D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[GreyLord]

Thinking in tiers:

• Levels 1 thru 4: Apprentices (adult college students about age 20 and up)
• Levels 5 thru 8: Professionals

• Levels 9 thru 12: Masters (reallife olympic world record holders and most versions of Batman)
• Levels 13 thru 16: Grandmasters (standard superheroes, such as Fantastic Four)

• Levels 17 thru 20: Legends (the most powerful superheroes, such as Storm and Superman)
• Levels 21 thru 24: Epics


Game of Thrones mostly has main characters who are Apprentices with a few remarkable Professionals. This is medievalesque with a hint of magic.

The Tolkien movies mostly have the main characters be Professionals with a few remarkable Masters. For example, Legolas reads as Batman to me. I see Gandalf himself as Legend tier, level 20, but he is a special case and is "holding back" for ethical reasons relating to free will.

Likewise, the D&D movie, Honor among Thieves, has the main characters officially be the Professional tier, levels 5 thru 8 (namely +3 Proficiency), and this feels about right. But we also see glimpses of superhero characters, such as the Red Wizard herself who is Grandmaster Levels 13 thru 16 (+5 Proficiency) and even Elminster who I assume is Epic at this point.

The default D&D setting officially includes the superhero genre, but its characters tend to be rare.

5e is terrible at this.

Superman only has a 20% greater chance than I do...because he only gets a +4 more on his legendary than anyone else.

Unless, of course, they decide to change this someway in the republished 5e.

A Master only has a 10% chance of being better than I am at their job...unless they happen to be a Rogue...then it can be 30%.

5e math is incredibly small in relation to how different people are in certain arenas.

Gandalf could easily be level 20 with what he does. He'd have more spells and such already, and we've seen him do things that could technically be equal to a teleport or even a wish, or if we classify him as a druid or cleric (how else does one turn Sauron or other great evils?) he still has high level manifestations of his power.

As for everything else...in 5e...it's a mere +4 better than the "apprentices"...so why not?

 

[Faolyn]

So we're talking 21st level/past the PHB level play then.

Thats... fine? IDK. I've never used real high-level rules despite getting a character who was close to 20th twice. And since we're now talking theoretical expansion beyond the levels the game currently has, I will not bother further with that. I was worried mountain splitting came prior to 20.

Oh, gosh no. I wouldn't put mountain splitting at anything less than 20th level, and most certainly beyond there. Whether that's done with epic feats, epic levels, Immortals rules, or something else is, of course, completely theoretical.

I just think it's not unreasonable to believe that a normal fighter dude could one day possibly achieve that power. At least in some settings.

 

[Charlaquin]

If something is extraordinary in reallife, highly unusual, remarkable powerful, or impossible, then it is also extraordinary in the D&D setting.

There is absolutely no reason this needs to be the case. If it’s your preference, fine, but it’s no more or less valid a choice than a fantastical setting where things that would be extraordinary in real life are in fact ordinary. And it’s most certainly not the default assumption of D&D. Dragonborn would be extraordinary in real life, but they’re quite ordinary in D&D. I would argue that many, many players like D&D specifically because things that would be extraordinary in real life are ordinary in the game. That’s a huge part of the appeal of high fantasy as a genre.

 

[MNblockhead]

That sounds dull by way of eliminating potential different roles.

I think that was @Steampunkette 's point. It isn't hard to balance, but hard to do in a satisfactory way that would still feel like D&D.

I'm with you, I like different roles where each have strengths and weaknesses, so that the party has to work together to accomplish their goals. So that if one member goes down, the other feel that loss.

The problem that I have with Wizards in 5e, is even at lower levels, they start feeling like they are stealing the spotlight from other classes.

I'm feeling this about D&D more than ever now that I'm running Warhammer Fantasy 4e. In Warhammer, Wizards can have various utility spells that step on the turf of other careers. They have cast incredibly powerful spells that will devestate an enemy, but there is real risk in casting magic and real costs to mitigate those risks. This has the laudatory effect of being cautious with magic. Why take any risk to bypass a locked door when you have someone who can pick it? The miscast and chaos rules in Warhammer mitigate the "magic can solve anything" issue far better than spell-slot resource management.

Inject some risk, through possible miscasts, casting times, etc. The more powerful the magic the steeper the cost. Keep cantrips so their are some safe attacks the power up as wizards level up so they can always contribute, but make levels spells have some risk in the casting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think that was @Steampunkette 's point. It isn't hard to balance, but hard to do in a satisfactory way that would still feel like D&D.

I'm with you, I like different roles where each have strengths and weaknesses, so that the party has to work together to accomplish their goals. So that if one member goes down, the other feel that loss.

The problem that I have with Wizards in 5e, is even at lower levels, they start feeling like they are stealing the spotlight from other classes.

I'm feeling this about D&D more than ever now that I'm running Warhammer Fantasy 4e. In Warhammer, Wizards can have various utility spells that step on the turf of other careers. They have cast incredibly powerful spells that will devestate an enemy, but there is real risk in casting magic and real costs to mitigate those risks. This has the laudatory effect of being cautious with magic. Why take any risk to bypass a locked door when you have someone who can pick it? The miscast and chaos rules in Warhammer mitigate the "magic can solve anything" issue far better than spell-slot resource management.

Inject some risk, through possible miscasts, casting times, etc. The more powerful the magic the steeper the cost. Keep cantrips so their are some safe attacks the power up as wizards level up so they can always contribute, but make levels spells have some risk in the casting.

I definitely support dangerous magic. The only real problem with it is getting players to accept it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

New PC specie? If this is not the ardlings from UA playtest then my theory is the drows. They are more interesting than orcs or goblings. The other option could be the genasi.

 

[Charlaquin]

New PC specie? If this is not the ardlings from UA playtest then my theory is the drows. They are more interesting than orcs or goblings. The other option could be the genasi.

Drow wouldn’t be new, they’re in the 2014 PHB. Also, we already know it’s orcs and goliaths.

 

[Hussar]

You're getting pushback because saying you "like psionics" but don't like the 3.5 implementation puts you into a really niche position. The 3.X version (especially the quasi-official Dreamscarred Press adaptation of the material) was kinda awesome.

I mean, the warblade was also just a D&D wizard with the serial numbers filed off and dozens of pages of martial spells, but that was pretty awesome too.

lol.

It’s funny watching someone constantly claiming they don’t hate something being told the only reason they want to change it is because they hate it.

cough halflings*cough*

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If there are psionic subclasses, maybe we could see a psionic PC specie. Elans should be the best option, because they can use psionic power points even if they aren't psionic manifesters.

I doubt seriously goblings to be more popular as PC specie than gnomes. D&D kobolds are a better option to sell toys and that type of things.

 

[Staffan]

I doubt seriously goblings to be more popular as PC specie than gnomes. D&D kobolds are a better option to sell toys and that type of things.

D&D goblins? Perhaps. Pathfinder or WoW goblins? Heck yeah!