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]

Honestly I don't care if you play the game or not. I have watched alot of reviews so far and dnd shorts is the most negative I've seen and he straight up says in the video most of his negativity is because hasbro owns wotc. In fact that is probably the number negative that most people day(me included) about 5.5.

And yet his review, the least positive, is the one that's pulled. Hmm...

 

[Micah Sweet]

What interesting this time is that you don't need to switch to continue playing the current edition of the game. Previously, when 4e came out you had to buy 4e core books and adventures to continue play with current material. With 5e24 you continue playing new adventures and settings with your old 5e14 books. So there is less incentive for people to transition. So 5e could be more popular than ever and still sell less core books. However, the supplements could continue selling at the same or better pace.

You kind of do though. There are a lot of changes.

 

[Minigiant]

They're not out of passionate ideas now? What passionate ideas are currently being explored?

Oh they been outta ideas, bro.

 

[dave2008]

You kind of do though. There are a lot of changes.

Well definitely didn't have to switch with the playtest versions, and from what I am seeing this is very similar to the playtest. Our own house rules are more invasive than this, so not an issue at my table.

 

[R_J_K75]

What interesting this time is that you don't need to switch to continue playing the current edition of the game.

Its would seem WotC intentionally designed things this way, to try and prevent a rift in the fan base.

So 5e could be more popular than ever and still sell less core books. However, the supplements could continue selling at the same or better pace.

This is probably what will happen. I'm more curious to see what supplements follow after the cores. Not that it really matters to me because I'm not playing 5E any longer, but I wonder if they will stick to their current formula of releasing more adventures than supplements. Seeing as Greyhawk is detailed somewhat in the new DMG I'm assuming they may lean heavily into that setting.

 

[Corinnguard]

I think they took a gamble that he might like it - which seems to have paid off, because he basically said that he only didn't like it because it was WotC. If even he thinks it's not that bad, then it's probably pretty good.

True, you can like a particular company's product while not liking the company itself.

 

[dave2008]

And yet his review, the least positive, is the one that's pulled. Hmm...

I mean, that only helps his brand really.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Its would seem WotC intentionally designed things this way, to try and prevent a rift in the fan base.

This is probably what will happen. I'm more curious to see what supplements follow after the cores. Not that it really matters to me because I'm not playing 5E any longer, but I wonder if they will stick to their current formula of releasing more adventures than supplements. Seeing as Greyhawk is detailed somewhat in the new DMG I'm assuming they may lean heavily into that setting.

It's fun to watch from outside, certainly.

 

[MarkB]

And yet his review, the least positive, is the one that's pulled. Hmm...

His review was not pulled. His page-by-page rundown of the book was pulled because it violated the restrictions under which he was granted early access to the book - that content from the book could be shown and discussed, but not direct screenshots of its pages.

 

[DarkCrisis]

They're not out of passionate ideas now? What passionate ideas are currently being explored?

DDB and it’s VTT?