Top 10 Character Classes In Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything

With 2020 heading into the holiday season, Wizards of the Coast continues to put out content for their titular role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. From modules to campaign settings, Wizards have been showering its fanbase with a steady stream of content this last year, the latest of which is Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

Like Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's is a player, and dungeon master focused expansion book. Inside, you'll find everything from new classes (which comprises most of the book), new core mechanics such as followers, and expansions on existing mechanics like weather effects. The tome has received a mixed reception; however, I find most of the content therein to be quite useful after going through it. Below I will outline the 10 classes I think are the most interesting to play; this does not mean they are the most powerful classes, but instead the ones I believe will be the most exciting or fun to play. They are also in no particular order and should all be considered roughly equal.

Here are the Top 10 character classes in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything:

1. Artificer, Armorer

The Artificer has been a class that the community has not been incredibly kind too. Its weak early game, lackluster spell list, and niche role in a fantasy setting have been pretty maligned. However, I find that the Artificer can shine by giving it the right campaign setting and table. 

Even more so now with the new Iron Man-inspired Armorer subclass. Designed to be applicable in both high fantasy and sci-fi settings, the Armorer is, as its name would suggest, all about making magical suits of armor.

It allows you to choose a set of armor and magically enhance it, giving it one of two paths for improvement: stealth focused infiltrator set and a heavy guardian set. Each one allows for unique play styles and appears to be equally viable in terms of strength. You get wrist lasers, protective shields, extra armor proficiencies, and extra attacks. Overall, it is a powerful class with a cool superhero/mecha aesthetic. 

2. Bard, College of Creation

The College of Creation is a strange subclass, but one I believe holds remarkable potential in the right hands. Not designed for someone who likes their classes to play themselves, this subclass rewards creativity and on the spot thinking. The College of Creation allows you to use the "Song of Creation" to weave magic, creating physical objects. The classes abilities are two-fold:

• You can use your bardic inspiration die to create floating musical notes, which add additional effects when your target activates the die.
• You get to make things out of nothing; similar to the transmuter, but much better.

The subclass's primary ability is their "creation" ability; at level 3, as an action, you can create an object of 20 gold cost or less within 10 feet of you, which is a medium-size or smaller. The only limit to this ability is that you can only have 1 item at a time, and it consumers spell slots of the 2nd level or higher per us. This ability is powerful for those who can think of inventive items to benefit the current encounter. It becomes even more powerful later on as the gold limit is removed, and the size of the object increases to huge. All ill say about its viability is this, what situation couldn't a fully functioning cannon or ballista solve?

3. Druid, Circle of Wildfire

The Wildfire Druid caught my eye when Wizards released it in the Unearthed Arcana series earlier this year. The theme of fire being both a force of destruction and life was elegantly demonstrated in its mechanics. I'm a sucker for the marriage of theme and mechanics, so I was elated seeing it back in Tasha's. The subclass allows you to forgo your typical animal transformation to summon up a personal wildfire spirit, along with a new host of spells that reflect the destructive and curative nature of the fire theme.

The spirit is a powerful summon that burns your enemies and teleports your allies. It can also improve your damaging and healing spells. Additionally, at the 10th level, you gain the ability to turn dead bodies into free healing for your allies.

Ultimately the subclass brings a much-needed ranged blaster subclass to the Druid, with a ton of additional healing to boot. It's a substantial addition to the Druid's already stellar lineup of subclasses.

4. Fighter, Psi Warrior

It's the Jedi subclass; what more could you want? From protective barriers to force imbued strikes, psychic protection, psychic movement, and at the 18th level, the ability to just cast Telekinesis at will with no components, this class is just downright excellent. Be it fantasy or sci-fi, this class looks and feels so cool to sit down and play. With its unique mechanics combined with some of the new fighting styles and maneuvers for fighters, you have a litany of options for a psychic imbued badass.

I'm looking forward to playing a psychic boxer with the new unarmed fighting style described in this book's fighter section.

5. Monk, Way of the Astral Self

It's a JoJo's reference. 

But seriously though, it's a cool looking subclass with a lot of power and a lot of potential for customization. To simplify, you gain an astral self, which can take form and fight for you, earning more body parts as you level. As your astral form becomes complete, starting from the arms, you gain more astral abilities along the way to the head. Additional attacks, resistances, enhanced vision, extra armor, and ultimately a barrage of punches from both you and your astral self make this class an absolute powerhouse. Alongside the ability to completely customize, what is functionally a representation of your soul, this is one of the most thematically fulfilling classes if ever seen. 

6. Ranger, Swarmkeeper

You're a ranger who has a literal army of insects at your command. The possibilities for horrifying scenes are genuinely endless. The mechanics are pretty simple; you have a swarm of bugs, which takes up a 5 by 5 square you can command when you make an attack. The bugs can deal more damage to your enemies, move them, move you, and eventually shield you, make you fly, or even teleport you. It's both highly creepy and amazingly cool; also, it states explicitly that your swarm doesn't have to be insects. It can be any creature as long as there's a lot of them, and they're tiny, so if you're not into bugs, you're still golden.

7. Rogue, Soulknife

The Psi Warriors edgier little brother, the Soul Knife, is another psychically imbued subclass. With this subclass, you can manifest your psychic abilities as telekinetic blades. These blades replace your standard weapon and function like improved daggers, dealing more damage, and traveling farther when thrown. Additionally, you get the ability to cloak your mind, communicate telepathically, and eventually turn invisible.

Endgame your blades become weapons to be feared, dealing massive psychic damage and even stunning your enemies on a sneak attack if they fail a save. It's strong, evocative, and filled with creative potential for flavoring your psychic weapons. 

8. Sorcerer, Clockwork Soul

The community has oft considered the Sorcerer as one of the weaker classes; well, Tasha's has seen to remedy this. Tasha's new Sorcerers are a force to behold, from a massively expanded spell list to new class features like spell versatility. While I find both options impressive, I think the Clockworks Soul offers slightly more potential for creative freedom and character design.

The mechanical abilities of the Clockwork Soul allow you to negate advantaged or disadvantaged rolls, turning them into normal rolls (which may be one of the most potent class abilities in the game), reduce the damage done to your allies, and at the 18th level create a zone around you which deals massive damage or massive healing. The subclass is, in this dungeon master's opinion, a direct response to fan outcry. Wizards heard our issues and took notice. In response, they gave us one of the most mechanically viable and flavor sorcerers out there. 

9. Warlock, The Genie

Initially released as one of the Unearthed Arcana articles, the Genie patron has been a highly anticipated subclass. While the fandom has had gripes about this iteration, mostly due to the capstone ability change, I still find this subclass absurdly fun. While most warlock patrons bring dark, edgy, or otherworldly horror to the campaign, the genie, much like the fae patron, adds a dash of whimsy and levity.

The class gains the benefits of an expanded spell list, the ability to have improved rests, gain extra damage on attack rolls, a flying speed, and as the new capstone, the ability to cast a reduced in power wish spell. Beyond the mechanics, the class's flavor and variations depending on the specific kind of genie are great. It gives you a more direct and reasonable patron, unlike many of the more overbearing ones presented in the Player's Hand Book. 

10. Wizard, Order of Scribes

The spellbook has, since even the earliest editions, been an integral element of the class. Be it a dusty tome, a system of intricate runes upon slabs or any other oddball variation, the spellbook to this day is integral to the mechanics and feel of a Wizard. So, this begs the question, why not create a subclass that utilized the titular tome more directly, say as a magical helper? Well, the Order of Scribes delivers upon that very premise. Its abilities are extensive and more difficult to summarize than other subclasses.

Still, some of the perks include the ability to alter your spells, similar to a sorcerer with their meta magic, the ability to create spell scrolls more efficiently, and even the ability to avoid death itself by relinquishing some known spells from your spellbook (temporarily as compared to the permanent loss from the Unearthed Arcana version of this subclass). Overall the class allows you to animate your spellbook into a companion of sorts, which allows for a whole host of potential.

Ultimately, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything added some of the most fascinating and imaginative classes wizards have ever produced. No matter which class you choose, Tasha's is a fantastic book work your time. I couldn't recommend it more to both players and dungeon masters.