Announcement of Tasha’s All-Purpose Cauldron

It’s official! Wizards of the Coast announced today that their latest book, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (TCoE), will be a rules expansion similar to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. This 192-page expansion will include:

Expanded subclasses More character options Group patrons Spells, artifacts and magical tattoos Expanded rules options Extensive puzzles

Let’s take a closer look at this new content.

Extended Subclasses

Explore the subclass options for all of the Dungeons & Dragons classes featured in this book, including the Artificer.

Similar to the previous 5e expansion, XGtE, WotC has released a ton of Unearthed Arcana (UA) material to playtest the new classes that will be added to TCoE.

To check out these UA editions, check out the links below:

At this point, we can only speculate as to which subclasses will be featured, but it looks like there will be an additional Artificer subclass option, marking the first time the class has been expanded since its release in Eberron: Rising from the Last War (2019). The only UA to include a new Artificer subclass, “the Armorer,” was Part 3, so it seems a safe bet that it will be appearing in TCoE.

We also have confirmation from Jeremy Crawford that the Aberrant Mind sorcerer subclass (the most highly acclaimed UA content to date) will be included.

More Character Options

Explore new class features and a collection of new feats, and customize your character’s origins with simple rules for modifying your character’s racial traits.

This section is very exciting, as it looks like we will be getting a public version of the UA “class feature variants”.

Simply put, these variants replace or enhance the normal features of your character’s class. For example, with this system, instead of taking Barbarian’s Danger Sense at 2nd level, you can choose to take Survival Instincts (a new class feature introduced in UA). This is great because it gives players a less linear, more autonomous character direction.

This also means that the long awaited publication of the infamous UA revised Ranger is just around the corner.

The reference to “changing your character’s racial traits” is likely in reference to a system described in an Instagram post by @dndwizards on June 17. Called “The Lineage System,” the system allows players to break away from racial stereotypes and further customize their character’s traits to reflect their character’s life and experiences.

TCoE will also be publishing a correction to Volo’s Guide to Monsters regarding negative racial modifiers that were being applied to some player classes.

Group Patron

Whether you’re part of the same criminal organisation or working for an ancient dragon, each group patron option comes with its own perks and mission types.

This is actually the second piece of Eberron: Rising from the Last War to be reprinted in TCoE. In Eberron, group patron content was provided as follows:

Examples of common types of patrons (including information about the organization, headquarters, allies, and enemies) Suggestions for different roles that the party’s characters might play, including the classes, backgrounds, and skills that would help them fill those roles Possible backgrounds for the patron and the characters’ roles within those backgrounds, including the types of adventures or missions they might undertake on behalf of the patron Benefits the group gains from the patron (rewards, equipment, privileges, proficiencies, etc.) A list of potential contacts who could act as personal connections to the patron

It’s possible we’ll see a more expanded list of patrons than what’s provided in Eberron, as the Wizards’ Edition mentions ancient dragons and crime syndicates, both of which were not mentioned in the Eberron source setting books.

Spells, artifacts and magical tattoos

Discover more spells, magical tattoos, artifacts and other magical items for your campaign.

What would a D&D expansion pack be like with more spells and magic items? On March 26, 2020, a UA was released introducing some new spells and a magic tattoo system. You can check it out here.

I really like the magical tattoo system. One thing 5th edition lacks compared to previous systems is character customizability through equipment. The ability to easily add magical effects to characters makes this a great choice for a TCoE rules expansion.

Expanded rule options

Experiment with rules for sidekicks, supernatural environments, natural hazards, and negotiating with monsters, and get guidance for running session zero.

As you can tell from our review of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, we’re crazy about rules expansions, and of the options above, the one I’m most excited about is rules for negotiating with monsters, because 5th Edition is sorely lacking in “talk your way out of a situation” and usually feels like it relies on up and down charisma checks.

We’re also super excited to see some advice on session zero here. We think it’s super important for establishing a strong foundation for your campaign. To learn more about session zero, check out this guest post from Awesome Dice.

During the press conference, Jeremy Crawford confirmed that the game will introduce a new system that allows players to create custom sidekicks, as well as three new sidekick classes – warrior, expert, and spellcaster – that will provide a “slimmed-down” experience that will benefit new players or those looking for less complexity.

Puzzles galore

Adventurers will find puzzles of varying difficulty levels ready to be thrown into any D&D adventure, complete with traps and guidance for using the puzzles in your campaigns.

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything has an excellent section on traps that highlights the difference between simple and complex traps and provides many examples of both.

It would be great to see this come back in puzzle form for TCoE. Being puzzle experts ourselves, we wrote a guide to doing puzzles in D&D, and hope the TCoE writers read our 3 Laws of Puzzle Making.

Tasha’s Cauldron is scheduled for release on November 17, 2020.

TCoE looks to significantly increase the options players will have for their characters, and I’m personally super excited to get my hands on it! You can pre-order it now at your local game store, bookstore like Barnes & Noble, or online retailers like Amazon.