

Yeah, I liked Proficiency Dice a lot. IIRC, they did survive as an optional rule in the DMG, didn’t they?

 

[Ancalagon]

the Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster Rogue and the two Swordy Bards do sorcery with one hand and swordery with the other.

A proper Mageknight/Gish/Swordmage should be able to do both at the same time.

A bard college of sword / hexblade takes a bit of time to "come online" but when it does? oh boy

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I don't think this is quite right. It's not charisma. It's culture.

Imagine you are a 900 A.D. warrior, from germany. You seen greek and roman ruins, statues. You would be awed. You could feel "wow we have fallen/haven't gotten far". I've seen some of these greek and roman classical work, and they are awesome even today.

Is that charisma though? No.

I would not call that culture. I would call it humility: the realization of individual impotence nested inside an awe-inspiring world, simultaneously terrible and magnificent, too large and too complex to be comprehended by a single mind.

 

[Ancalagon]

I would not call that culture. I would call it humility: the realization of individual impotence nested inside an awe-inspiring world, simultaneously terrible and magnificent, too large and too complex to be comprehended by a single mind.

So in other words, elves don't have any bonus to charisma... BUT get advantage on charisma checks vs humans awed by their cities/art/etc.

That's why elves are always signing, it's to gain advantage

 

[Pauln6]

That is an interesting take on the battlemaster. So you could build a warlord class that starts using superiority dice from level 1 on and probably can use them at will or has a few more uses than the fighter. That would be the first warlord concept I would really like. It does not use a new subsystem but retcons the battlemaster as fighter with warlord abilities. Actually there is already a multiclass light feet in the PHB that resembles the UA style feats.

The warlord might only wear medium armor and won't have a fighting style and no second wind or action surge. I really think that concept could actually work really well.
Probably if someone really wants some chatacter that does not fight at all, I could imagine having subclasses at level 1, one which gives Armor and weaponry, a different one that does not give armor or weapons beyon problaby wizardlike weapons and maybe some commanding presence that adds charisma to AC when unarmored.

I was thinking Banneret could be given maybe 3 d6 superiority dice as an alternate class feature to Persuasion at level 6. Give them the Manoeuvre to boost Persuasion plus a choice of two from a limited Warlord type list. So they could get one die and one Manoeuvre at level one (or two and three manoeuvres if human, otherwise wait until level 4) plus an extra three dice and three manoeuvres from a restricted list at level 6? Could grant extra dice at higher levels too I guess.

 

[Alzrius]

So in other words, elves don't have any bonus to charisma... BUT get advantage on charisma checks vs humans awed by their cities/art/etc.

That's why elves are always signing, it's to gain advantage