One idea that I got excited recently about puzzles was to offer them as something the group can do between games. Rather than having a puzzle blocking all of the groups advancement, rather maybe have it be the lock on a box with something juicy inside. This lets the game keep going a bit, while not eating up valuable table time.
That is a cool idea, like a planned cliff hanger with homework for the group! Maybe the hard puzzles could be locks to more powerful and mysterious artifacts the group gets, or to unlock power or additional powers of an artifact that possibly are chained to additional quest activities. I like it!
Yes, I’ve had great success with this! It can be frustrating to have the whole party get stuck, often needing multiple hints, and it’s especially bad when some players are really into the puzzle but others either feel like they can’t come up with any ideas or they just don’t enjoy puzzles. Giving them something to come back to (be it a mysterious structure in the center of the city, ready for them to return to at any moment, or a locked box they can carry with them) and allowing the more intrigued players to think about it on their own time has made puzzles a lot more fun for my groups. Highly recommend!
That was a great in-depth review, but unfortunately I can be rather shallow at times. What I was thinking was “That is a beautiful cover. I must have it!”
I didn't like that the puzzles are all cipher based, I don't like them cause I feel it breaks the immersion cause they are so obviously game-y and involve thinking in English rather than whatever language is actually being spoken, but smarter people than me have pointed out that with ciphers, mistakes don't take you anywhere, making them much more frustrating.
I kinda just want all of this in an updated Players Handbook. Maybe put all the races, classes, and spells from these various books into a Player’s Handbook 5.5. I know that doesn’t make as much money, but it would be nice to find all your character options in one place. It gets to be too much after a while.
That would make the players handbook more expensive though, since it will be much thicker. Also I like too think of the players handbook as the "base game" and the other books that expand it as the "dlc".
The book would be way too big, so they will have to shorten certain parts and give less information to not have a thousand pages,i prefer the other just be expansions to have they own stage to shine
My friend and I bought a digital and physical copy respectively and spent two hours reading it together. We both run a game and play in each others games, and I think there's a lot of potential in the book! I've already opened my players up to any optional features/spells they might want to take, and I'm excited to see what they do with it!
Xanathars Guide felt like a Far Harbor quality DLC where Tasha's Cauldron seems more hit or miss like Nuka World. I personally love these books equally and their flavor text characters.
@@DeathxStrike18 The only updated spells are ones taken from the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. In the subclass listing spells Tasha's itself are noted with single asterisk and spells from Xanathar's with two.
Compare a level 4 Mountain Dwarf Wizard vs. a level 4 Variant Human Wizard. If the human takes an ASI at level 4 and the dwarf takes a feat, the dwarf has: - Darkvision 60' - Advantage on saves again poison and resistance against poison damage - 3 Tool Proficiencies: (I'd take Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit) - Weapon Proficiencies: (I'd take Rapier, Longbow) - Armor Proficiencies: (Light and Medium)
@@WASD20 I love your channel but at the same time the beginning of a chapter and an index for looking up specific keywords arent the same...just saying, learn your place ❤❤❤
@@hunterknox4756 Thanks the advice Hunter! I wasn't disputing what the OP said in any way. Just offering up a point about the way I felt the book gets us pretty close to the value of an index. But to you and the OP there is apparently a larger gap between what is wanted and what's delivered in that regard, and that's fine! Maybe I'm just not an index dude. :) Anyway, to your BOOOO, I cheer you, Hunter. Viewers and commenters like you help keep this channel going. Happy gaming!
I'm on one side overwhelmed by the huge amount of subclasses, subraces and spells we have now with all these books And on the other side dissapointed with the lack of new tools and advice for running to game or creating new kind of encounters or game features. It's like there is lot of content and at the same time a lack of content.
@@thylacinepunic5582 yep, me neither. A friend of my gave the spells from d&d beyond so i put them on my excel spreadsheet with all the other spells for character creation. I won't use anything else.
Quick background update on spells and other borrowed items... first you missed that the majority of these are from Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. Why have those and other borrowed material? Adventurers League. Makes it easier to designate what is allowed and what isn’t because you choose a set number of supplemental books. Why pull previously used spells? Because SCAG was not WotC or something like that but it was deemed as official regardless by the community. In fact, Xanathar pulled quite a few subclasses from SCAG as well.
I just love the point of view of the book. I honestly didn’t know anything about “Tasha”, so it was neat to get some of her personality displayed. I had more fun reading her side note comments than the actual content of the book. Not due the content being bad, but her commentary gave me a good chuckle. At any rate, nice review! Hoping I’ll some day make actual use of all my D&D stuff again in the future.
Every time there's a name attached to a spell, my brain triggers. Who's this person? What's their story? How did they come to have a major thing named after them? It always seems a fun thought experiment to think about.
I was sorely disappointed by this book, so many things in here that are half-assed or simply uninspired. I've been drifting away from DnD for months now, but this book soured any hope I had left. See you guys in 6th edition, I'm spending my time with systems actually worth my time in the coming years.
@@old_geeky_Michael Pathfinder 2e and Legend of the Five Rings 5e are my picks. Both get made with a lot more love than dnd5e is getting for the past years. I sometimes also play Warhammer fantasy, also very fun. But for now pf2e is my favourite.
i mean....its only fresh as long as you have your imagination and a good team, you dont need a new book to keep enjoying D&D, you can mix and match anything you want in any way you want. the books are just source material, but you can adapt it to work for ANYTHING you can think up, if you only play games that are "By the letter", then you are really going to limit yourself, i know people that have been playing D&D for 40 years and they arent done yet :P
I think that this is a great supplement for players and not so much DM's. It's great for new DM's, but not so much for DM's who've been at it for a while. I can see a lot of veteran DM's seeing the DM variant rules here as paper padding. That said, the stuff for players is extremely awesome. As a DM, I don't mind the power creep. Any DM worth their salt should be able to balance encounters accordingly. I actually like to use subclasses as inspiration for NPC's and Enemies, so I feel like subclasses are fairly useful for everyone. The only problem I have is that I'm getting a little burned out by subclasses at the moment. And that's not a problem with this supplement, it's a problem with how WotC has been treating subclasses in general. One of these days I'd like to see a subclass have entirely roleplaying or exploration features. That would be a breath of fresh air. It just seems that nowadays the subclasses we keep getting are mostly combat-focused... and that's only one part of the three pillars of D&D. There are two others, roleplaying and exploration, that needs more love! I'd even like to see a subclass replace some of their main class' features, too. The variant rules for optional class features definitely helps. Feats also help with making things feel new, so I was also happy with that. All in all, this was just a good supplement. It wasn't like Xanathar's by any means. However, this leads us into another discussion entirely: When will 5e make a genre-changing, genre-defining book? Some of the previous editions had some, such as Keep on the Borderlands, Libris Mortis, Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, anything by Monte Cook, Red Hand of Doom, etc. These books transcended editions and a lot of people still use them today. I don't think 5e has anything on the same caliber, except for maybe Curse of Stradh. Maybe. There are a TON of modern classics, some of them from Monte Cook's Cypher System, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, OSR folks like Questing Beast, Pathfinder's Kingmaker, Blades in the Dark, etc. There are even some amazing stuff by others systems like stuff from Modiphius, Cubicle 7, Onyx Path Publishing, Green Ronin, Fantasy Flight, R. Talsorian Games, Pinnacle Entertainment, etc. And there are authors publishing 5e material independently (some of whom have done work for WotC and are currently working with them) like Sly Flourish, Keith Baker, Andrew Cawood, Dragonix, Olver Clegg, Jeffrey Yang (up and coming), Dave Coulson, P.B. Publishing (The Haunt is the epitome of a modern classic module!), Eventyr Games, 5e Solo Gamebook (this dude is badass!), Jeff C. Stevens, JVC Parry, M.T. Black, Ed Greenwood (if you can believe it)... and this is just the tip of the iceberg! I say this all because WotC has to compete with not only other systems, but even authors who also publish using 5e. I'd argue that some of these independent authors and studios have put out much greater things than WotC has this edition, except for maybe Curse of Stradh and maybe Xanathar's. The foundations of 5e is awesome in general. I don't want them to change their system, but maybe make a little changes here and there in the type of material they put out and they can lead the industry again in terms of quality. We already know they lead it in terms of popularity, but I no longer pick up their books with awe and wonder anymore as I did when I was a kid. The other authors do, but I want 5e to no longer just be good. I want them to be the best.
I like the book. I have the alternate art version and I will say that the physical quality of it is lower than the core books. The spine is badly glued and the paper is warped and wavy.
Most of my wavy books definitely flattened out over time. Also, my PHB fell apart and WotC was great about sending me another free of charge, even 3 years after I bought it! That's customer service.
Unfortunately WOTC has had some issues with printing for all of 5e (and maybe more? But I only know about 5e.) My copy of Tasha’s turned out great but I had wavy pages (and one was torn!) in my Monster Manual. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t :/
I'm just about to DM for the first time, running The Sunless Citadel. Which is very basic, but I'm using Tasha's Couldron to spice things up, adding puzzles and giving my players a companion and other things. It's a great book.
It's a sub par book. It's just a printed copy of UA and the quality of manufacturing and art has gone down even more which I didn't think wizards could do and it is short.
Hey nate logan AGAIN! sweet video. For Christmas I am planing to get the D&D core rule books, battle mats and dice. I am also getting some pathfinder pawns for my game. All thanks to your videos keep up the great awesome work. :)
Hi Nate! I don't know why, but your sound is much much lower than usual and I had to crank my volume up while getting the rest of my computer sounds way down to be able to hear you out properly. You might want to check that out! Great video!
I have the book and I enjoy it for most of the same reasons, if anything as a dungeon master I'm always happy to have more things to inspire my world building.
For the hard puzzles you introduce some hint mechanism your campaign. E.g. the character find the puzzle but don't need to solve it right away. As they continue in the campaign they meet peaople or find notes that provide some helpful information that makes solving the puzzle a step easier.
Nice review as always, thanks Nate. Don't think it's one I'd be tempted to pick up, but the puzzles section intrigues me, sounds interesting! Nice to see the return of the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O and the Teeth of , too - I remember those from way back in 1st edition. The Mighty Servant is just so much fun 😁
Nate, I use magical tattoos in my game. They came from Scarred Lands. I got this book, but I have been to busy to read it. Thank you for your breakdown.
What every FRP Game needs, yet more overpowered class options and features for players. (Can you say $$$ grab?) Please forgive the sarcasm. I have already decided to pass this by... but it's always nice to hear your thoughts. I do agree with your comment (connected with Ranger), "it's kinda meh!" Really sums up my take on the whole thing. The DM section is especially disappointing. At this point the 5e system needs to give DMs more tools to manage the game and encourage setting creativity. More candy for players... the game is already too generic and imbalanced. That's just my opinion and I am glad someone likes this product. 😁
Have you ever looked into OSR? As a DM, you have to do a bit more bookkeeping, but the resulting rewarding feelings are fantastic. You may really enjoy more realism in your game and start omitting some of the more superhero abilities in PCs.
If you're not going to be the GM then the only books you should get are the Player's handbook, Xanathar's guide to everything and this one. But ofc there's no rush, if you want more options(1 extra main class, subclasses, spells, etc) later get those books. (Or if you are gonna play a Ranger you might wanna pick up this one)
The puzzles in the book are based on puzzle solving concepts that are common to certain individuals. There are people that solve puzzles for puzzle solving competitions and a lot of the puzzles they solve are modeled like the stuff in TCoE. For example, a lot of them have the concept of figuring out a secret word or phrase and using that phrase to then solve the puzzle. There are some that play on your expectations and some that are just using logic (like a sudoku or word find). I watched FLEB, a puzzle channel on RUclips, showcase a lot of this stuff before so when I saw the puzzles in Tasha's it didn't come across as hard to me since I was familiar with the tips and tricks, and those puzzles he showed off had even HARDER tricks, like referencing braille or using pop culture references to find words or phrases.
In contrast, I'm using the Chapter 2 Group Patrons to help make each character's feel like they are more distinct. Since each of them are bound to an organisation/patron from their backstory, and each of these groups will have their own motivations and purposes for the PCs. (I know the Group Patrons were supposed to be one patron for the whole group, but yeah) My players already feel like they have these extra "tools" at their exposure to use during their campaign, and has really led to some nice RP moments so far
I found it kind of meh. Lots of recycled stuff from other books. It's not a lot of new stuff. It has quite a bit that I'll probably never use. I've already come up with the idea of group patrons on my own anyways since I implemented that concept into my games like 30 years ago. I like the new spells but hell, they recycled stuff from Rime of the Frost Maiden that just came out during summer. It's not bad but I'm glad I just got it on D&DBeyond so that the subclasses are there for character page creation. It's not a bad pickup imo if somebody doesnt already have a few of other character source books. People with an imagination and a DM that knows how to think and come up with ideas on their own. I liked the new feats so that's what the book did for me. Few new spells was great. I was hoping for the Ranger rebuild that everyone was after but alas, no dice.
WotC have specifically stated they will not publish a Ranger 2.0 because this will invalidate the one in the PHB which many people enjoy. You have the option now to swap out the bits you don't like. This exact same argument re the Ranger happened in 3.0/3.5.
I kinda disagree about it being more for experienced players. I am pretty new to GMing and it gave me some pretty good ideas for making my own homebrew additions... Also, one of the subclasses fits perfectly to the background of one of my players and I can't wait to present him the opportunity to go into that direction :)
I agree with both. I think a larger part of his point to his comment is the type of new content. There are more than two handfuls of just sourcebooks. That does not include content additions that come with the adventures. And as a hard copy DM having all the sourcebooks plus adventures it’s very expensive so when your still trying to catch up on content you already have the last thing you want is more content to just add to the pile, I agree it’s a useful book all the way around but expanding on older already existing content is a diamond in the rough for a seasoned DM IMO.
I have put a hard ban on this book in any game that I am running there is absolutely nothing useful in it specifically the player origin section is the most moronic thing I have ever read in all of my years of gaming .my current group has been working on what we like to call 5.5 which takes everything that they removed from 3.5 and puts it back into the game where it should have been in the first place. We have reinstated weapon damage based on weapon size, different weights for equipment based on character size, and all the negative stat modifiers for the races have been put back where they should have been in the first place.
I like the origin section. One of my first characters was a wood elf fighter, and from the beginning I always imagined him as breaking the mold for wood elves a bit. Shorter, stockier, more short-tempered and brash, with an emphasis on brute strength over agility. "Well why don't you just play a race that gets a strength bonus?" Because I had a cool concept for a wood elf that didn't fit the norm, and a cool backstory to support it! Not sure what's so wrong with that. But obviously, your group can feel free to not use this optional content if you don't like it. Just wanted to present a scenario from my own personal experience where I would have appreciated having this rule to give me a little more flexibility to follow my character concept.
@@WASD20 It makes the races _less_ unique. I hated that about WoW. It was _great_ when only the Alliance had paladins and only the Horde had shamans. These days everyone can be anything and nothing is special any more.
As far as OP weak goes. A few subclasses might be OP, and almost all of them are in cleric, plus it’s weird that Dao genie lock is superior to other genies. The spells are really well balanced and the magic items. Well anything with a class prerequisite you can treat as being two rarity levels higher except for wizard spell books.
Thanks for this video. Do you have, or going to do, a video on how to create a sidekick? I can't find a video of someone doing something like this online, although many just discuss the sidekick rules. Say I select a monster from the Monster Manual, e.g. a Merfolk as my sidekick - Do they only keep whatever basic ability scores they have (STR/DEX/etc) and you just add the Expert/Spellcaster/Warrior extras? Or do they keep all their skills/senses/etc too, and on top of that you add the Expert/Spellcaster/Warrior proficiencies?
I can honestly point out more things I don’t like about the book than things I do. And list more things I felt should have been in it than things that are. Xanathar is a much better book IMO, but it has its gems. Extra class features except rogue is boring, ranger fixes, magic tattoos and every DM tool is awesome except for the puzzles. You’ll find something in this book worth the money
I remember when this came out I avoided it due to the controversy. I feel stupid for not getting back then it's not even close to what people were saying
Not a fan of puzzles at all. If your toon has 18+ Int let there just be a roll. I say this because tons with 18+ str just lift or push crap. So why is the Int not used in the same way. Not sure if I explained this right but I hope you see what I'm saying.
@@WASD20 yea to me I think 5etools help enough where I dont have to spend 50/60 dollars on book right now been playing online ended up moving so just ended up playing online instead.
You hit the nail on the head with a lot of this. I'm really disappointed. The amount they spent advertising and hyping this book, it didn't deliver for me. I think WotC have a great system in 5e but the supplements compared to 4e are lacking. Probably a corporate move though, ay?
Not necessarily. For example, I’m currently playing in a descent into Avernus campaign. I own the book because it was sent for review, but I don’t look at it because I don’t want things spoiled. Likewise with monsters I’m fighting in game. I own all the monster books, but I don’t look them up when I’m gaming to try to exploit their weaknesses. that ruins the fun for me!
WHAT? You're wrong about this one on two fronts. Not sure what you were reading. 1) The Martial Adept feat does NOT give you proficiency w/ martial weapons. It gives ANY class (mostly for non-fighters) access to some of the Battlemaster's maneuvers along with a superiority die to perform them. 2) None of the builds are recommending the Martial Adept feat. The only mention of this feat in this section is this sentence: "Maneuvers are available to Battle Masters but also to characters who have a special feature like the Superior Technique fighting style or the Martial Adept feat."
I found the content for the most part mostly trash. The writers are trying to steer away from the individual in an attempt to equal the playing field. Now your tanky goliath can be outshines by a gnome barbarian or your warforged rogue is now your silent killer. Having racial advantages and disadvantages are what makes the character unique. Allowing those to be changed neutralizes the need to even pick a race aside for narrative fluff. The patron section railroads players into playing a certain class of a certain alignment depending on the patron. I'm tired of the unimaginative subclasses they come up with that are literally designed based off feats in the PHB. We don't need caster versions of every melee class in the PHB, either.
Kinda disappointed, that WotC have yet to, find a real answer on how to,incorporate a true psionic class into dnd, I dont like it if psionics are only going to be a part of subclasses instead of its own dedicated thing. Psions were a Part of DnD for a long time, yet cant figure it out for 5e.
Garbage! Worst printing of any D&D book so far! Multiple game stores reporting binding issues! Less than 200 pages for $50!!! Reprinted material to add insult to injury
One idea that I got excited recently about puzzles was to offer them as something the group can do between games. Rather than having a puzzle blocking all of the groups advancement, rather maybe have it be the lock on a box with something juicy inside. This lets the game keep going a bit, while not eating up valuable table time.
Interesting idea!
That is a cool idea, like a planned cliff hanger with homework for the group! Maybe the hard puzzles could be locks to more powerful and mysterious artifacts the group gets, or to unlock power or additional powers of an artifact that possibly are chained to additional quest activities. I like it!
Very clever!
Yes, I’ve had great success with this! It can be frustrating to have the whole party get stuck, often needing multiple hints, and it’s especially bad when some players are really into the puzzle but others either feel like they can’t come up with any ideas or they just don’t enjoy puzzles. Giving them something to come back to (be it a mysterious structure in the center of the city, ready for them to return to at any moment, or a locked box they can carry with them) and allowing the more intrigued players to think about it on their own time has made puzzles a lot more fun for my groups. Highly recommend!
Something else I’ve seen suggested is to give puzzles multiple solutions. This reduces aggravation by making it easier to reach an answer.
Oh my God I've been looking forward to this book's release! I'm really glad you did a review on it. Thank you!! :D
That was a great in-depth review, but unfortunately I can be rather shallow at times. What I was thinking was “That is a beautiful cover. I must have it!”
I completely agree 🙌
Fact: I have purchased RPG books based on art alone. :)
The alternate cover is BEAUTIFUL easily my favorite of any 5e book so far
I didn't like that the puzzles are all cipher based, I don't like them cause I feel it breaks the immersion cause they are so obviously game-y and involve thinking in English rather than whatever language is actually being spoken, but smarter people than me have pointed out that with ciphers, mistakes don't take you anywhere, making them much more frustrating.
This is why Runehammer's Room Design series is so good. Puzzles and traps that don't feel pasted on and keep the story moving or kill the PCs
Jeffrey Kershner Hankerin Ferinale is for the people. Legend
@@haydens5321 YES. I've played in some of those games.
You could do a quick search for elvish words, this limiting who can read and such. These are templates, you gotta do some leg work
I kinda just want all of this in an updated Players Handbook. Maybe put all the races, classes, and spells from these various books into a Player’s Handbook 5.5. I know that doesn’t make as much money, but it would be nice to find all your character options in one place. It gets to be too much after a while.
That would make the players handbook more expensive though, since it will be much thicker. Also I like too think of the players handbook as the "base game" and the other books that expand it as the "dlc".
The book would be way too big, so they will have to shorten certain parts and give less information to not have a thousand pages,i prefer the other just be expansions to have they own stage to shine
My friend and I bought a digital and physical copy respectively and spent two hours reading it together. We both run a game and play in each others games, and I think there's a lot of potential in the book! I've already opened my players up to any optional features/spells they might want to take, and I'm excited to see what they do with it!
Xanathars Guide felt like a Far Harbor quality DLC where Tasha's Cauldron seems more hit or miss like Nuka World. I personally love these books equally and their flavor text characters.
Tasha's Cauldron references spells from Xanathar's Guide so it's probably best to get Xanathar's first.
Good point!
Actually Tashas are updated so spells from xanathars are obsolete
@@DeathxStrike18 The only updated spells are ones taken from the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. In the subclass listing spells Tasha's itself are noted with single asterisk and spells from Xanathar's with two.
Compare a level 4 Mountain Dwarf Wizard vs. a level 4 Variant Human Wizard.
If the human takes an ASI at level 4 and the dwarf takes a feat, the dwarf has:
- Darkvision 60'
- Advantage on saves again poison and resistance against poison damage
- 3 Tool Proficiencies: (I'd take Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit)
- Weapon Proficiencies: (I'd take Rapier, Longbow)
- Armor Proficiencies: (Light and Medium)
What is ASI? EDIT - Oh! Ability Score Increase. Got it.
My biggest issue is that there is no index anywhere in the book.
The table of contents is quite detailed, and many of the chapters start with an index of ... spells, magic items, etc.
That was my immediate issue as a brand new player with all these 5e books. I feel like I could have broke things down in a more organized compendium.
@@WASD20 I love your channel but at the same time the beginning of a chapter and an index for looking up specific keywords arent the same...just saying, learn your place ❤❤❤
@@WASD20 BOOOOOO
@@hunterknox4756 Thanks the advice Hunter! I wasn't disputing what the OP said in any way. Just offering up a point about the way I felt the book gets us pretty close to the value of an index. But to you and the OP there is apparently a larger gap between what is wanted and what's delivered in that regard, and that's fine! Maybe I'm just not an index dude. :)
Anyway, to your BOOOO, I cheer you, Hunter. Viewers and commenters like you help keep this channel going. Happy gaming!
I'm on one side overwhelmed by the huge amount of subclasses, subraces and spells we have now with all these books
And on the other side dissapointed with the lack of new tools and advice for running to game or creating new kind of encounters or game features.
It's like there is lot of content and at the same time a lack of content.
Same. I don’t think I’m going to get this book any time soon
@@thylacinepunic5582 yep, me neither.
A friend of my gave the spells from d&d beyond so i put them on my excel spreadsheet with all the other spells for character creation.
I won't use anything else.
Quick background update on spells and other borrowed items... first you missed that the majority of these are from Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. Why have those and other borrowed material? Adventurers League. Makes it easier to designate what is allowed and what isn’t because you choose a set number of supplemental books.
Why pull previously used spells? Because SCAG was not WotC or something like that but it was deemed as official regardless by the community. In fact, Xanathar pulled quite a few subclasses from SCAG as well.
I just love the point of view of the book. I honestly didn’t know anything about “Tasha”, so it was neat to get some of her personality displayed. I had more fun reading her side note comments than the actual content of the book. Not due the content being bad, but her commentary gave me a good chuckle.
At any rate, nice review! Hoping I’ll some day make actual use of all my D&D stuff again in the future.
yeah, me too. I like it when WoTC actually makes the books feel like actual artifacts, it just seems more real
Its an all new character compared to how she used to be, and imo a less interesting one
Every time there's a name attached to a spell, my brain triggers. Who's this person? What's their story? How did they come to have a major thing named after them? It always seems a fun thought experiment to think about.
Sounds like an interesting book. I hope to get it for Christmas
I was sorely disappointed by this book, so many things in here that are half-assed or simply uninspired.
I've been drifting away from DnD for months now, but this book soured any hope I had left. See you guys in 6th edition, I'm spending my time with systems actually worth my time in the coming years.
Out of interest, which other systems do you prefer playing with? I'm getting more interested in Pathfinder 2E myself
@@old_geeky_Michael Pathfinder 2e and Legend of the Five Rings 5e are my picks. Both get made with a lot more love than dnd5e is getting for the past years.
I sometimes also play Warhammer fantasy, also very fun. But for now pf2e is my favourite.
@@smnb6652 Nice, thanks. Yeah I play WFRP too, it's a great system
Are group sorta went a little homebrew I think the only homebrew race we are not aloud to play is a mystic. Also been learning Cthullu too.
i mean....its only fresh as long as you have your imagination and a good team, you dont need a new book to keep enjoying D&D, you can mix and match anything you want in any way you want.
the books are just source material, but you can adapt it to work for ANYTHING you can think up, if you only play games that are "By the letter", then you are really going to limit yourself, i know people that have been playing D&D for 40 years and they arent done yet :P
Good review! Concise and informative. I doff my cap.
Thanks, Dave!
I think that this is a great supplement for players and not so much DM's. It's great for new DM's, but not so much for DM's who've been at it for a while. I can see a lot of veteran DM's seeing the DM variant rules here as paper padding.
That said, the stuff for players is extremely awesome. As a DM, I don't mind the power creep. Any DM worth their salt should be able to balance encounters accordingly. I actually like to use subclasses as inspiration for NPC's and Enemies, so I feel like subclasses are fairly useful for everyone. The only problem I have is that I'm getting a little burned out by subclasses at the moment. And that's not a problem with this supplement, it's a problem with how WotC has been treating subclasses in general.
One of these days I'd like to see a subclass have entirely roleplaying or exploration features. That would be a breath of fresh air. It just seems that nowadays the subclasses we keep getting are mostly combat-focused... and that's only one part of the three pillars of D&D. There are two others, roleplaying and exploration, that needs more love! I'd even like to see a subclass replace some of their main class' features, too. The variant rules for optional class features definitely helps. Feats also help with making things feel new, so I was also happy with that.
All in all, this was just a good supplement. It wasn't like Xanathar's by any means. However, this leads us into another discussion entirely: When will 5e make a genre-changing, genre-defining book? Some of the previous editions had some, such as Keep on the Borderlands, Libris Mortis, Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, anything by Monte Cook, Red Hand of Doom, etc. These books transcended editions and a lot of people still use them today. I don't think 5e has anything on the same caliber, except for maybe Curse of Stradh. Maybe.
There are a TON of modern classics, some of them from Monte Cook's Cypher System, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, OSR folks like Questing Beast, Pathfinder's Kingmaker, Blades in the Dark, etc. There are even some amazing stuff by others systems like stuff from Modiphius, Cubicle 7, Onyx Path Publishing, Green Ronin, Fantasy Flight, R. Talsorian Games, Pinnacle Entertainment, etc.
And there are authors publishing 5e material independently (some of whom have done work for WotC and are currently working with them) like Sly Flourish, Keith Baker, Andrew Cawood, Dragonix, Olver Clegg, Jeffrey Yang (up and coming), Dave Coulson, P.B. Publishing (The Haunt is the epitome of a modern classic module!), Eventyr Games, 5e Solo Gamebook (this dude is badass!), Jeff C. Stevens, JVC Parry, M.T. Black, Ed Greenwood (if you can believe it)... and this is just the tip of the iceberg!
I say this all because WotC has to compete with not only other systems, but even authors who also publish using 5e. I'd argue that some of these independent authors and studios have put out much greater things than WotC has this edition, except for maybe Curse of Stradh and maybe Xanathar's. The foundations of 5e is awesome in general. I don't want them to change their system, but maybe make a little changes here and there in the type of material they put out and they can lead the industry again in terms of quality. We already know they lead it in terms of popularity, but I no longer pick up their books with awe and wonder anymore as I did when I was a kid. The other authors do, but I want 5e to no longer just be good. I want them to be the best.
I like the book. I have the alternate art version and I will say that the physical quality of it is lower than the core books. The spine is badly glued and the paper is warped and wavy.
Most of my wavy books definitely flattened out over time. Also, my PHB fell apart and WotC was great about sending me another free of charge, even 3 years after I bought it! That's customer service.
Every copy my store had on release day had the wavy paper. Not sure what's up with that.
Unfortunately WOTC has had some issues with printing for all of 5e (and maybe more? But I only know about 5e.) My copy of Tasha’s turned out great but I had wavy pages (and one was torn!) in my Monster Manual. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t :/
3:13 you said ‘Rock gnome’.. I heard is as Arach-gnome... aka spider gnome... cool new subclass invented at the spot! Thanks! 😝
Good review Nate! Thanks for your time.
My mom was thinking about buying this, I said no at first but this video told me a lot about it, thanks!
Good Halloween everyone
I'm just about to DM for the first time, running The Sunless Citadel. Which is very basic, but I'm using Tasha's Couldron to spice things up, adding puzzles and giving my players a companion and other things. It's a great book.
It's a sub par book. It's just a printed copy of UA and the quality of manufacturing and art has gone down even more which I didn't think wizards could do and it is short.
Thank you for your review. I was mainly interested in the puzzles' section, but after seeing your take on it, I'm reconsidering.
Hey nate logan AGAIN! sweet video. For Christmas I am planing to get the D&D core rule books, battle mats and dice. I am also getting some pathfinder pawns for my game. All thanks to your videos keep up the great awesome work. :)
Hi Nate! I don't know why, but your sound is much much lower than usual and I had to crank my volume up while getting the rest of my computer sounds way down to be able to hear you out properly. You might want to check that out! Great video!
I have the book and I enjoy it for most of the same reasons, if anything as a dungeon master I'm always happy to have more things to inspire my world building.
For the hard puzzles you introduce some hint mechanism your campaign. E.g. the character find the puzzle but don't need to solve it right away. As they continue in the campaign they meet peaople or find notes that provide some helpful information that makes solving the puzzle a step easier.
Nice review as always, thanks Nate. Don't think it's one I'd be tempted to pick up, but the puzzles section intrigues me, sounds interesting! Nice to see the return of the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O and the Teeth of , too - I remember those from way back in 1st edition. The Mighty Servant is just so much fun 😁
Interesting! Had no idea they were from previous editions. :)
I ordered this outstanding & wonderful & must have book because of your amazing review. Thx so much 4 being so wonderful @ your craft Nate.....👽👽👻😉
Nate, I use magical tattoos in my game. They came from Scarred Lands. I got this book, but I have been to busy to read it. Thank you for your breakdown.
What every FRP Game needs, yet more overpowered class options and features for players. (Can you say $$$ grab?)
Please forgive the sarcasm. I have already decided to pass this by... but it's always nice to hear your thoughts. I do agree with your comment (connected with Ranger), "it's kinda meh!" Really sums up my take on the whole thing. The DM section is especially disappointing. At this point the 5e system needs to give DMs more tools to manage the game and encourage setting creativity. More candy for players... the game is already too generic and imbalanced. That's just my opinion and I am glad someone likes this product. 😁
Have you ever looked into OSR? As a DM, you have to do a bit more bookkeeping, but the resulting rewarding feelings are fantastic. You may really enjoy more realism in your game and start omitting some of the more superhero abilities in PCs.
I followed the (how to draw fantasy map)
It turned out great I love the video
It’s why I’m subscribed now
Thanks for the insight, As I just got my Player's Handbook. It'll be aways before I walk into this one.
If you're not going to be the GM then the only books you should get are the Player's handbook, Xanathar's guide to everything and this one. But ofc there's no rush, if you want more options(1 extra main class, subclasses, spells, etc) later get those books. (Or if you are gonna play a Ranger you might wanna pick up this one)
I think that's wise. Enjoy what each book has to offer and put some mileage on it before seeking more.
The puzzles in the book are based on puzzle solving concepts that are common to certain individuals. There are people that solve puzzles for puzzle solving competitions and a lot of the puzzles they solve are modeled like the stuff in TCoE.
For example, a lot of them have the concept of figuring out a secret word or phrase and using that phrase to then solve the puzzle. There are some that play on your expectations and some that are just using logic (like a sudoku or word find). I watched FLEB, a puzzle channel on RUclips, showcase a lot of this stuff before so when I saw the puzzles in Tasha's it didn't come across as hard to me since I was familiar with the tips and tricks, and those puzzles he showed off had even HARDER tricks, like referencing braille or using pop culture references to find words or phrases.
In contrast, I'm using the Chapter 2 Group Patrons to help make each character's feel like they are more distinct. Since each of them are bound to an organisation/patron from their backstory, and each of these groups will have their own motivations and purposes for the PCs. (I know the Group Patrons were supposed to be one patron for the whole group, but yeah)
My players already feel like they have these extra "tools" at their exposure to use during their campaign, and has really led to some nice RP moments so far
I found it kind of meh. Lots of recycled stuff from other books. It's not a lot of new stuff. It has quite a bit that I'll probably never use. I've already come up with the idea of group patrons on my own anyways since I implemented that concept into my games like 30 years ago. I like the new spells but hell, they recycled stuff from Rime of the Frost Maiden that just came out during summer. It's not bad but I'm glad I just got it on D&DBeyond so that the subclasses are there for character page creation. It's not a bad pickup imo if somebody doesnt already have a few of other character source books. People with an imagination and a DM that knows how to think and come up with ideas on their own. I liked the new feats so that's what the book did for me. Few new spells was great. I was hoping for the Ranger rebuild that everyone was after but alas, no dice.
I’m a bit early but...
Congrats on 200K
This book added so much to my game, like with Xan Guide, my wife is excited to use tattoos. I'm excited to throw this into Ravnica.
I'll be getting my copy soon. Good review Nate. Thanks. Please keep it up!
Watching you live on DAG’s Twitch channel right now!! Merry Christmas and thanks for all the great videos this year!!!
Just want to let you know a majority of new spells came from Sword Coast but were updated for erratas
WotC have specifically stated they will not publish a Ranger 2.0 because this will invalidate the one in the PHB which many people enjoy. You have the option now to swap out the bits you don't like. This exact same argument re the Ranger happened in 3.0/3.5.
I kinda disagree about it being more for experienced players. I am pretty new to GMing and it gave me some pretty good ideas for making my own homebrew additions...
Also, one of the subclasses fits perfectly to the background of one of my players and I can't wait to present him the opportunity to go into that direction :)
I am going to be trying Rune knight on Monday. I am in like 3 games
I think the second subclass is one ranger classes.
I agree with both. I think a larger part of his point to his comment is the type of new content. There are more than two handfuls of just sourcebooks. That does not include content additions that come with the adventures. And as a hard copy DM having all the sourcebooks plus adventures it’s very expensive so when your still trying to catch up on content you already have the last thing you want is more content to just add to the pile, I agree it’s a useful book all the way around but expanding on older already existing content is a diamond in the rough for a seasoned DM IMO.
@@onmyownagain681 That is a very fair point. Getting more stuff is always exciting, but in the case of DnD sourcebooks it is also very bankrupting...
Intresting book. I wish they more anthropomorphic creatures as player characters though
New 5e book: eh
New niche inde RPG: Nice.
Pretty much anything from Free League: OH GOD YES!
I love Free League
I love the more emphasis on your characters mechanics and individualism
cant wait to buy that book
I think "Magical Miscellany" is supposed to be a pun on "Magic Missile". I agree that it is clumsy.
I enjoyed this, one note though is that the nation's, lichs, mummies, Ext. Aren't going to use easy to figure out puzzles😉
Then maybe we need some easier puzzles. :)
How bout some bugbear dens? 😂
I have put a hard ban on this book in any game that I am running there is absolutely nothing useful in it specifically the player origin section is the most moronic thing I have ever read in all of my years of gaming .my current group has been working on what we like to call 5.5 which takes everything that they removed from 3.5 and puts it back into the game where it should have been in the first place. We have reinstated weapon damage based on weapon size, different weights for equipment based on character size, and all the negative stat modifiers for the races have been put back where they should have been in the first place.
I like the origin section. One of my first characters was a wood elf fighter, and from the beginning I always imagined him as breaking the mold for wood elves a bit. Shorter, stockier, more short-tempered and brash, with an emphasis on brute strength over agility. "Well why don't you just play a race that gets a strength bonus?" Because I had a cool concept for a wood elf that didn't fit the norm, and a cool backstory to support it! Not sure what's so wrong with that.
But obviously, your group can feel free to not use this optional content if you don't like it. Just wanted to present a scenario from my own personal experience where I would have appreciated having this rule to give me a little more flexibility to follow my character concept.
@@WASD20 It makes the races _less_ unique. I hated that about WoW. It was _great_ when only the Alliance had paladins and only the Horde had shamans. These days everyone can be anything and nothing is special any more.
As far as OP weak goes. A few subclasses might be OP, and almost all of them are in cleric, plus it’s weird that Dao genie lock is superior to other genies. The spells are really well balanced and the magic items. Well anything with a class prerequisite you can treat as being two rarity levels higher except for wizard spell books.
Loved the Song of Albion call out. Great books.
Thanks for this video. Do you have, or going to do, a video on how to create a sidekick? I can't find a video of someone doing something like this online, although many just discuss the sidekick rules. Say I select a monster from the Monster Manual, e.g. a Merfolk as my sidekick - Do they only keep whatever basic ability scores they have (STR/DEX/etc) and you just add the Expert/Spellcaster/Warrior extras? Or do they keep all their skills/senses/etc too, and on top of that you add the Expert/Spellcaster/Warrior proficiencies?
Does this guy stream his d&d games and if so where do I watch and what’s the channel name?
I do! Check it out over here: ruclips.net/user/wasd20live
The way every single 5e book comes with massively waved pages because they don't let the shitton of ink on those thin pages dry before binding them
You don't get enough credit for your content dude!
I love D&D!!!
I can honestly point out more things I don’t like about the book than things I do. And list more things I felt should have been in it than things that are.
Xanathar is a much better book IMO, but it has its gems. Extra class features except rogue is boring, ranger fixes, magic tattoos and every DM tool is awesome except for the puzzles. You’ll find something in this book worth the money
I remember when this came out I avoided it due to the controversy. I feel stupid for not getting back then it's not even close to what people were saying
Not a fan of puzzles at all. If your toon has 18+ Int let there just be a roll. I say this because tons with 18+ str just lift or push crap. So why is the Int not used in the same way. Not sure if I explained this right but I hope you see what I'm saying.
If you don't like puzzles tell your DM, bring it up and get a consensus from all involved, maybe there don't need to be any puzzles....
Buggers. Amazon as a seller is out of stock for both versions and the scalpers are busy, selling them at twice the price (or more).
Oh wow. That's pretty surprising!
(missll-ANEE)
Feels a bit like a computer game when you level up. There is no emotion in the game. No world and and no history. Your videos are god.
I'm watching this review because I want to buy the book now but apparently the binding is very poor
I wish I could get these books/expansions but they are so much! I don't have an infinite allowance lol.
I hear ya. It’s a cool book, but if I were on my budget from 10 years ago I would definitely be passing on a lot of these.
@@WASD20 yea to me I think 5etools help enough where I dont have to spend 50/60 dollars on book right now been playing online ended up moving so just ended up playing online instead.
You hit the nail on the head with a lot of this. I'm really disappointed. The amount they spent advertising and hyping this book, it didn't deliver for me. I think WotC have a great system in 5e but the supplements compared to 4e are lacking. Probably a corporate move though, ay?
looks interesting
Seems they ripped quite a few ideas from Matt Colville. I think I'll stick with his books.
What sidekicks? That's an idea Matt took from older editions of DnD.
Oof, that’s a spicy take in the thumbnail.
who want Asgorath's world dictionary 😎😎
Buys both versions of the book.... immediately starts stressing the binding of the special edition book...
it does make all the puzzles void if players are going to be buying the book
Not necessarily. For example, I’m currently playing in a descent into Avernus campaign. I own the book because it was sent for review, but I don’t look at it because I don’t want things spoiled. Likewise with monsters I’m fighting in game. I own all the monster books, but I don’t look them up when I’m gaming to try to exploit their weaknesses. that ruins the fun for me!
@@WASD20 I think it would be wiser to separate player and dm materials
Ah yes, the Battlemaster builds, which recommend you take the Martial Adept feat... on a class that gets all martial weapons by default.
WHAT? You're wrong about this one on two fronts. Not sure what you were reading.
1) The Martial Adept feat does NOT give you proficiency w/ martial weapons. It gives ANY class (mostly for non-fighters) access to some of the Battlemaster's maneuvers along with a superiority die to perform them.
2) None of the builds are recommending the Martial Adept feat. The only mention of this feat in this section is this sentence: "Maneuvers are available to Battle Masters but also to characters who have a special feature like the Superior Technique fighting style or the Martial Adept feat."
is a witch a female wizard?
Artificer are the worst. If I wanted to play star wars I'll play star wars.
What is an Iraq gnome
An (realizing I use the wrong pronoun) a rock gnome. All together "an a rock gnome". XD
@@WASD20 thank you for the clarification
Hey, for the dm tools, how about take inspiration from it instead of bashing it.
It’s a review. If I just kept my mouth shut about things I didn’t like about the book, that would kind of defeat the purpose.
Is better than the fucking xanathar
I found the content for the most part mostly trash. The writers are trying to steer away from the individual in an attempt to equal the playing field. Now your tanky goliath can be outshines by a gnome barbarian or your warforged rogue is now your silent killer. Having racial advantages and disadvantages are what makes the character unique. Allowing those to be changed neutralizes the need to even pick a race aside for narrative fluff. The patron section railroads players into playing a certain class of a certain alignment depending on the patron. I'm tired of the unimaginative subclasses they come up with that are literally designed based off feats in the PHB. We don't need caster versions of every melee class in the PHB, either.
First view
Kinda disappointed, that WotC have yet to, find a real answer on how to,incorporate a true psionic class into dnd, I dont like it if psionics are only going to be a part of subclasses instead of its own dedicated thing. Psions were a Part of DnD for a long time, yet cant figure it out for 5e.
Garbage! Worst printing of any D&D book so far! Multiple game stores reporting binding issues! Less than 200 pages for $50!!! Reprinted material to add insult to injury
DnD hasn't been good since 3.5
Go play Pathfinder, or 3.5.