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.

 

[Zuranthium]

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

Bad, they ruined a bunch of spells, continue to make classes more same-y, and continue to put less emphasis on roleplay.

But they increased the overall power level of characters, so that alone will make people want this version.

 

[Nikosandros]

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.

Reminds me of the mythological "modules" of the 2014 DMG...

 

[Valetudo]

Dudes, I don't think wizards played it safe with 5e. Their butt's where against the wall at that point. I still think all around 5e is not just the best dnd but it in my opinion so don't freak the best roleplaying game system made. That's why there is so much successful 3rd party books and stuff in honestly a risky market. Now maybe they are playing safe with 5.5, but ten years is a nice run and deserves a .5. Everyone has their favorite edition. I have alot of love for 2nd edition. That's where I transitioned from a player to a dm. 4th edition had alot of stuff I loved(fighters and warlords I loved playing all sorts of warlords).

 

[Chaosmancer]

Your hyperbole is unwarranted. One martial with neat tricks doesn't make a fight that would otherwise be a slog into not a slog, but it does (to some degree) increase the DMs workload. WotC literally admitted this more than once and played it off as a joke. It seems to me what you're saying is, it might be a little more complex, but not enough for you to care.

I don't see it as more complext at all. The vast majority of the effects are things that were already possible, at-will, for certain characters.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't see it as more complext at all. The vast majority of the effects are things that were already possible, at-will, for certain characters.

But if they are possible for more characters simultaneously, that is definitively a higher workload.

 

[Steampunkette]

I hope you feel better soon!

Get well soon @Steampunkette

Awwwww!

I'm touched! Thank you!

 

[Valetudo]

I do think I'm gonna have to houserule quicksilver again.

 

[Minigiant]

Many of the reviews for 5.5E has been positive However as I drill down on what people have been saying, To me there's a hidden sense of grimness.

A constant theme in the reviews and the discussion of the reviews is that the desire for WOTC to go farther forward and the desire for WOTC to keep the newness in line with the backwards.

You have people bemoaning about something that's not wasn't change but also crying about something that was changed.

And you end up with a 4e/PF1 situation.

In order to get the changes you want you will lose a lot of the past.
However to keep the past, you won't be able to get many of the changes.

It's on topic I wish most 5e influencers would speak more on. The unfortunate negative effects of the changes they personally would want on the game and how 5e (official and unofficial) could handle it well or poorly in the future.

 

[ECMO3]

If this is true, it would be disappointing to me. I notice that much of the conversation both here and from Youtubers reviewing and discussing the revisions obsesses over combat and (often) optimization. If, when the book is in hand and being used at the table, the feel of the game is that it is even more based on combat than it has been...well, that would certainly be disappointing.

I tend to remember something similar happening in the transition from 3rd edition to 4th edition. The boards here were awash with criticism of how unbalanced 3rd edition options and various character builds were. At the time, it seemed to me like Wizards of the Coast then built a game that addressed those concerns...then the forums here were filled with people melting down because of THOSE changes. And, when I played 4th edition, it felt much more like a combat-only game. Although, admittedly, that might have been the group I played with at that time. But, man, did combat go on forever.

If the new books take it more in that direction...that would be a bummer. I am already concerned that I have heard no mention of Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws. I know that Youtubers don't usually Wn introducing new players to role-playing. I assume they have been eliminated as the silence here is deafening. I was hoping that they were replaced with something. If not, that would, in my mind, tend to drive the game more to an emphasis on combat.

Based on the reviews I read so far this game does little to improve balance. The spells in particular seem more unbalanced than they were before.

While they did improve a few spells, some problem spells they did not fix and also really butchered some spells, and not in a good way.

Martials can be built to be more powerful now, but doing so is going to require a lot of focus and understanding of the rules by the players, so I don't think this will translate to more balance at the table. It will translate to less balance in most cases I think.

 

[ECMO3]

Many of the reviews for 5.5E has been positive However as I drill down on what people have been saying, To me there's a hidden sense of grimness.

A constant theme in the reviews and the discussion of the reviews is that the desire for WOTC to go farther forward and the desire for WOTC to keep the newness in line with the backwards.

You have people bemoaning about something that's not wasn't change but also crying about something that was changed.

And you end up with a 4e/PF1 situation.

In order to get the changes you want you will lose a lot of the past.
However to keep the past, you won't be able to get many of the changes.

It's on topic I wish most 5e influencers would speak more on. The unfortunate negative effects of the changes they personally would want on the game and how 5e (official and unofficial) could handle it well or poorly in the future.

I have spent a lot of time reading the reviews and listening to critiques over the past day. Most of the reviews have been neutral and some of them negative. I have not seen a review from anyone who has the new books that I would categorize as "positive" overall.

The new rules are a mixed bag but I don't think it was backwards compatibility or the need for it that is the root of the problems.

A lot of the changes they made, particularly with spells are just plain baffling. They made Find Familiar MORE powerful. They made Mirror Image so all the images have your AC. They weakened Inflict wounds, something that was already a weak spell with very niche uses.

It also seems like they didn't think things through. Like the new Feeblemind (renamed Beffudlement). All it does now, other than damage, is stop targets from taking the magic action. So it doesn;t really nerf non-magic enemies at all. Further, it doesn't even completely stopm spells the way they worded it. It stops the magic action, so you can still cast spells that cost a bonus action, or a Sorcerer can quicken or you can cast spells that have a time based casting. For an 8th level spell!

Why tie the ability increases to backgrounds? At one of my tables this is the thing that players are most upset about.

No one was asking for any of these changes. No one was asking for many of the changes they seemed to have made.