Heroes are a staple of Dungeons and Dragons. The ongoing adventures of Drizz’t Do’Urden, the meddling of Volothamp Geddarm, the balance obsessed Mordenkainen, all iconic heroes in their own rights. But what of villains? Strahd von Zarovich is arguably the greatest vampire ever, Asmodeus rules the 9 Hells, Tiamat, the five headed dragon goddess, is frequently one of the first primary villains of a new edition of D&D. But even among them, who could be accounted as greatest? According to Gary Gygax himself, that honor (or perhaps dishonor) goes to Tasha the Witch Queen. Tasha is a powerful wizard with a knack for manipulation, in particular manipulating and summoning demons. She has made artifacts and unique spells alike. She is also the commentator of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Tasha was invented several decades ago, though, by the creator of D&D himself. While the current crew of Wizards of the Coast has a good track record with 5th Edition so far, can they do justice to this D&D icon? Does Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything really have the flavor, crunch, and portions fans have been waiting for?

Like with Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is commentated by Tasha herself. Throughout the book, she offers her two cents on the contents. The book claims that the information was compiled by Tasha and its dissemination was to spite her enemies. Very little of this is evident in the book, unlike the back and forth between Volo and Elminster from Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Her comments vary. Some feel very fitting, while others are distractingly modern and childish. Her calling a secret project “Humblekainen” for example evokes thoughts of social media trends and power couples and petty jealousy. Hardly the appearance of a capable archmage, let alone such an infamous villainess. The artwork is a mixed bag as well. Some of it is quite good, such as a farmer firing chicken-shaped magic missiles at a gnoll. Most of the rest is either mediocre or outright bad. One picture in particular is supposed to be an action shot of a fight on a moving wagon, but it only portrays stilled images with no real depth that’s filtered through a blur. All of it brings to mind “mystery” flavored hard candy, where one seems to be getting lemon flavored, but gets popcorn flavored instead.

With some disappointing flavor, but tantalizing options all the same, next is a test of the crunch. How crisp are the new psionics? Different, but enjoyable! The mechanics are simple. The Psi Warrior and the Soul Knife, a fighter and rogue subclass respectively, gain a pool of dice they can spend on different effects. Similar to the Battle Master maneuvers, except these don’t come back on a short rest and their options are set with each class. Dice are expended to use or bolster certain effects and regained on a long rest. Their powers, for the Psi Warrior, relate to moving creatures around, interrupting damage, and other telekinetic powers. For the Soul Knife, the rogue in question can conjure deadly weapons at will, using them for melee or ranged attacks and expending dice to bolster skill rolls and eventually overwhelming a victim’s mind. The Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, however, does not use such dice. Instead they get to warp their bodies, twist space, and to play loosey goosey with their spells known, as long as they’re within specific schools and on the sorcerer, wizard, or warlock list. Lastly are the psionic feats, a pair that adds telepathic abilities to nearly any character. Telekinetic grants you the cantrip mage hand and let’s you spend only a bonus action to force a creature (willing or not) to move 5 feet. All strong elements, but sadly they remain a slight sore spot as their is still no true psionic class for 5th edition. Regarding the subclasses as a whole, many of these subclasses are adopting a new mechanic for the number of uses a given ability has. They base it off of the proficiency bonus, which starts out as a +2 and climbs to +6 much later. This is a refreshing change of pace for multiclassing, as a character’s proficiency bonus increases based on their total level and not their level in the class that gave them the ability. Going back to the feats for a moment, all the feats offer up much needed support in different areas. Given that feats in 5th Edition function more like small packages as opposed to the smaller feats of the past, having these packages feel like taking mini classes. Chef, for example, might never be a suitable class or even subclass, but as a feat, it fits perfectly, enabling a character (and their party) to recover more during rests and provide brief boosts throughout the day from snacks. Overall, the crunch is crisp, but a hint of staleness persists with the psionics. Still pretty good, but also a bit disappointing.

Just how much can one expect from this brew? More than anticipated. It includes 23 wholly new subclasses, reprints of the artificer, reprints of subclasses from Ravnica and Theros, new class features for all 13 classes, new magic items (the tattoos are of particular note), rules for sidekick characters (perfect for a new player or even to round out a smaller party of veteran players), and rules for making a custom race. Surely, it is on par with most all you can eat buffets.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is technically a good D&D book. It provides one with excellent and desperately needed updates to old classes along with new features to toy with. The garnishes, however, are distracting and frustrating when they’re bad. Tasha’s egregious portrayal as a spoiled teenage girl does not fall in line with her lore, even though this is presenting her in her early days. Overall, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is like slightly undercooked meat, some bites are nice a hot, but other small bites are cold. B-.

-The_Clark_Side