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.

 

[dave2008]

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.

that is what I thought, but I couldn't remember for sure so I didn't want to comment. That is pretty crappy of him as he presumably knew the restriction before posting them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

DDB and it’s VTT?

Well, the executives are certainly passionate about the profit potential of going digital. Not sure I've seen much passion from the creative about it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

that is what I thought, but I couldn't remember for sure so I didn't want to comment. That is pretty crappy of him as he presumably knew the restriction before posting them.

But the actual books are out, if in a very limited availability way. How can it not be ok for people to show the books they own? They didn't post a pdf.

 

[Corinnguard]

that is what I thought, but I couldn't remember for sure so I didn't want to comment. That is pretty crappy of him as he presumably knew the restriction before posting them.

As @FitzTheRuke put it, WoTC took a gamble by giving him a copy of the 2024 PHB in the first place. And while he doesn't like WoTC or Hasbro, it certainly looked like he enjoyed looking at the 2024 PHB and posting a review of it.

 

[R_J_K75]

DDB and it’s VTT?

I somewhat agree with @Micah Sweet but with my own twist that the hobby seems to slowly but surely be losing the Tabletop portion of it the more digital tools and on online content become more prevalent.

 

[MarkB]

that is what I thought, but I couldn't remember for sure so I didn't want to comment. That is pretty crappy of him as he presumably knew the restriction before posting them.

Certainly others with similar access did, well in advance of the NDA being lifted. Treantmonk had 20 videos all prepared and ready to go by 1st August, and he lays out those restrictions when he first starts posting rules content.

But the actual books are out, if in a very limited availability way. How can it not be ok for people to show the books they own? They didn't post a pdf.

At a guess, probably because they contain copyrighted artwork. Note that the actual text of the book can be freely posted and discussed, just not the pages themselves.

 

[Corinnguard]

I somewhat agree with @Micah Sweet but with my own twist that the hobby seems to slowly but surely be losing the Tabletop portion of it the more digital tools and on online content become more prevalent.

True, at the same time however, VTT allows players who live around the country and around the globe to get together and have an RPG session.

 

[dave2008]

I somewhat agree with @Micah Sweet but with my own twist that the hobby seems to slowly but surely be losing the Tabletop portion of it the more digital tools and on online content become more prevalent.

Yep, and that is unfortunate to me. I am glad a lot more people can play because of online tools, but to me the in person experience is a big part of what makes D&D (or any RPG) so much fun.

 

[Micah Sweet]

True, at the same time however, VTT allows players who live around the country and around the globe to get together and have an RPG session.

They can do that now, without WotC. I use Discord.

 

[Corinnguard]

They can do that now, without WotC. I use Discord.

So does my group.