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.

 

[Oofta]

• Hide: There is now a base DC of 15 to successfully hide.
  
  • This is stupid and I hate it. A level 1 character with a +3 Dex modifier and proficiency in Stealth has a +5 modifier, giving them a 50% chance to hide successfully even if they’re hiding from a blind creature. Low-level Rogues are going to absolutely suffer when trying to hide in combat.

Does this mean passive perception starts a min of14?

One of my first house rules is ignoring this new rule.

 

[Baumi]

The GM can still adjucate and make things easier or harder depending on the situation.

 

[DarkCrisis]

• Hide: There is now a base DC of 15 to successfully hide.
  • This is stupid and I hate it. A level 1 character with a +3 Dex modifier and proficiency in Stealth has a +5 modifier, giving them a 50% chance to hide successfully even if they’re hiding from a blind creature. Low-level Rogues are going to absolutely suffer when trying to hide in combat.

-Oh nooooooooo I cant believe a 1st level character cant be the master of his craft

 

[Maenalis]

Supposedly ALL the changes listed here. EDIT: not quite all. Info on a lot of spells still missing.

Thanks!

 

[Seramus]

-Oh nooooooooo I cant believe a 1st level character cant be the master of his craft

I'm amused at the idea of a rogue repeatedly failing to hide when nobody is around.

 

[DarkCrisis]

1. Divine Order. New. Lets you choose between a martial cleric or a caster cleric at level 1 independent of your domain. Protector gets heavy armor and martial weapons. Thaumaturge gets an extra cantrip and +Wisdom modifier to their Arcana and Religion checks so that they can finally compete with wizards on religious knowledge


Full plate and any weapon vs a cantrip and 2 better skill checks. Yeah hard choice.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I'm amused at the idea of a rogue repeatedly failing to hide when nobody is around.

Thats just it, the Rogue would think he's hiding just fine. He wouldn't realize he's doing a bad job until he was noticed by the guard or whatever.

 

[Corinnguard]

Hide: There is now a base DC of 15 to successfully hide.

• This is stupid and I hate it. A level 1 character with a +3 Dex modifier and proficiency in Stealth has a +5 modifier, giving them a 50% chance to hide successfully even if they’re hiding from a blind creature. Low-level Rogues are going to absolutely suffer when trying to hide in combat.

Assuming that the 2024 Rogue still gets the Expertise feature at first level, they could use it to double their PB for Stealth checks and get a +7 Stealth modifier. So, I am skeptical about this claim of low-level Rogues not succeeding a DC 15 check to successfully hide.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Thats just it, the Rogue would think he's hiding just fine. He wouldn't realize he's doing a bad job until he was noticed by the guard or whatever.

Except with the minimum DC now he knows that he is not hiding well enough.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Am I reading Druid right? They can’t shape into birds etc?