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.

 

[WanderingMystic]

The Rogue leaps into a shadow. The toe of his boot is sticking out.

"I am well hidden, No one can see me."

Guard walks in. Notices boot toe.

"Whos hiding over there!?!?"


The Rogue thinks they are hidden when in fact they failed.

So that is the guards perception noticing the rogue.
Once you are hidden then people can make checks to see if they notice you before that you clearly are not hidden.

 

[Kurotowa]

We're still early days, and the information is incompletely and slightly distorted. But I'm mocking out character ideas and trying to get a feel for what might be fun. Bladelock is feeling pretty restricted, between the invocation taxes and the difficulty taking the good martial feats. But OTOH, one of the change lists says that the Dual Wielder and Defensive Dualist feats are improved. So I'm exploring what a dual wielding and finesse Eldritch Knight would look like. And I may have found an interesting synergy, at least going by UA wording.

Eldritch Knight's War Magic says "When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of the attacks with a casting of one of your Wizard cantrips". Then the Light weapon property says, "When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn." Definitely not compatible, the Bonus Action attack is not part of the Attack action. But the Nick weapon mastery says, "When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action, instead of as a Bonus Action."

Does that mean a DW Eldritch Knight (with War Caster obviously) could substitute a cantrip for the weaker off-hand weapon attack? I believe it does, at least by my reading. Does anyone read it differently?

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Oh RIP. The UA sidebar about children of mixed ancestries hasn't made it through.

So there is no rules as written way to play mixed ancestry characters at all. It's 100% "ask your DM".

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I'm beyond joyous that they finally officially reintroduced BLOODIED.

 

[Lazybones]

Dungeon Dudes posted their first-look review this morning:

 

[tglassy]

We're still early days, and the information is incompletely and slightly distorted. But I'm mocking out character ideas and trying to get a feel for what might be fun. Bladelock is feeling pretty restricted, between the invocation taxes and the difficulty taking the good martial feats. But OTOH, one of the change lists says that the Dual Wielder and Defensive Dualist feats are improved. So I'm exploring what a dual wielding and finesse Eldritch Knight would look like. And I may have found an interesting synergy, at least going by UA wording.

Eldritch Knight's War Magic says "When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of the attacks with a casting of one of your Wizard cantrips". Then the Light weapon property says, "When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn." Definitely not compatible, the Bonus Action attack is not part of the Attack action. But the Nick weapon mastery says, "When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action, instead of as a Bonus Action."

Does that mean a DW Eldritch Knight (with War Caster obviously) could substitute a cantrip for the weaker off-hand weapon attack? I believe it does, at least by my reading. Does anyone read it differently?

This is how I would interpret it, yes.

 

[Reynard]

I'm beyond joyous that they finally officially reintroduced BLOODIED.

It's weird that they included it but then did not use it in the Green Dragon stat block.

 

[dave2008]

Oh RIP. The UA sidebar about children of mixed ancestries hasn't made it through.

So there is no rules as written way to play mixed ancestry characters at all. It's 100% "ask your DM".

No, they said you can use the 2014 races.

 

[dave2008]

It's weird that they included it but then did not use it in the Green Dragon stat block.

It doesn't work as well for 5e monsters if they only last 3 rounds. I imagine we will see it in some, but not a lot of monsters

 

[Frozen_Heart]

No, they said you can use the 2014 races.

You could always do that.

If you want to play an elf-orc, even the sidebar from the playtest about children of mixed ancestries didn't make it through.