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.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They went out of their way to include DnDShort, a guy that is an avowed and loud anti-WOTC activist in YouTube.

And he did a long video before his review video, talking about how 100% of YouTube revenue generated by the review would go to charity and also talked about Glassdoor reviews of WotC as a workplace.

If he's a shill, he's an extremely sneaky one. Like, he should be working for MI-5, not talking underrated multiclassing builds.

 

[Scribe]

They went out of their way to include DnDShort, a guy that is an avowed and loud anti-WOTC activist in YouTube.

Does he have reach, because if so it's an easy olive branch for an edition that is "5e, but players get buffs"

Note, I don't watch D&D YouTube.

 

[Nikosandros]

And he did a long video before his review video, talking about how 100% of YouTube revenue generated by the review would go to charity and also talked about Glassdoor reviews of WotC as a workplace.

If he's a shill, he's an extremely sneaky one. Like, he should be working for MI-5, not talking underrated multiclassing builds.

- The name's Short. Dnd Shorts

- Red dice with ice storm? That should have told me something...

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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

THEY DIDN'T RUIN BARDS?!?!?! Wow I honestly really expected them to, but this sounds fine Bard-wise. Poor @Snarf Zagyg is going to be so put out though. Maybe the spell list is terrible (though getting to L10 will start to fix that even if it is).

 

[Minigiant]

Interesting.

More of a 4E vibe with how some of the things are written.

 

[MarkB]

Does he have reach, because if so it's an easy olive branch for an edition that is "5e, but players get buffs"

Note, I don't watch D&D YouTube.

As I recall, he was pretty much leading the charge in the OGL debacle, including some exclusives. I don't watch the channel myself, but it was popping up everywhere back then, and still shows up regularly in my feeds.

 

[Nightfly]

Does he have reach

Depends on what feats he's taken.
(I'm so sorry)

 

[Micah Sweet]

Again the mistake is people thinking survival challenges for an Archmage, Knight Commander, Prince of Thieves, Ranger Captain, and High Bishop is starvation and thrist.

No PC starts out as one of those.

 

[R_J_K75]

Go back a page and there's a video of a page by page walkthrough of the book. We do not have to guess or theorize as to things like layout.

Thanks, I watched a good portion of the video. The person who made it came to the conclusion that in the grand scheme, not much has changed, just a fresh coat of paint. Thats disappointing and not worth paying for, for me personally. Secondly, my opinion on the glossary aside, (which hasn't changed), it reminded me what I didn't like about 5E 2014, and why I stopped playing it. So, until WotC comes out with new edition/revision with significant changes, it's a hard pass for me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Does he have reach, because if so it's an easy olive branch for an edition that is "5e, but players get buffs"

Note, I don't watch D&D YouTube.

Has anyone seen his review? What's the percentage of glowing praise?