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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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.

May I recommend Level Up? I don't know what your issues with 2014 WotC 5e are, but it fixes most of mine.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Have you read the new PHB yet?

Seen about a dozen different screenshots of actual pages from it, alongside videos reviewing it in extreme detail.

 

[dave2008]

Thats disappointing and not worth paying for, for me personally.

That may be disappointing for you, but surely not a surprise. That is what they have said it would be and everything they have shown has confirmed that.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I usually don't use Stealth as a "mode" you enter when you start sneaking. You just use the Hide action and -boom- you are hidden as long as the basic requirement are met. The actual d20 stealth roll is only made against the Passive Perception when you would be spotted.

I don't understand the need to have a primary roll to enter stealth mode with a floor of 15 or whatever.

I think the floor could have been 10, and that would be fine. But the need for a floor comes in with the various abilities that say "if you fail a roll, you can [insert ability here]

If you just were rolling stealth, with no floor or no opposed check... you cannot possibly fail. Which means, technically per robot DM who beep-boops the text exactly, you cannot use those features.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Well, they're gone from the Players Handbook along with any instance of their use, including both stealth and grappling. It's possible that they could appear in the DMG, but it seems unlikely that they wouldn't have merited at least a glossary entry if so.

Well, if you recall, Crawford did say that they essentially felt like they were writing 1 book from how integrated the three books were with each other. It wouldn't make a ton of sense to have a rule in both the PHB glossary and the DMG toolbox glossary, if you are looking at the books from that perspective.

 

[Chaosmancer]

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.

How do you consider 472,000 people who are subscribed to his channel (which is often less than the number of people watching videos on his channel)? His Shorts (the things the channel are known for) have a few that hit 1 million views, and at least one I spotted on a quick glance that had nearly hit 3 million.

 

[Scribe]

How do you consider 472,000 people who are subscribed to his channel (which is often less than the number of people watching videos on his channel)? His Shorts (the things the channel are known for) have a few that hit 1 million views, and at least one I spotted on a quick glance that had nearly hit 3 million.

Yes, I'd consider near half a million sub's as 'reach' lol

 

[Chaosmancer]

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

Mostly his review is "It is nice, but don't bother buying it. Instead play for free with what is available for free in creative commons. Maybe if you are a new player and you've played for six months using the free material, it could be a good purchase."

 

[Micah Sweet]

Mostly his review is "It is nice, but don't bother buying it. Instead play for free with what is available for free in creative commons. Maybe if you are a new player and you've played for six months using the free material, it could be a good purchase."

That's a review I can get behind. Sounds honest.

 

[R_J_K75]

That may be disappointing for you, but surely not a surprise. That is what they have said it would be and everything they have shown has confirmed that.

Like I've said before, I didn't pay much attention to the playtest so I didn't know exactly what to expect