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.

 

[Arilyn]

My favourite organizational style in a rpg book is to have rules fully explained in the text, and brief explanations in the glossary/index. The glossary definitions provide quick reminders you might need and the rules in the main body are fully fleshed out, possibly with examples.

 

[Kinematics]

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."

I'd partially disagree with your interpretation here.

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.

So, one of the attacks you have as a result of taking the Attack action may be replaced with a cantrip.

The War Magic text does not say "one of the attacks that you make during the Attack action", it just says "one of the attacks".

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.

This option for Light weapons grants you an extra attack when you use the Attack action. Thus, it is one of the attacks you have as a result of taking the Attack action, even if the timing of when it's executed uses a later Bonus Action.

So I would read it as being entirely viable to use War Magic with an offhand weapon even without using the Nick property. Now, you may still want to use a Nick weapon just to leave your Bonus Action free for doing something else, but even without that I think it's perfectly reasonable to use the offhand attack for a cantrip. You're just restricted to using a Light weapon as your main weapon.

 

[Mannahnin]

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.

The War Magic text does not say "one of the attacks that you make during the Attack action", it just says "one of the attacks".

Which attacks, though? The antecedent for "one of the attacks" would appear to be "the Attack action".

 

[Kurotowa]

I found a video clip that shows the full text of the new Dual Wielder feat. It's very different from the UA version.

The clause about using a non-Light weapon is gone, so no rapier or longsword main hand. Instead, when you make an attack when a Light weapon, you can make a Bonus Action attack with a different weapon that doesn't add your ability modifier to the damage. So it assumes you're getting the Nick weapon mastery, and if you're already attacking with both weapons you can effectively pick which one to make the Bonus Action attack with. Which is a small benefit if one has a better magic weapon bonus.

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. It's probably balanced, but a bonus Light weapon attack with no ability modifier is not a lot of damage.

 

[Kinematics]

Which attacks, though? The antecedent for "one of the attacks" would appear to be "the Attack action".

That's the point. When you take the Attack action, you have a certain number of attacks available, and other features can change what and how many those attacks are. Extra Attack modifies the attacks available, as does attacking with two Light weapons.

It did not say "one of the attacks granted by the Attack action", as there is only one such attack. (Additional attacks are granted by the Extra Attack feature.) It just said "one of the attacks", with no further restriction. So rather than "one of the attacks granted by the Attack action", it's "one of the attacks available to you as a result of using the Attack action", regardless of where any such attacks originated.

I will grant that the "When you take the Attack action" could be interpreted as restricting the use of the War Magic feature to only during the Attack action itself, in which case @Kurotowa 's interpretation would hold. But if you view it as War Magic just being triggered by using the Attack action, then my interpretation seems valid.

At the very least, using a Nick weapon should definitely be viable for this. I just think they've made it flexible enough in the wording that the Bonus Action attack granted by dual wielding Light weapons counts too.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

The clause about using a non-Light weapon is gone, so no rapier or longsword main hand.

Dual Wielder's clause for the other weapon is just that it cannot be two-handed.

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. It's probably balanced

They nerfed a feat that was not strong in the first place, in an edition where they buffed many much better feats (like Warcaster). Dual Wielder is not in a good place, it should get its +1 to AC back.

 

[Kurotowa]

Dual Wielder's clause for the other weapon is just that it cannot be two-handed.

That's the clause for its own bonus attack. The previous version of the feat modified the Light property, which requires a pair of Light weapons, such that one could be a non-Light weapon. Basically it let you play the classic "rapier and dagger" combat style. That is no longer an option supported by 5e, as best I can tell. And that's a shame.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

WotC has realized that most people use 5e for Fantasy Blorbo Simulator and their cutting off vestigial stuff meant to appeal to the OSR crowd.

I have bad news about how many people used encumbrance rules back in the 1E days.

 

[Chaosmancer]

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.

Sure, haha, that is amusing.

But in actuality, the way this rule functions is SO much better overall.

The Rogue is going to sneak into a castle. They roll stealth. If they roll under a 15, they have failed.
If they roll a 15 or better, that becomes the DC to spot them as they move through the castle. This means that you DON'T need to constantly roll a new stealth check at every door, crossroad, length of hallway, or curtain. Better, it takes a Search ACTION to find you.

And on the "well, the rogue is going to go forward without knowing they failed..." well... yeah. They don't roll until after they declare the action. The rogue knows if they go to pick a lock whether or not they failed to pick the lock after they roll. That doesn't mean they can go "wait wait, I didn't actually want to pick the lock" and retcon their action. It just means they know.

And this is important, because they have resources (heroic inspiration, guidance, bardic inspiration, psionic knack, ect) which are used when they fail the roll. So they get the chance to use them before moving forward.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

The previous version of the feat modified the Light property

Ah, that's true. It's written differently and clunky. I'll see if I can find the nuPHB Light property.