While printed books have a certain heft, a smell that I find nostalgic and can be held in your hands and, if necessary, read by candlelight long after the power's gone out - and regardless of access to the Internet - there are also boons to be had from the newfangled, high-tech version reviewed herein..."Magic is great and all,
but have you smelled a book?"
- Tasha
Reading Tasha's Cauldron of Everything on the Roll20 platform requires that you have access to a web browser, at minimum. However, most people have cell phones with web browsers, these days, so access can be as near as your pocket. I have tested out perusing it on my iPhone X, Gen 2 iPad, computer and my FireTV. Yes, you're dependent on technology to access the book, but it's tech that's available almost anywhere. Additionally, the digital version on Roll20 is more "live" than a printed version. In a printed book, once it's printed and bound, it can't be edited. Sure, you could slip in an addendum sheet or have a webpage of addendums online, but with the Roll20 version, any mistakes can be fixed when identified and corrected, without the users needing to download anything; they make the correction and the next time you access that page, it's correct. I actually discovered one such typo; in the list of spells, "Tasha's Otherworldly Guise" was listed as "Tasha's Otherworldly Guide". I reported the typo and a couple of days later, it was corrected. That, my friends, is the right way to deal with needed corrections.
I mention accessibility first, because in purchasing* Tasha's Cauldron of Everything for the Roll20 platform, I saw that it specifically stated on its marketplace page that the book "Can only be used with Roll20; cannot be downloaded." I was originally concerned that this could mean horribly limited access in some fashion. In reality, it merely meant I had to have the device I was going to use to read the digital version, anyway... and internet access. For me, this isn't really a huge drawback, as I'm not likely to want to play D&D while camping in an area with no cell phone coverage, but if that sounds like something in your upcoming plans, your mileage may vary.
If your desire is to play 5th Edition D&D over the internet, the need for Internet access is a given and the tradeoff, here, is spectacular. Within the Roll20 system, any and all books you purchase on the platform (for a given role-playing system) are made available in the same interactive library, allowing you to search, for example, for a Feat or Spell across all of the relevant books that you have in Roll20. If you've ever searched through a stack of hardbound rule books in an attempt to locate that Feat or Spell that you know you saw that one time three months ago, this feature alone should seal the deal. In addition to the integration of all books for a given game, you have handouts that can be shared with players and player tokens that can be used to represent players that are included in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, along with some really cool interactive puzzles that can be easily integrated into your adventures. Some resources are set as being only for the DM, but the DM can opt to share them with the players, if desired, and when shared, the players see only the player-appropriate material, not the solutions to puzzles, for example.
The included interactive puzzles are accessible via the Page menu (along the top of the Roll20 screen, right of center). You can click and drag the "Players" bookmark to the page of the desired puzzle and the puzzle will fill their screen, giving it the proper focus it deserves. While the Dungeon Master's view shows the solution, and the Players' view does not, the pieces of the puzzle can be moved and manipulated by both DMs and Players, alike. I found this to be a pretty slick way to handle the puzzles. (And, yes, you could have handouts included with a printed game, but those would then be subject to getting bent, lost or coated in Mountain Dew and Cheetos dust. The electronic versions stay pristine and right where you left them.)
I mentioned above that Tasha's Cauldron includes some Feats and Spells, but to be a bit more specific, there are fifteen Feats included, including Adept/Initiate Feats (Artificer, Eldritch, Fighter, and Metamagic) that give your character a leg up in the related classes, but could also be used to add a slight touch of (a related) "class" to your character even if they're not an Artificer, Warlock, Fighter or Sorcerer. There are also attack-style Feats (Crusher/Gunner/Piercer/Poisoner/Slasher) that can give your character a little extra something in their fighting ability. Other included Feats are: Chef, Fey Touched, Shadow Touched, Skill Expert, Telepathic and, perhaps my favorite, Telekinetic, which bestows your character with the use of Mage Hand and the ability to mentally shove enemies around during fights. How awesome is that?! The Cauldron also contains twenty-one Spells, ranging from level zero to level nine, with something included for Artificers, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Wizards, Druids, Rangers, Clerics, Paladins - even something a Bard can use.
There are also Character options for customizing character origins and lineage as well as class customizations for Barbarians, Bards, Cleric, Druids, Fighters, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards. Mind you, this is Tasha's tome, so of course, these class customizations are primarily magical in nature, but if you find yourself a bit jealous of the party Mage, Cleric or even the Paladin for their magical abilities, this is your chance to give your Rogue a close, magical connection to death and the spirit realm or give your Fighter the ability to create powerful Runes on items and weapons that can enable useful magical effects. Or, heck, why not roll yourself up a Wild Magic Barbarian... that's right - from the class that used to be famously anti-magic to a wild warrior with wild magical effects. Sweet, no? There are interesting twists for the already magically talented classes; perhaps you'd like your Warlock character to have a Genie as a patron? Maybe you'd like your sorcerer to be imbued with magic and additional spells and effects from a realm of clockwork efficiency as a Clockwork Soul. Wizards who like wizardry and spell research, but fear losing their spellbooks may want to check into the Order of Scribes Wizard Subclass... and never find themselves wanting for quill or ink and, instead, enjoying some nice magic-book related improvements.
Other things to be uncovered within include Patrons for your adventuring party, which can help to provide over-arching direction in your campaigns and open up some resources to your adventurers, while also providing some opportunity for real consequences for parties who opt to go against their Patron, through action or inaction. Magic Tattoos are also included here and, unlike the tattoo spell book option, seen elsewhere, these are enhancements that any character could enjoy and are a type of magic item. Speaking of Magic Items, you'll find descriptions and details for sixty-five of them, ranging from Common (including a couple of Tattoos) up to Artifacts, including Baba Yaga's Mortar and Pestle and the Demonomicon of Iggwilv. And while it's quite possible an adventurer will never encounter an extremely rare artifact, even the simply "Uncommon" Magic Items can be quite a boon. Take, for example the All-Purpose Tool +1, which can transform into any artisan's tool and bestows you with proficiency in the tool or, perhaps, the Druid or Ranger's Moon Sickle +1, which serves as a +1 weapon as well putting a little extra "umph" into your healing spells when held while healing. There are definitely some items here that are worth questing for.
To mix things up a bit further, Tasha's Cauldron features a chapter for Dungeon Masters, with rules and suggestions for adding "Sidekicks" to characters or the party, for playing with Environmental Hazards and mechanics for talking things out with monsters you encounter, rather than always fighting everything you encounter.
Oh, and I'm sure you've noticed mention of Artificer Class in the above paragraphs. If you were thinking that's not of use to you, as you don't have any info on the Artificer class, rejoice - the entire Artificer Class is detailed within this tome. The Artificer is a magic-wielding artisan, using artisan tools to imbue objects with magical abilities, changing mundane objects into magical ones. Additionally, Tasha's Cauldron features a goodly amount of content that works exceptionally well with Artificers, so if you're considering an Artificer, Tasha's is a must-have.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything does not disappoint as a D&D source book. Then again, I always play magic users, so I might be a bit biased, here. If you're looking to add a bit of that old black magic into your campaigns, I highly recommend getting Tasha's Cauldron.. If you play on Roll20 and already have started your collection of source books on that platform, that goes doubly for you. However, the list price of the Roll20 version is the same as the list price of the printed book: $49.95 USD. As of this writing, it seems, the hardback is priced at $29.97 on Amazon, but is out of stock, with one used copy being offered for $94.30. In other words, the prices are all over the place, currently. Availability is also spotty for the printed book. To contrast, the Roll20 digital version isn't going to run out. If you can catch it on sale on Roll20, that would definitely be the way to go.
* By "purchasing" I am referring to cashing in the code for the book bundle via the Roll20 Marketplace. A copy was provided to me free of cost so that I could evaluate it for this review. Please note that the opinions within are my own.
