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.

 

[Corinnguard]

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

I watched his rather lengthy review this afternoon and posted a link of it onto this forum thread for everyone to look at. He was getting a lot of thumbs up for his review when I was watching it.

Side note, he worked alongside the RPG company Loot Tavern in order to launch Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms for 5e a couple months back.

 

[R_J_K75]

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

Off the top of my head a few things that I didn't like was the class system and the spell slot system. My first impression after reading it was that it was good, but after playing it for a few years it didnt hold up. If I understand correctly, Level Up is a crunchier version of 5E right?

 

[R_J_K75]

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

What's the consensus, good, neutral or bad?

 

[Corinnguard]

Off the top of my head a few things that I didn't like was the class system and the spell slot system. My first impression after reading it was that it was good, but after playing it for a few years it didnt hold up. If I understand correctly, Level Up is a crunchier version of 5E right?

It is. Level Up adds an additional amount of customization to 5e that I happen to like.

 

[R_J_K75]

It is. Level Up adds an additional amount of customization to 5e that I happen to like.

I'd have to get buy in from my players before I made the investment, but maybe I'll run it by them next time we get together

 

[mellored]

What's the consensus, good, neutral or bad?

Better than the 2014, but not significantly different.

 

[Corinnguard]

I'd have to get buy in from my players before I made the investment, but maybe I'll run it by them next time we get together

Home | Level Up

You can visit this link in order to get an idea of what Level Up is like.

 

[R_J_K75]

Better than the 2014, but not significantly different.

Thats what I gathered from the video I watched

 

[DarkCrisis]

watching DNDShorts video and this sounds like absolute hell for a DM.

But as a player, woo I can dominate in and out of combat even more then before.

 

[R_J_K75]

Home | Level Up

You can visit this link in order to get an idea of what Level Up is like.

I actually looked at the website a few weeks ago, but not in any real depth. I'll have to give it another look