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.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Insanely, EverQuest 1 initially used those rules, leading to the common griefer tactic of giving newbie players an insane amount of coins as a gift -- in copper, effectively making them unable to move from the spot without getting rid of the "gift."

I see you, old EverQuest player!!

- Loral Ciriclight, Quellious.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Frustrating that exploration and survival basically no longer exists in DnD.

There’s a whole section, with examples, on exploration but I expect people’s definitions of explorations are different so “that’s not what I consider exploration” complaints will abound.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

There’s a whole section, with examples, on exploration but I expect people’s definitions of explorations are different so “that’s not what I consider exploration” complaints will abound.

Do you know what's included in that section?

And yeah a lot of people when they say "exploration" mean "wilderness survival and overland travel", exclusively. Which is only one small part of it.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Teos’s video is fantastic and I agree with him about everything in it except that we should have a 6e. Nope, not for me. Certainly not now or in the near future. Lucky for me, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

 

[SlyFlourish]

How is it easier to run? I get how it might be more fun to play, what with the new batch of super powers for PCs, but what does that do for the DM?

There are many spells that were a total pain to adjudicate in 2014 like the various conjure spells that are totally reworked. Same with summon spells. The rules overall are easier to interpret. My high-hit-count article about “how surprise works” is about to fall off a cliff. Exhaustion is way better. A lot of things have been smoothed out which will make the game easier to run.

But yeah, big power creep and lots of new character options and non-action actions like rogues choosing to use sneak attack dice for other stuff. That worries me about the speed and power creep of the game.

 

[R_J_K75]

Correct. Each class is redesigned with an eye towards creativity and versatility, particularly in regards to options out of combat. There's a lot more to it, of course.

I could be totally wrong, but when Level Up was in the works and getting ready for KS I got the impression it was 5E but supercharged.

My group and I aren't looking for necessarily "more" options, I know this is an oxymoron, but we probably want less PC build options but more customization options. Can LU do that? For example, I really don't like how spell casting is handled in 5E, every spell casting class does it a bit differently for "flavor" but only to do the same thing, that needs to go.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Master of superior content creation?

I’ll take it!

 

[DarkCrisis]

Insanely, EverQuest 1 initially used those rules, leading to the common griefer tactic of giving newbie players an insane amount of coins as a gift -- in copper, effectively making them unable to move from the spot without getting rid of the "gift."

Those were the days.

Killing Aviaks in the Karanas. Dumping worthless copper on the ground. Sending a buffed up runner all the back to the closest bank to exchange silver and gold for plat. Which wasn’t a shot distance.

Good times.

Thank god for Project 1999. The only way to really play EQ.

 

[Valetudo]

I'm ready for 5.5, not 6ed.

 

[mellored]

But isn't that counterbalanced by all the extra stuff PCs can now do and keeping track of all of that?

I guess it depends on if you want combats to be fun or if you want them to just end.

But really, it's martials that got a step closer to casters. A party of a cleric, druid, wizard, warlock, and sorcerer is still going to be just as complicated to keep track of as before.

Less complicated if anyone has Conjure spells.

And the jury is out on how "cleaner and clearer" these new rules actually are. Witness the new stealth rules thread for an example.

I don't think anyone's actually done a game yet, I certainly haven't, but all the reviews and everything I've seen said the rules where cleaner and simpler. It was certainly a big goal of doing the revision.

As for stealth... well... sometimes when your repainting the walls you get some paint on the couch. 30 improvements and a thing or 2 worse is still a net benefit.