D&D (2024) D&D 2024 Player's Handbook Reviews

On Thursday August 1st, the review embargo is lifted for those who were sent an early copy of the new Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. In this post I intend to compile a handy list of those reviews as they arrive. If you know of a review, please let me know in the comments so that I can add it! I'll be updating this list as new reviews arrive, so do check back later to see what's been added!

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Review List

• The official EN World review -- "Make no mistake, this is a new edition."
• ComicBook.com -- "Dungeons & Dragons has improved upon its current ruleset, but the ruleset still feels very familiar to 5E veterans."
• Comic Book Resources -- "From magic upgrades to easier character building, D&D's 2024 Player's Handbook is the upgrade players and DMs didn't know they needed."
• Wargamer.com -- "The 2024 Player’s Handbook is bigger and more beginner-friendly than ever before. It still feels and plays like D&D fifth edition, but numerous quality-of-life tweaks have made the game more approachable and its player options more powerful. Its execution disappoints in a handful of places, and it’s too early to tell how the new rules will impact encounter balance, but this is an optimistic start to the new Dungeons and Dragons era."
• RPGBOT -- "A lot has changed in the 2024 DnD 5e rules. In this horrendously long article, we’ve dug into everything that has changed in excruciating detail. There’s a lot here."

Video Reviews
Note, a couple of these videos have been redacted or taken down following copyright claims by WotC.

• 2024 PHB Rules Changes D&D 5.24 (Treantmonk's Temple)
• Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook 2024 Preview & Review | Key Takeaways and Comparisons with 2014 (Awesome Black)
• 10 Unexpected Changes in the D&D 5E 2024 Player's Handbook (This Effin' GM Games)
• Every Class and Subclass Change for 2024 (d4: Deep Dive)
• D&D Player's Handbook 2024 Winners & Losers! (The Character Sheet on ComicBook.com)
• 2024 Player's Handbook First Look Review (Dungeon Dudes)
• The 2024 Player's Handbook: Full Spoilers Review (DnD Shorts)
• Full Early Review! D&D 2024 Player's Handbook (JoeFudge)
• First Look at the 2024 Player's Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons (GameMasters)
• 2024 PHB Flip through (Jorphdan) [taken down]
• D&D New Player's Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual, and Project Sigil Info (maturemindedgamers)
• 2024 Player's Handbook: Questions Answered! (Alphastream)
• D&D 2024 Player's Handbook Walkthrough (Sly Flourish) [redacted]

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Release timeline (i.e. when you can get it!)

• August 1st: Reviewers. Some reviewers have copies already, with their embargo lifting August 1st.
• August 1st-4th: Gen Con. There will be 3,000 copies for sale at Gen Con.
• September 3rd: US/Canada Hobby Stores. US/Canada hobby stores get it September 3rd.
• September 3rd: DDB 'Master' Pre-orders. Also on this date, D&D Beyond 'Master Subscribers' get the digital version.
• September 10th: DDB 'Hero' Pre-orders. On this date, D&D Beyond 'Hero Subscribers' get the digital version.
• September 17th: General Release. For the rest of us, the street date is September 17th.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I think you have to be paid by companies to be an influencer?

No, not necessarily. That is the hope of many influencers, but that is rarely the origin

 

[Chaosmancer]

In a way (and I realize that it is incredibly silly) I'm a bit sad that the PHB will be fully discussed and dissected by tomorrow and when I'll read it in September fro the first time, it will be "old" for me. Of course, I could refrain from watching those videos and participating in those discussions, so I'll have no one to blame, but me...

I've been considering that as well.

But I followed the playtest incredibly closely.
I followed all the announcements incredibly closely.
I followed the discussions of the announcements incredibly closely.

And largely that has all pointed to... me likely knowing 90% of the content of the books already. So, in a way, I don't feel like these are ruining any surprises for me.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I guess maybe Youtube and Streaming in general is like old school broadcast tv. Instead of watching Cheers and Perfect Strangers it's Ginny D and Mr. Beast (or whatever).

To a degree? Yes.

I mean, take a famous journalist like Walter Cronkite "the most trusted man in America". People followed him, people tuned in to listen to him. Yes, it was about world news and weighty, important topics, but to a degree that was because of his job being those topics.

In a similar fashion to how people would have tuned in to him to learn about important global news, I tune into someone like Legal Eagle to hear about about Legal News. He's a lawyer, he's got a good head on his shoulders, he is fun to listen to, and so I have decided to trust him to tell me about legal issues and how the law works (as much as a layman like me can understand it at least).

And that is the majority of "influencer" that I tend to listen to. People with a deep passion, a deep knowledge, or both in their respective fields. I want to listen to someone talk about the design of video game characters and how that design upholds or subverts the intentions of the character's story? I have a guy I listen to for that. Animal knowledge? I have a guy I listen to for that.

Where the idea of an "influencer" gets murky, is that some people approach it dishonestly, or solely for personal gain. People who are looking for fame or a way to make a quick buck. Whose content doesn't have a great deal of value beyond flash and advertising. And it is a tricky and murky thing to navigate. To go back to Journalism like Cronkite, we absolutely did and many still do trust Journalists to influence public opinion, by providing facts... but there are also magazines out there like National Enquirer and US Weekly out there that are doing the same job, in theory, but are doing so in a poor and unhelpful manner, seeking only their own profits over the good of their audience.

 

[Mistwell]

Okay, so not shield, but definitely Wall of Force (from Clockwork Soul)

And if that's the case I am fine with that since, at least in my games after plenty of use, I don't find Wall of Force broken.

 

[Aldarc]

They’re all quite large YouTubers.

Not really. Ginny Di is only 5'3".

 

[Mistwell]

No, not necessarily. That is the hope of many influencers, but that is rarely the origin

My wife is a professional actor (commercials). She knows many people who call themselves actors but who have never been paid for being an actor. Those are people who act as a hobby, or who are trying to become working actors but are not that yet.

If influencers are not paid, are they really influencers? I think they're people who influence as a hobby or are trying to become working influencers. At some point, if "influencer" is a profession, doesn't it...have to be a profession?

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

My wife is a professional actor (commercials). She knows many people who call themselves actors but who have never been paid for being an actor. Those are people who act as a hobby, or who are trying to become working actors but are not that yet.

If influencers are not paid, are they really influencers? I think they're people who influence as a hobby or are trying to become working influencers. At some point, if "influencer" is a profession, doesn't it...have to be a profession?

Is it a profession? For some it is, but not for all. I think my statement and the statement originally quoted stand. I do not think an influencer is necessarily a profession. Again, I think some of them would like it to be.

It is also, in my opinion, the question of how one is earning from the influencer. Being paid implies that you’re being paid by a company. I could be mistaken, but I don’t think that is how most influence make their money.

 

[Mistwell]

Is it a profession? For some it is, but not for all. I think my statement and the statement originally quoted stand. I do not think an influencer is necessarily a profession. Again, I think some of them would like it to be.

It is also, in my opinion, the question of how one is earning from the influencer. Being paid implies that you’re being paid by a company. I could be mistaken, but I don’t think that is how most influence make their money.

I am not really disagreeing as much as I am just curious about where these lines are drawn or should be drawn and if they evolve over time. Sorry if that was not coming through, I was trying to imply it with question marks.

I do think Treantmonk should be, on some level, considered an influencer. He makes his full time living off of it, despite not being paid by a TTRPG company most of the time (other than YouTube and Patreon funders). I think he has accepted an ad or two for a specific RPG product, but I also think that was relatively minor and almost a favor rather than a meaningful part of his income.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I am not really disagreeing as much as I am just curious about where these lines are drawn or should be drawn and if they evolve over time. Sorry if that was not coming through, I was trying to imply it with question marks.

I do think Treantmonk should be, on some level, considered an influencer. He makes his full time living off of it, despite not being paid by a TTRPG company most of the time (other than YouTube and Patreon funders). I think he has accepted an ad or two for a specific RPG product, but I also think that was relatively minor and almost a favor rather than a meaningful part of his income.

If I made my living talking about 5E and the majority of my fans who love 5E pay my bills, I’d probably talk very kindly about 5E despite what I might really think.

 

[Jolly Ruby]

I have seen some comments on Ginny being "more an influencer" than the others, but I don't understand why's that. To me all they've been chosen by WotC as having potential to influence people to buy their product (marketing).