Tasha’s Cauldron To Everything

[Raindog]

With 2020 being a year of isolation and misery, I returned to Dungeons & Dragons as the bright light in my week. After the lock down, My wife and I changed our regular game with Tim and Cathe Post to a Zoom game and worked out the kinks after trying Roll 20. 

As the year grew worse and work began to taint my soul, my wife allowed me to have one out of the bubble get together. So she and I began playing Dungeons & Dragons with Brehk and his family. First, we started in a semi-steampunk fantasy game I was running. Then, Brehk began to DM, so I could play. 

Over the year, I have added different books and products to my collect, spending money I normally would on Infinity models and terrain. Curse of Strahd is brilliant. Hero Forge is a fun way to have the character model of your dreams and the cost is about the same as a GW model. The spell cards (home made in sleeves) are essential for casters.  I even made the similar attack cards, so Brehk’s wife, who has never played before, can easily glance down and know what her attacks and rage bonus are. Warlock Tiles and its accessories add an upgrade to the playing experience especially if you track your battles and encounters on a grid like Brehk and I do.   Christmas added TableTop Tokens to my collection, so I can place trees and rocks, pits and traps to my maps without the terrain getting in the way of the models. 

 

This fall, I eagerly awaited Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. I hoped it would be a great source book adding fun spells, sub-classes, and DM tips. As a Christmas gift from my wife, I have been reading the books during the stormy days of winter.

The book is odd and quirky, much like the Tasha of D&D lore. For characters, it is not essential, but it adds another layer of icing to cake. The sub-class choices seem high concept fantasy. This is not Conan the Barbarian. If Spore Druids, Psychic Thieves, and Swarm Rangers are your cup of tea, this book is for you.

My favorite section of the book is on pages 4-5. I t reminds the reader this books is all optional and work out what works best with her group. How novel! Play as a cooperative ensemble. The next ten rules are guidelines on how ease rules into play. 

Chapter One:

The first section allows you to customize your character. This is the you can have your cake and eat it, too, options. Want a weedy dwarf who played the lute to the delight of others? The optional rules allow you to opt out of a Dwarf’s +2 Constitution Bonus and allows you to take the bonus in Charisma instead as well as swapping out Dark Vision and other skills to make a Dwarf Bard more to your liking. Think of it as the exception to the general conception of what a Dwarf is.........

Next, Tasha’s adds the Artificer from the Eberron source book and adds it as an possibility for all campaigns. Now, with a lenient DM, you could do this already. My wife is playing a Rock Gnome Artificer in my Steam Punk-esque  campaign. It only seems to fit. In Tasha’s, they add new spells the Artificer has access to (mainly from Tasha’s), a few new infusions, and the Armorer sub-class. Think of the Armorer sub-class as a way to play a fantasy Iron-man........ My wife loves this class, but it is not for every game. 

Barbarians have two new sub-classes and a few optional class features. The features a are reasonable, allowing your barbarian to gain new appropriate skills with experience, and the ability to move as a bonus action when you rage. Now, one of the issues I have with Tasha’s is odd phrasing. One of the examples in the Instinctive Pounce feature. The rule reads, “As a part of the bonus action you take to enter your rage, you can move up to half your speed.” It is just awkward and imprecise leaving room for misinterpretation.  The rule should read, ‘On the turn your barbarian starts his rage, as part of the bonus action, he may move a distance up to half of his normal speed.’  Since I am always tired and drained, I I have spent way too much to time wondering what I just read in this book and what it means.  The other source books I have do not seem to have this issue, so I am left to believe this was a choice?

The first Barbarian sub-class is the Path of the Beast. It fits the class well. A primal spirit is in your soul and you can use it to adapt to the more around you with natural weapon attacks and means to travel faster.   

The second sub-class is the Path of Wild Magic. This is spouse to be a option for non-traditional barbarian races, but I find the option silly, so I am skipping it. 

 

More later......

[Raindog]

Okay, back again, and onto Bards. 

Bard now have access to more spells and not just Tasha’s spells. These are the types of options I like. Bards are support characters. They augment and aid their allies and most of these new spells act in this manner. 

Bardic Inspiration is augmented allowing the Inspiration Dice to be used on allies spell casting. Now, you can use the Inspiration Dice to add to the healing of a Cure Wounds spell or cause more damage on a from a Magic Missile spell.

Tasha’s allows two more Colleges as options. Both are in the realms I can conceive of people wishing to play. One allows the character to sing the songs of life and fate allowing re-rolls for the Inspiration Dice, temporary hit points, and more damage. The other creates a a persuasive orator. 

 

In Tasha’s, Clerics also have access to a handful of higher level spells. They all makes sense to the class and should have been including from the start.  There are two nice class features all clerics have access to. One allows a cleric to recover a lower level spell once per long rest essentially allowing the cleric to have another spell slot. The other feature allows the cleric to do an extra D8 of radiant damage from cantrips or melee attacks. It is a boon, but clerics at higher levels probably aren’t casting cantrips or striking with maces in combat......

As to sub-classes, Clerics have three new Domains: Order, Peace, and Twilight. The class features for Order are potent. The Voice of Authority allows a cleric to heal an injured party member and then have that party member make an attack as a reaction. The other feature allows the cleric to present his holy symbol and charm creatures of your choice. Charmed creatures can be forced to drop their weapons. It is pretty nifty 2nd level ability.  The Domain of Peace is an odd choice for what is essentially a war game. It is an also an odd choice for the features granted a cleric of this domain. Emboldening Bond grants a D4 to an attack roll  once per turn... Potent Spellcasting allows the cleric to add his Wisdom Modifier to damage caused by a cantrips they cast. Neither of these are really peaceful. Twilight clerics are all sparkly vampires living in coastal Washington State (just kidding). Twilight clerics can see in the dark and allow others to see in the dark for short periods of time, grant others advantage on Initiative, create an area of light that adds temporary hit points, charms, or frightens, and at sixth level, they can fly for a short amount of time. 

[Raindog]

In the book, Druids also have access to a few. l more spells. They are all flavorful, but not game changing. Protection from Good andEvil is helpful for low level combating undead and aberrations. Augury can help a party find the right course of action, but at 25 gold pieces a spells, it is spell you only use rarely. 

Druids now can have pets! Err- Companions... Using a Wild Shaping slot, you can cast Find Familiar. The summoned companion is a fey and not a beast and only lasts a few hours, but it does not require material components. It is another creature to help scout, set the watch, or gather information in the right situations.

Tasha’s brings three new Druid Circles open to play. The Circle of Spores is creepy making a necromancer like Druid. The Circle of Stars creates a cosmic Druid with a bonus cantrip, the ability to use bonus Guiding Bolts, and take a Starry Form instead of Wild Shaping. The Circle of Wildfire grants access to fire spells and turns a Druid’s Wildshape ability to summon a little fire Pokémon.

Of course, fighter have access to a few more Fighting Styles and Maneuver Options. I am not of fan of the Psi Warrior. It is too much like a class out a video game. I would like it better if this was a monk option..... The Rune Warrior is much in the vein of the Psi-Warrior. It looks like the character is granted abilities out of Street Fighter. They are granted the ability to know runes that giants are suppose to know, but never use giving the fighter a few magic augmented attacks and abilities. It is a little Dwarfs from Warhamster Fantasy Battle and a bit a kin the Artificer. 

[Raindog]

Oh, monks, they were always an odd addition to the original Dungeons & Dragons, but in Tasha’s Cauldron, at least they are consistent with concepts of projecting Ki. Spend a Ki point to add an extra attack. New a bonus to hit? Spend the Ki points. Down a few hit points? Spend Ki points. The monk traditions are characterful and appropriate. The Way of Mercy allows the monk to heal and harm with strikes. The Way of the Astral Path allows the monk to use Wisdom for his attack modifiers and project astral strike....

[Ish]

38 minutes ago, Raindog said:

Oh, monks, they were always an odd addition to the original Dungeons & Dragons[.]

They're also one of the oldest additions, having debuted alongside the Assassin in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor supplement, literally the third D&D product ever created.  They've always been very strongly East Asian flavored, however, with the rest of the game's classes either being vaguely Medieval European (up to about 3.x Edition) or more culturally agnostic (3.x onward).  They also lack any religious connection, which makes their name seem really incongruous... If I were put in charge of drafting the Sixth Edition of D&D, I'd push to have the class renamed something like "Pugilist" (or just fold them entirely into the Fighter class). 

 

[Raindog]

Okay, I am skipping to Rangers. My wife has played a lot of Rangers over the years. Currently, she is playing two ranger in two different campaign. D&D 5e has had issues with Rangers and has allowed several revisions and updates. In Tasha’s the game developers are making better strides.  Currently, the Ranger is ‘Get you there’ faster archer. Hunter’s Mark and Conjure Barrage help this build. The animal companion rules were awkward and hindered play. 

In this book, the Ranger can switch out Natural Explorer for Deft Explorer. Deft Explorer is cool allowing the Ranger to use double their proficiency bonus on one of their skills. Roving makes them a bit faster. Tireless cancels exhaustion and gives temporary hit points. 

The next class feature allows you to swap Favored Enemy for Favored Foe. I really like this. Pick an enemy and add an extra D4 (more damage at higher levels.) on the first time the Ranger hits each turn. Add Hunter’s Mark and your Ranger is going to be potent hitter in combat. 

The best part of the new Rangers rules is the Primal Companion. The Beast Master rules were always odd. The ranger ended up with an underpowered creature that would get killed in battle as the DC of encounters increased. The Primal Companions gain Armor Class and hit points as the character progresses and advances in levels. It’s a win. 

[Raindog]

Chapter Two: Patrons.

This seems like a call back to the tables in the first DM’s guide, but updated for the modern gamer. The patron section is a guide to playing something other than modern hobos who meet in bar. Giving reasons why a party would start together, what roles they could play, what directions their patron could point them to, could be a boon to many DMs and campaigns. The DM could start the character making sessions stating the party are members and allies of a local church to Lythandar in a small settlement. The characters would have common goals and morals with the local priest aiding here and there with a few spells and potions as players help drive away bandits that are devastating the local economy. Then, when the find the Bandits have a holy item lost years ago from another church, they can return the item. That church with a higher ranking priest could ask them to check out tombs where the item was kept only to find a thieves guild has been looting the catacombs and using some of the rooms as a base of operations.........

[Raindog]

Chapter Three: Magic

And now to the, what, hung, what were they thinking? What is the deal with these components?
 

Take Green Flame Blade for an example. At the cost of a melee weapon worth at least one silver piece, you brandish the component weapon and make an attack with it. If you hit, the weapon does normal damage and a burst of flame leaps onto another target within five feet. The fire does your spell casting modifier. 

Per the component rules, the weapon is annihilated after the spell is cast, so does the Wizard have a weapon caddy behind him to hand him the next weapon to be used in a cantrip? Secondly, Artificers and Bladed Pact Warlocks might be fine is attempting a melee attack, but why would a Wizard or Sorcerer use this spell?

The Summoning Spells have completely impractical components, so the cast is unlikely to use these spells often. Take a gander at what you might need to summon creatures, a pickled tentacle and an eye balling platinum laid vial worth at least 400 gold pieces, animal parts in gilded acorn worth 200 gp, a gold reliquary worth 500 gold, a stone and metal lock box worth 400 gp, air, water, stone and ash in gold inlaid vial worth 400 gold, a gilded flower worth 400 gp, humanoid blood in a ruby vial worth 600 gp, tears inside a gem worth 400 gp, or a gilded skull worth 300 gp. Really? It might take an entire quest to find or make one of these items. Where do you find tears in a gem? Maybe the game makers don’t want you to summon creatures very often. The summon spells last and hour or until concentration is broken. There is big cost for a potentially small gain. 

[Raindog]

The Magic Tattoo section seems like a tip of the hat to Critical Role. 

[Raindog]

Chapter Four: DMing

’The social contract on Page 140 should be in the first few pages of the DMG and the Player’s Handbook. It is common sense, but it put players and DMs alike on the right track. Being a DM is about sharing a story and letting your players explore the boundaries of the story and take to in new direction. Being a DM is not adversarial. It is not the DM versus the players. Likewise, the characters should listen to each other and the DM letting everybody play as a cohesive group. Think of D&D is a fantasy setting game of Improv.

[Raindog]

The sidekick rules are fun and helpful. Like the Ranger’s Beast Companion, the Sidekicks gain levels as the characters do, so they are always are improving. Sidekicks are either Experts, Spellcaster, or Warriors who can help round out a small adventuring party or to create NPC that are helpful to the party. If the party has religious patron, several of the priests and guardians of the Temple could be made with templates from this section of the book.  

[Raindog]

The Parleying section reminds me of the cartoon from the first DMG......

but it adds a reminder to the game: Not all encounters need to revolve around combat. Loquacious and glib talkers should be  able to talk their way out of strife. Violent tribes or vain monsters may want tribute. A old giant may want somebody to read him a story........