D&D (2024) New D&D Edition's Player’s Handbook Cover Reveal

Game Informer has revealed the cover to the 2024 Player’s Handbook.

The cover features a gold dragon behind the old-school D&D characters Strongheart the paladin, Mercion the cleric, Elkhorn the dwarf fighter, and Molliver the thief. Ringlerun the wizard is absent (then again he got his showcase on one of the 1E AD&D Player's Handbooks), but a drow mage appears to have joined the party!

 

[Bitbrain]

Undermining this somewhat is everyone except the centre lady (a mage?) is just very bog-standard, with the most stereotypical dwarf possible and the ranger is so stereotypical you can not only tell she's a ranger, but you wonder if she's cosplaying Ranger from the D&D cartoon.

To be fair, every single player I’ve ever encountered who decides to play a Ranger, well, plays them as the stereotypical Aragorn from the Peter Jackson Fellowship of the Ring movie.

Well, except that one homeschooled teenaged player whose parents had never let him read Lord of the Rings, but for some reason had no problem with him reading some book titled the Feral Girl.

 

[B9anders]

Marvel-posing, brush-cartoon style. Very meh. I'd have preferred a scene showing a group actually doing stuff an adventurer group might be doing.

For similar reasons, I really like the internal art example of the old saturday morning cartoon group exploring a temple entrance.

 

[Wolfpack48]

This point was about the internal wizard art, not the cover art. Which seems to have triggered far more discussion than the cover itself. Which suggests the wizard art is better than the cover, at least by a certain measure. I agree with your point about the subjectivity, but if you did want an objective measure, then the amount of discussion is surely as good as any?

To be clear, I would have liked that internal wizard for the cover.

 

[Reynard]

This is also generic/boring, Marvel pose.

This could go under: Look, I cast Shield spell!

We had this discussion already. Do we really need to have it again here?

 

[Meech17]

I read the draconic head at the bottom of the image as a red dragon, but yeah, now that I look at it, it’s another Kobold. I think I saw it first and thought the adventurers were between two dragons, before seeing the Kobolds.

So, first PHB to include an adventuring party and a dragon? I’m still seeing that as a win.

No.. I definitely think that's a red dragon.. It's getting ready to breathe fire.

 

[Meech17]

Undermining this somewhat is everyone except the centre lady (a mage?) is just very bog-standard, with the most stereotypical dwarf possible and the ranger is so stereotypical you can not only tell she's a ranger, but you wonder if she's cosplaying Ranger from the D&D cartoon.

I assumed she was a rogue, but I can see ranger too.

It would be cool to see them breaking some moulds. Make the Dwarf a Warlock or something. Make the Paladin a Halfling. Throw in a Half-Orc Cleric.

 

[Horwath]

Marvel-posing, brush-cartoon style. Very meh. I'd have preferred a scene showing a group actually doing stuff an adventurer group might be doing.

what really are adventurers doing...

 

[mamba]

I expect you have seen (or at least had in front of your eyes) a lot of pieces that you didn't feel any need to comment on at all, and you have pretty much forgotten about.

sure, both good and bad, but they did not have threads here. What do you think the purpose of those threads is? Do you think those pieces would not have gotten comments if they were meant for the next PHB and had a thread here?

The difference is the context, not the art.

 

[Reef]

View attachment 363361
what really are adventurers doing...

No no no…that’s just replicating the “Avengers eat shawarma” scene!

It’s Marvel all the way down!!

 

[Reynard]

No no no…that’s just replicating the “Avengers eat shawarma” scene!

It’s Marvel all the way down!!

I mean, 5E is the MCU version of D&D -- and that is not meant as a dig.