So when I heard about Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, I was ecstatic. Even if it was just another collection of Unearthed Arcana, that was enough for me. Unfortunately, now that I've read it, I'm not as impressed as I was with Xanathar's.
Like XGtE, Tasha also includes a plethora of new subclasses. Unfortunately, none of them stood out to me as something I would like to try. Your mileage may vary on that one. Tasha also contains a bunch of new magic items, but again, I wasn't impressed by many of them. Then it has a few more DM tools, including Sidekicks and puzzle ideas. And that's pretty much it. It just feels like it's missing a chapter.
Tasha's starts out strong. After an introductory chapter, it leads with the much anticipated customizable origins. Unfortunately these new, optional rules can be summed up in a paragraph, and aren't really worth buying a book for. While the third party "Ancestry & Culture" supplement does an intensive job separating genetic traits from cultural traits, Tasha's pretty much just says, "Wherever the PHB says you get a bonus to a stat, you can pick a different stat instead." (Ditto for languages, skills, etc.)
Some players have complained that this will lead to min-maxing, and to a minor extent they could be right. But the designers have admitted that the stat bonuses for each race have nothing to do with game balance, and everything to do with tradition and flavor. So you're not going to break the game with your new +CHA Half-Orc Warlock.
Next up, Tasha reprints the Artificer class, which is nice for those who weren't interested in that Eberron book. But it still means that about 15 pages are taken up by content that was already published somewhere else.
Then we have the subclasses. It has about as many subclasses as Xanathar's, averaging about three for each class. But like I said, none of them really did it for me. It's like they were running out of ideas and really forcing it this time. Then there were a few new feats, again with no real standouts.
Then there's a chapter on group patrons. Who is funding your group, and sending them on missions? I found this chapter useless. I'm pretty good at worldbuilding, and I haven't had any trouble designing my guilds. But I guess this could be helpful to someone else who having trouble finding inspiration.
The new spells were okay, again nothing stood out to me. Same with the magic items, for the most part. The magic tattoos were kind of interesting. I don't really like that they require attunement, though. To me, the point of tattoos is permanence, so having a tattoo that disappears when you unattune to them seems silly. If the designers thought the tattoos were too powerful, I'd rather they had nerfed them than to make them require attunement.
An awful lot of the magic items were new kinds of spellbooks, maybe because Tasha's a caster. I think it contains a new spellbook for every school of magic. I don't usually play wizards, so these didn't do much for me. They did throw a bone to the other spellcasting classes, too, with some new magic items that can be used as a spellcasting focus.
It contains a section on Session Zero, with a special focus on finding out each player's triggers so you can avoid scenes that cause discomfort. This is important, and I wish more DMs took this seriously, but I also think it's common sense.
The book also reprints the rules for sidekicks, previously seen in the Essentials Starter Kit. I really like the sidekick rules, so it's nice to see them in a more mainstream book - not everyone's going to pick up another starter kit. But again, it's repeat information. Btw, the Essentials Kit is way more useful than this book, even if you already have a starter kit, so please don't buy Tasha's just for the sidekicks. As I type this, the Essentials Kit is $7.79 on Amazon - a real bargain for such a handy campaign starter.
It has a short section on parleying with monsters, which mostly involves bringing the monster an appropriate gift. Then it spends several pages on environmental hazards, which were somewhat interesting. It finishes off with a section on puzzles. The puzzles were fun to read, though it seemed like several of them had similar solutions - variations of "collect a bunch of words, take the xth letter from each word, and unscramble the results for the solution keyword."
Like Xanathar's, Mordenkainen's, and Volo's books, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything includes little notes here and there commenting on that page's content. Unfortunately, Xanathar is the only one who made these notes entertaining, and Tasha's in particular felt devoid of personality.
I know all this sounds negative, but I don't think Tasha's is a complete waste of space. If you don't already have the Essentials Kit or Eberron: Rising from the Last War, then this is a good way to pick up the Sidekick rules and the Artificer class. If your DM refuses to use rules that don't appear in a book, it's good to have the rules for customizable stats in print.
But overall, I just didn't find Tasha's to be nearly as useful as Xanathar's. Bottom Line: Tasha's stew contains too much broth, not enough meat.
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