Now i want to play a Bladesinger.

[gridlore]

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything by Wizards of the Coast

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Depth, not breadth seems to be how Wizards of the Coast is approaching their D&D5e books, and I heartily approve. Tasha's Cauldron is in the same spirit as Xanathar's Guide to Everything, giving new options and advice for players and Dungeon Masters alike.

The first chapter is filled with new options for characters. New specialties, optional rules, and the official debut of the Artificer class. While I find some of the options to be a bit overpowered, some like the Bladesinger for wizards and the Rune Knight path for fighters to be very interesting. As with anything, groups need to decide what they want to use. The one real disappointment for me in this chapter was the Fathomless patron for warlocks. It could be better labeled as the Hentail patron. Tentacles everywhere!

Chapter 2 is all about patrons, Those institutions of powerful individuals who might sponsor an adventuring party. This is a very good chapter, filled with all sorts of great campaign hooks. The party could be hired by a mysterious agent of an arcane society and sent to retrieve objects, or by a scheming noble to carry out missions to weaken his enemies. The chapter is a little table-happy, but still excellent.

It would be a D&D book without magic stuff, and that's what Chapter 3 is all about. We get a good number of new spells; a long list of new magic items, including magic tattoos, and a nice little essay about customizing spells. This bit reminded me of Ars Magica's spell signature. In short, it encourages players running arcane spellcasters to add a signature to their spells. A Hexblade Warlock might have "ravens" as his signature. His Eldritch Blast would be a stream of spectral ravens shooting out at the target. It's a good idea.

Finally, Chapter 4 is the Dungeon Master's toolkit. It starts with a great section on how to run "Session Zero," the first meeting of players and GM. How to build a party, defining hard and soft limits for actions in the game, things like that. Really good advice. Following this is a short section on sidekicks, where we finally get NPC advancement blocks. A very good section on how to parley and bribe monsters is followed by sections on supernatural regions, magical phenomena, and natural hazards, all of which will make any game better.

Finally, there is a short section of puzzles, including several excellent examples of puzzles to use in games with handouts.

Tasha's Cauldron should be on every Dungeon Master's shelf.





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