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]

I got summoned!

Yeah, not super interested in buying the 2024 PHB. I'll wait 'til the SRD comes out and review it, but I can't give WotC any more of my money after everything that's happened.

But who knows? Maybe they'll have some good ideas I can adapt for Level Up?

I'm really looking forward to your new book @Steampunkette , by the way.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Not really, no. I've been sick for the past week to the point where I spent most of my time either in bed, asleep, or on the couch, asleep.

I hope you feel better soon!

 

[Arilyn]

Get well soon @Steampunkette

 

[Micah Sweet]

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.

I wonder if people are putting too much faith in the DMG. It seems to me whenever someone expresses concern about something in the PH, the reply is that the DMG will address it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Again, this is funny. It seems you don't even realize what your saying.

4e was not such an outlier. It was exactly what you said you wanted WotC do. 4e is D&D and a great version of it. It played like D&D to me. So much so, it is the game that brought me back to D&D after leaving when 2e came out and skipping 3e.

You have to know your opinion of it isn't universally held though. A lot of folks felt the opposite. So someone expressing those feelings shouldn't surprise you.

 

[WanderingMystic]

I wonder if people are putting too much faith in the DMG. It seems to me whenever someone expresses concern about something in the PH, the reply is that the DMG will address it.

So one of the things they have said is that the took out most of the rules that were more for DM's and put those in the DMG. So based on that there is a hope that, since they said there was more explanation, in the DMG it will be sufficient.

The problem is that they haven't shown anyone the DMG yet. We have no clue if their claims are accurate or if the rules issues people are seeing are just ignored.

 

[Micah Sweet]

5e to me feels like a streamlined 3e to me. Feats, rolling stat plus skill, very similar multi-classing, skill list, etc.

More streamlined than I'd like, but yeah.

 

[Parmandur]

So one of the things they have said is that the took out most of the rules that were more for DM's and put those in the DMG. So based on that there is a hope that, since they said there was more explanation, in the DMG it will be sufficient.

The problem is that they haven't shown anyone the DMG yet. We have no clue if their claims are accurate or if the rules issues people are seeing are just ignored.

They start talking about the DMG at a panel on Sunday...

 

[dave2008]

You have to know your opinion of it isn't universally held though. A lot of folks felt the opposite. So someone expressing those feelings shouldn't surprise you.

My opinion of 4e - sure. But that is not really what we were discussing:

However, deriding WotC for playing it "safe" with 5e (which I think most agree on) and then also deriding WotC for not playing it safe with 4e (to the extent that they said: "4E doesn't count. lets not go there,...") seems a bit rich doesn't it? When I point this out they come back say 4e is so out their it doesn't even count as not playing it safe?! What?! You can not like 4e, but just admit that they did indeed try to not play it safe.

The issue is not whether or not WotC is being "safe" with their design, but whether or not you (you being @R_J_K75 or anyone else) likes what they are designing. Just admit you don't like something, that is OK.

 

[dave2008]

I wonder if people are putting too much faith in the DMG. It seems to me whenever someone expresses concern about something in the PH, the reply is that the DMG will address it.

I see people saying they hope the DMG will address more than it will, but the idea is the same. I have the same reservations )for them). Though I don't have the same need for the DMG to address things.