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.

 

[FrogReaver]

OK cool, that's pretty clear at least 6AM tomorrow for me. Yay!

Also I love that we are 54 posts into...nothing. Don't let anyone tell you they see no excitement out there for D&D 2024.

I think the excitement is growing a bit.

 

[Yaarel]

It's only to WotC Product Marketing that they are "influencers" - that's the value they provide to WotC. I don't go to them to be "influenced". I go to them to be entertained or informed.

I appreciate clarification you make for the meaning of the term "influencer".


At the same time, by extension, the term has also come to serve the need for a new word that can mean all of the following possibilities:

To us, they are Youtubers. Content creators. Critics. Designers. Writers. Cosplayers. Bloggers. Streamers. Entertainers. (Whatever).

In other words, in a different sense, these are prominent persons who are "influencing" culture.

 

[SteveC]

Well, we know it got altered though, per Crawford's comments. So it seems unlikely to be one he is referencing, since he said they didn't change them.

I hadn't seen that, but it's probably a good idea. If I remember correctly, he suggested taking Spell Mastery on Silvery Barbs, and then Shapechanging into a particular Demon who got a reaction each turn instead of each round. You could then cast Silvery Barbs on every attack or save. I had a laugh because my DM hates the spell but has allowed it, and this would certainly get it banned. So, as sad as I am, if that's no longer possible, it's probably for the best.

The other spell that I recall him citing as game-breaking was Simulacrum where you could create an army of spellcasters. He went out of his way to suggest that a wizard player should restrict themself and not use the spell. For the other spells, I suppose we will have to wait a few hours.

 

[mellored]

I hadn't seen that, but it's probably a good idea. If I remember correctly, he suggested taking Spell Mastery on Silvery Barbs, and then Shapechanging into a particular Demon who got a reaction each turn instead of each round. You could then cast Silvery Barbs on every attack or save. I had a laugh because my DM hates the spell but has allowed it, and this would certainly get it banned. So, as sad as I am, if that's no longer possible, it's probably for the best.

Spell Mastery now only works on Action spells. So no spamming silvery barbs or shield, no matter the shape.

The other spell that I recall him citing as game-breaking was Simulacrum where you could create an army of spellcasters.

It's mainly using Wish to cast simulacrum.

More specifically, create a simulacrum that has Wish, and then having it Wish for a simulacrum of you, who has Wish.
And the next simulacrum can Wish...

 

[Chaosmancer]

Unfortunately, the brain really wants to label things, and one label is a lot easier to keep in mind and communicate to others than (checks post) nine.

But if you look at something and say that a young person on Youtube who is making a channel designing and handmaking clothes is identical to a young person on TikTok who is making a channel about what they ate for lunch, and say those two people are doing identical things.... That's kind of dumb.

Like, is a person with a Law Degree who examines famous legal cases and explains the legal reasoning behind them making the same content as a person who plays jump scare horror games and screams funny? I don't think they do, so calling all four of these "influencers" just because they are making content on an internet platform seems to be misusing a label to the point of parody.

Taking this to an older medium, you wouldn't say that Regis Philbin was a Infomercialer just because he was on TV just like Vince Offer (Shamwow)

 

[Micah Sweet]

But if you look at something and say that a young person on Youtube who is making a channel designing and handmaking clothes is identical to a young person on TikTok who is making a channel about what they ate for lunch, and say those two people are doing identical things.... That's kind of dumb.

Like, is a person with a Law Degree who examines famous legal cases and explains the legal reasoning behind them making the same content as a person who plays jump scare horror games and screams funny? I don't think they do, so calling all four of these "influencers" just because they are making content on an internet platform seems to be misusing a label to the point of parody.

Taking this to an older medium, you wouldn't say that Regis Philbin was a Infomercialer just because he was on TV just like Vince Offer (Shamwow)

Are all of those people expending effort to make a narrative version of their life something worth paying money for? If not, then they're not "influencers" by the definition I put forth in my post. I was explaining why people might use the word influencer to label someone who falls into any of those categories. I never said I do it that way.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think as speaking in general. I’ve never watched any of his videos or knew he existed until today.

Why do you make such uninformed statements then about a specific person then?

 

[Nightfly]

Wargamer.com has their review up here.

They give it 9 of 10 and say "bigger and more beginner-friendly than ever before."

 

[Mannahnin]

Are all of those people expending effort to make a narrative version of their life something worth paying money for? If not, then they're not "influencers" by the definition I put forth in my post. I was explaining why people might use the word influencer to label someone who falls into any of those categories. I never said I do it that way.

Right. I don't think that's really what the word means.

Influencer is a marketing term, isn't it? For people who can potentially influence their audience to pay attention to or buy something. Which is often A way for them to get paid, like doing ad reads and sponsored content, but their main gig is rarely "making a narrative version of their life".

As a rule they are generating some kind of online content, but the kind of content varies widely. I don't think any of the D&D channels/Youtubers getting these prerelease copies for review match the definition you proposed. They are influencers, though.

I think I know the sort of folks you're talking about, though. Like "lifestyle" influencers, maybe? People who make a channel about van living, or tiny house living, or off the grid living, or that sort of thing? Where it's a combination of narrative interest in drama about their life in some sort of aspirational form that other people might want to emulate or experience vicariously.

 

[darjr]

10 Unexpected Changes in D&D 5E 2024 Player's Handbook