D&D: Tasha’s Subclasses Look Great, There’s No Denying
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything features twenty-two new archetypes, at least one for every class–and today we’re looking at the art that brings them to life.
Not literally, mind you. As I understand it, the Libramancer has been put on the back burner for the time being, so it’ll be a while yet before the wizard school that’s all around bringing things from a book to life gets printed. But nevertheless, as of this week we’ve seen artwork for just about every subclass features in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. We’ve also gotten some fairly robust previews of what these subclasses are like, and with the book releasing in exactly a week, giving us all plenty of time to get through Beyond Light while also gearing up for the eventual release of Cyberpunk Red two days later, it’s time to take a look.
As has been previously mentioned, there are 30 subclasses included in the book, along with a reprinting of the Artificer and 8 favorites from throughout previous books. So if you’re looking to have your Circle of Spores druid or Oath of Glory paladin, they’re all collected here. If you’re wondering why they would reprint things, it’s mainly to do with Adventurer’s League, which has a strict policy of allowing characters created using the “PHB + 1” meaning you can use the Player’s Handbook and one other sourcebook to create your character.
This is largely there to prevent the dark days of 3.x Edition where a player armed with the right scattering of sourcebooks could not only kill a god, but also make the game entirely unfun for everyone else at the table. Which is the real reason that “munchkins” or “powergamers” get looked down on. But that’s a discussion for another day (probably tomorrow), because for right now we’re looking at the gorgeous art from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Not every subclass has art yet, but here’s a picture of everything we’ve seen so far. Take a look!
Artillerist (Artificer)
Path of the Beast (Barbarian)
College of Creation (Bard)
Twilight Domain (Cleric)
Circle of Wildfire (Druid)
Psi Warrior (Fighter)
Way of Mercy (Monk)
Aberrant Mind (Sorcerer)
Clockwork Soul (Sorcerer)
Of course this is just a taste of what’s to come. We have yet to see the Oath of Watchers paladin, the Way of the Astral Self monk, or any of the rogue options (Soulknife and Phantom), let alone the reprinted ones.
Either way, the stage is still set for the new book, and the closer we get, the more it feels like we’re seeing the turning of a design corner for 5th Edition. This book feels like an upgrade beyond even Xanathar’s Guide to Everything–I’d almost compare it to the same sort of feeling you got from the Book of Nine Sword. It’s not a new edition, not exactly, but it’s a wildly different way of looking at the rules that were already there.
What subclasses are you looking forward to when Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything finally drops? Let us know in the comments!
