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.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

So... the new Exhaustion affects all d20 tests. I had assumed saves were somehow their own category separate from that, but they really mean all d20 tests.

That's all of a sudden such a big deal that we're back to not being able to use Exhaustion. What was wrong with penalty to attack, ability and spell DCs, WotC?

I think -2 per is too high for attacks and saves. It's not as bad for ability checks. -5ft Speed per is good, though! And yeah, Spell DCs NEED to be included (as well as any other set DCs, like Unarmed Strike & Battlemaster Maneuvers.)

I maintain that you want a penalty that most players (who aren't being wimps) will keep adventuring with, but enough that they feel it. And one that doesn't just target martial characters.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I actually don't like the new exhaustion (not that I particularly liked the old one either.) But one of the things I like about 5e, is that there aren't many fiddly changing modifiers that you need to remember, and this goes against that. Also, it doesn't affect save spells at all, so it affects martials way more than the casters.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

The only thing in Exhaustion affecting casters would be concentration saves.

Meanwhile, a melee warrior, oh boy.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I dont know exactly how successful the GI Jow RPG by Renegade Games is but its been out for 2-1/2 years and gets supported at least as much as 5E does with adventures and supplements.

I mean, first off, I'm not actually sure that's true, because looking at their website, it looked like there were maybe 7-8 actual unique core/source books and adventures over that period, but maybe I'm misunderstanding, so let's assume that's true - it still supports my point.

WotC is operating at a distinctly higher level re: production and opportunity costs. For them to justify making another RPG would mean they were making a significant investment. There's no point in them hiring staff and so on just to make a niche-appeal RPG which is more about a burst of nostalgia than anything else.

This I have no idea about how many more staff WotC would need, but Renegade has quite a few RPGs and would imagine that if their RPG team isn't smaller than WotC they are probably the same size, I cant see them being bigger, but who knows.

They're likely to be much smaller, and probably significantly worse paid. And WotC doesn't even have a particularly huge or wildly overpaid team working on D&D. They also aren't printing or shipping the numbers that would make it worthwhile for WotC to "get out of bed in the morning", y'know what I mean?

GI Joe on the other hand still has toys, comic books, and the target audience is people like myself who grew up in the 80s watching the cartoon, playing with the toys and reading the comic books. The toys out now are marketed as collectibles. So it would appear the fan base is still there

I get that there are quite a few serious US GI Joe nostalgia-heads, but it's not a property with international appeal despite multiple attempts to "make 'fetch' happen", and it's really very much centered on younger Gen Xers and pretty much no-one else. Given younger Gen Xers are late 40s through early 50s, they probably have disposable income but they're a very narrow and specific group, and the best way to target them is not going to be through a general-release RPG that you'd find sold in bookstores or Target or w/e. Which is what WotC would likely be interested in. Even Transformers, which has a much more international audience and more recent success doesn't seem like it could sustain a high-production-value, mass-market TT RPG to me (I particularly question how many people even want to RP Joe or Transformers characters/events - I think merchandised RPGs have always had this issue - it even impacts Marvel, especially in this day and age).

Netflix has multiple recent series and movies of both. No idea of the quality or popularity.

Seemingly low on both. They haven't made a splash nor reanimated fan communities. MLP was a cultural phenom a decade ago, but that was a decade ago. Power Ranger has had chance after chance, but seems to have terrible luck, or maybe it's just a bad idea, because it always goes wrong and existing fans judge it harshly whilst it fails to find new fans.

As an aside, I think WotC is somewhat opposed to the idea of making any other RPGs at all beyond D&D, because I think WotC believe that most D&D players have little to no awareness that there are other RPGs. And thus that if WotC started putting out other RPGs, they might be helping to contribute to a general awareness of the greater RPG market, and potentially pointing customers away from WotC in the longer-term. I don't think this will keep them away forever, but I do think it's part of why they haven't even tried to make any non-D&D RPGs for what, about 15 years at this point? Gamma World was the last, wasn't it?

 

[OB1]

I think -2 per is too high for attacks and saves. It's not as bad for ability checks. -5ft Speed per is good, though! And yeah, Spell DCs NEED to be included (as well as any other set DCs, like Unarmed Strike & Battlemaster Maneuvers.)

I maintain that you want a penalty that most players (who aren't being wimps) will keep adventuring with, but enough that they feel it. And one that doesn't just target martial characters.

Well, martials at least get to keep their higher HP and AC, so if the whole group is exhausted it at least gives the party a chance to let the spellcasters use ST spells while the martials soak damage at the front line to get out. If it effect DCs as well (and then also AC) the party would be in real trouble.

I love this new exhaustion rule. It's gonna make multi-day dungeon crawls and overland travel dangerous and exciting again, IMO.

 

[R_J_K75]

I mean, first off, I'm not actually sure that's true, because looking at their website, it looked like there were maybe 7-8 actual unique core/source books and adventures over that period, but maybe I'm misunderstanding, so let's assume that's true - it still supports my point.

I was just saying that its getting a decent amount of support, not that there is as many products overall as 5E, which we know isn't the case.

There's no point in them hiring staff and so on just to make a niche-appeal RPG which is more about a burst of nostalgia than anything else.

You are probably right but if WotC was making these niche games they would most likely have more exposure, and more people might be willing to try them. Everything that TSR/WotC that wasn't D&D never seemed to last more than a few years, like Alternity, d20 Modern, Star Frontiers, and others.

(I particularly question how many people even want to RP Joe or Transformers characters/events - I think merchandised RPGs have always had this issue - it even impacts Marvel, especially in this day and age).

There is very little support for Renegades niche IP RPGs online, like live stream play, websites, wiki etc, But I think if was unsuccessful it have been canned already, so someone has to be buying and playing it.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Well, martials at least get to keep their higher HP and AC, so if the whole group is exhausted it at least gives the party a chance to let the spellcasters use ST spells while the martials soak damage at the front line to get out. If it effect DCs as well (and then also AC) the party would be in real trouble.

I love this new exhaustion rule. It's gonna make multi-day dungeon crawls and overland travel dangerous and exciting again, IMO.

I'll give it a shot - but I think that we'd be more likely to have the game come to a grinding halt while everyone (who has any exhaustion) insists on taking a Long Rest before doing anything else.

(As an aside - I don't think that I'd ever advocate for exhaustion affecting AC).

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

-1 to skill rolls and attacks and spell DCs per Exhaustion level seems like the right mix. You'd rather avoid that, but it's also not big enough of an issue that you'd start powernapping the moment you get hit by a level of Exhaustion (from a failed climbing roll or whatever).

WotC had it right in an early playtest package (though with 10 levels for some reason), and then... realized it might actually see some play and dismissed it, I guess. The final version is still better than the 2014 one, so at least we got something out of it, I just wonder about them choosing to pass by the earlier version.

I do agree with the comments saying that it feels a little weird when the system otherwise tries to avoid having modifiers. So maybe we should go the Guidance/Bless/Bane/etc route and subtract DICE instead. 1d[exhaustion level] here we come!

 

[pukunui]

Since exhaustion applies to all D20 Tests, that means it also applies to death saving throws ... so the more exhausted you are, the harder it is to stop yourself from dying. While this makes sense, I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Since exhaustion applies to all D20 Tests, that means it also applies to death saving throws

omg you're so right. Well that's really fun.