
Captain Gary
Tasha's Cauldron of WOW-verything
Updated: Sep 2, 2020

I had the opportunity to chat with Jeremy Crawford about their new book, Tasha's Guide to Everything, and there's really no way to describe it other than: wow.
It's easily the biggest Fifth Edition rules expansion since Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and what they've included sounds incredible.
According to Jeremy Crawford, the book includes "new feats, class options, traits, lineages, [customizable] races, group patron options, magic tattoos, new magic items (including spellcasting focuses for all classes), new spells, magical environments, and [generally] more levers that people can use to customize their characters than even Xanathar's Guide."
If that paragraph doesn't give you chills, check your pulse, because you may be dead inside (or you may not be a fan of D&D...)
One of the main elements of the new books is a revised trait or lineage system. This is going to allow players to more effectively customize their characters. It will allow players to take some of their race traits and swap them with others; a dwarf with keen eyes? Why not! It's your game, play it how you want.
That was the overriding design objective for the book according to Crawford: giving players the freedom to play their way and not be bound that any archetype that may exist.
Tasha's will also include: a revised Artificer, with some new infusions and the armorer subclass
new subclasses for EVERY class in the game
new features for every PHB class
new spells, including mind sliver, Tasha's Caustic Brew and Tasha's Otherworldly Guise
new magic items, including a spirit catching artifact Tarokka Deck
new spellcasting foci for all classes (magic items that serve as a focus)
new feats
new magical tattoos
new magical environments, like a mimic colony and enchanted spring
new primal beast companions for the Beastmaster class
new psionics system, including the Aberrant Mind subclass
new group patron options
Tasha's won't include new races, but this is a LOT to unpack.

Perhaps one of the elements that isn't getting a lot of attention is the addition of new features for every PHB class. New features allow players to play old classes in a new way, which gives life to old content, without releasing fully new content.
It's actually quite smart and it'll be curious to see how its implemented.
Tasha's also includes the sidekick rules that were first introduced in the D&D Essentials Kit and allows players to play as the warrior, expert, or spellcaster sidekick classes, for those who want a "chill" D&D experience, according to Crawford.
The potential of this book is incredible.
It releases in stores (with an alternate cover in game stores only) on November 17th.
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