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.

 

[mellored]

 

[OB1]

Not seeing rules support for that so far. Where did you read that?

I haven't seen anyone say that the general order of play has been changed from the 2014 PHB, or that specific rules beat general rules, and if those were changed than I might have to start agreeing with those who say this is an edition change

General Order of Play
DM describes the scene.
Players describe their actions.
DM narrates the results of thos actions, asking for an ability check if the outcome is uncertain.

Once combat begins, there are specific rules to help resolve it, that have codified results. You can also try any action not listed as one of those rules, but the the DM adjucates the results as if outside of combat per the general order of play. That is how DMs resolved trying to Intimidate or Search for something in the 2014 version of the rules. The difference in 2024 is only that the list of actions in combat has been expanded to include some other things, so that there is more certainty about what the action economy is to do those things. There will still be other actions that the players might want to take in combat that will be adjucated by the DM using the general rule.

If the in combat actions were meant to be used anywhere, why put them specifically in the combat section instead of a general 'what pcs can do' section?

 

[Mistwell]

I haven't seen anyone say that the general order of play has been changed from the 2014 PHB, or that specific rules beat general rules, and if those were changed than I might have to start agreeing with those who say this is an edition change

General Order of Play
DM describes the scene.
Players describe their actions.
DM narrates the results of thos actions, asking for an ability check if the outcome is uncertain.

Once combat begins, there are specific rules to help resolve it, that have codified results. You can also try any action not listed as one of those rules, but the the DM adjucates the results as if outside of combat per the general order of play. That is how DMs resolved trying to Intimidate or Search for something in the 2014 version of the rules. The difference in 2024 is only that the list of actions in combat has been expanded to include some other things, so that there is more certainty about what the action economy is to do those things. There will still be other actions that the players might want to take in combat that will be adjucated by the DM using the general rule.

If the in combat actions were meant to be used anywhere, why put them specifically in the combat section instead of a general 'what pcs can do' section?

Ah yes, this sort of stuff does seem to have been changed. I don't believe the hiding rules are in the combat section. I believe it's now in the glossary, which includes both combat and non-combat elements of the game. It's between Heroic Inspiration and High Jump.

 

[OB1]

Ah yes, this sort of stuff does seem to have been changed. I don't believe the hiding rules are in the combat section.

Hmmm, would love to see how these actions are presented in 2024 then. Perhaps someone at GenCon can chime in!

Still, I imagine the general order of play is still in tact, and that means that if someone hides and then moves from that position, I as the DM can have them make a stealth check to see if doing so creates a noise louder than a whisper, which would end the effect.

And ultimately, I'm guessing the DMG will offer some clear guidance on all of this.

 

[R_J_K75]

Be interesting to see if this new crop of gamers who have only ever known 5E and say they won’t change to 5.5 will stick to their guns and not upgrade or will history repeat itself again and everyone eventually use the new version.

Honestly that's one of my biggest reservations, how long until they punt, cry foul, get a whole new regime and then we get 6E? My moneys on within 5 years, because I think this evergreen revision mantra is going to tank, and quick. Yesterday I looked at a poll someone did here on EN World. are you going to adopt the new revision, and 47% (and I may be wrong) but I believe that was the number said no. I want something new, not more of the same.

 

[Mistwell]

Hmmm, would love to see how these actions are presented in 2024 then. Perhaps someone at GenCon can chime in!

Still, I imagine the general order of play is still in tact, and that means that if someone hides and then moves from that position, I as the DM can have them make a stealth check to see if doing so creates a noise louder than a whisper, which would end the effect.

And ultimately, I'm guessing the DMG will offer some clear guidance on all of this.

There is also a more general section, which I think might be in the exploration section but I cannot confirm it, which says this:

Hiding
Adventures and monsters often hide, whether to spy on one another, sneak past a guardian, or set an ambush. The Dungeon Master decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding. When you try to hide, you, take the hide action.

 

[R_J_K75]

This is quite funny. You seem to be bashing WotC for playing it "safe" right after lambasting them about 4e - when they didn't play it safe!

You totally missed my point. 4E was such an outlier that it was sure to be controversial. It just didn't play like traditional D&D, it seemed more like a video game, which I think they were trying to chaptalize on the WoW craze of the time. So, I wasn't lambasting it as you say, I meant it was such an outlier that it didn't have relevance in this conversation. Even WotC knows that that's why we have 5E, which is based off 3.x.

 

[Mistwell]

You totally missed my point. 4E was such an outlier that it was sure to be controversial. It just didn't play like traditional D&D, it seemed more like a video game, which I think they were trying to chaptalize on the WoW craze of the time. So, I wasn't lambasting it as you say, I meant it was such an outlier that it didn't have relevance in this conversation. Even WotC knows that that's why we have 5E, which is based off 3.x.

5e is not based off 3e. It has quite a number of elements of 4e. And a lot of the thematic notes of 2e. When discussing 5e, Crawford (and Mearls before him) seemed to reference 2e the most.

 

[R_J_K75]

Also, I would argue the core chassis has been the same since 1e (HP, AC, saving throws, classes, ability scores, spell slots, alignment, etc.) and that is what makes it D&D. If you want a different core chassis, play a different game. There are many wonderful ones out there!

Intrinsically, sure, mechanically no. The game has evolved since its inception. You can still have AC, HP etc. but they don't have to work the same mechanically now as it did 40-50 years ago. Alignment as you said has a very different meaning now than it did in 1E or 2E.

You are correct there are many other options out there, but I was hoping this D&D revision would prevent me from wasting my time and money with 5 of them that suck until I found the 6th one I liked.

 

[R_J_K75]

5e is not based off 3e. It has quite a number of elements of 4e. And a lot of the thematic notes of 2e. When discussing 5e, Crawford (and Mearls before him) seemed to reference 2e the most.

I don't follow WotC on social media so I may have missed this, but for me, 5E plays mechanically more like 3E than 2E and 4E.