During my first decade-long go around with D&D (then AD&D 2E) in the 90’s, there was an over-abundance of material that went along with the game. At the time I loved it, in fact, I consider one of the great tragedies of my existence is my Mother dumping all my 2E stuff long after I moved out (including a full set of the Encyclopedia Magica, amongst other things). However, during the present Fifth Edition of D&D, not only is their less material being printed for the game, but every book printed is significant.
No longer are their short one shot modules that are printed at the regular to go alongside a boxed campaign setting. Rather, Wizards of the Coast has decided to focus on long form modules that will take many months and sessions to run. At the same time the core rule-books remain the focus, with very limited additions to those rules. Back in the 90’s it seemed like every class had their own rule-book (Editor’s Note: They DID). Now, we have 2 addition’s 2017’s Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and the recently released Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
Yes, the Tasha of Tasha’s Hideous Laughter and the daughter of Baba Yaga herself, is the center of this slight update to the main rule set. When I first started going through the book, I wondered how important these would be to the overall 5E rules, and technically speaking a player or DM could easily get away with not applying these.
However, there are a lot of fun elements here, and things that make the game less restrictive. A good example of this is not binding the character’s backstory significantly to race. Other elements are the inclusion of patrons that can send the adventurers on their various quest, and puzzles that a DM can slot into their campaigns.
Of course, the most exciting element for myself personally was the addition of a new artificer class, and the new sub-classes available to each existing class. Reading through these I couldn’t help but want to apply some of these to my player group once we are able to get back together and play on the regular. I know a particular Ranger that will definitely be excited with the new “Fey Wanderer” sub-class.
Published at the same time alongside Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is a new DM screen made for wilderness based encounters assuming you are using the new text to run a more nature based campaign, and an updated version of Richard Garfield’s Great Dalmuti branded with D&D tropes. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything comes highly recommended.