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.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Just a reminder, that if you have some way of getting two fighting styles, Dueling + TWF styles work together now.

Just carry a shield and juggle weapons with the other hand. Just like Drizzt!

 

[mellored]

Just a reminder, that if you have some way of getting two fighting styles, Dueling + TWF styles work together now.

Just carry a shield and juggle weapons with the other hand. Just like Drizzt!

If you action surge, can you Nick for the first attack, and bonus action TWF for the second?

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

If you action surge, can you Nick for the first attack, and bonus action TWF for the second?

Light property says 'when you take the attack action, you can make one extra attack as a bonus action later in the turn'.

Nick property says 'when you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the attack action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn'.

So, a new Attack action (Action Surge, Haste) should enable you to take a new Light property bonus action attack, because Nick's limit of once per turn only applies to the Nick effect itself.

 

[ECMO3]

Light property says 'when you take the attack action, you can make one extra attack as a bonus action later in the turn'.

Nick property says 'when you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the attack action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn'.

So, a new Attack action (Action Surge, Haste) should enable you to take a new Light property bonus action attack, because Nick's limit of once per turn only applies to the Nick effect itself.

I interpret that completely the opposite to how you do. IMO "this extra attack" means
"the extra attack of the light property" not "[the attack] you can make as part of the attack action".

 

[pukunui]

So, a new Attack action (Action Surge, Haste) should enable you to take a new Light property bonus action attack, because Nick's limit of once per turn only applies to the Nick effect itself.

Except that you can't take more than one bonus action on your turn, no matter how many attack actions you can make.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Except that you can't take more than one bonus action on your turn, no matter how many attack actions you can make.

You have one bonus action.
You attack with Nick.
You still have one bonus action.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I interpret that completely the opposite to how you do. IMO "this extra attack" means
"the extra attack of the light property" not "[the attack] you can make as part of the attack action".

Yes, it could be read that way. But why would a rule that applies to the Light property not be written under the Light property? As it just says 'when you take the attack action', not 'once per turn, after having taken the attack action'.

 

[pukunui]

You have one bonus action.
You attack with Nick.
You still have one bonus action.

It's worth noting that the 2024 rules still specify that you only have a bonus action if you have something that gives you one.

Yes, it could be read that way. But why would a rule that applies to the Light property not be written under the Light property? As it just says 'when you take the attack action', not 'once per turn, after having taken the attack action'.

I think they've put it under the Nick description to clarify that even though it removes the bonus action requirement, it still doesn't allow you to make the Light weapon attack more than once per turn. It does, however, enable you to use a bonus action to do something else, use your Cunning Action to Dash or cast Healing Word if you've got it.

It's clear to me that by RAW you can't exploit Light + Nick to make two off-hand attacks, one for free and one with a bonus action.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

It's worth noting that the 2024 rules still specify that you only have a bonus action if you have something that gives you one.

Semantics. If you can only do one of your 'given' bonus actions, then everyone has one bonus action available.

I think they've put it under the Nick description to clarify that even though it removes the bonus action requirement, it still doesn't allow you to make the Light weapon attack more than once per turn.

That is very likely, but it's not what the text says. If it said 'you can still make that bonus attack only once per turn', it would be clear. When they say 'this bonus attack', that restricts it to the entry where it resides.

It's clear to me that by RAW you can't exploit Light + Nick to make two off-hand attacks, one for free and one with a bonus action.

Not naked, no. You'd need multiple Attack actions for it. Which is not problematic on the Action Surge front (twf Fighters always felt bad, this just brings them up to par), but Haste makes it come up every turn (but then, IME Haste is not commonly used).

 

[pukunui]

Semantics. If you can only do one of your 'given' bonus actions, then everyone has one bonus action available.

Not if you don't have anything you can do as a bonus action!

That is very likely, but it's not what the text says. If it said 'you can still make that bonus attack only once per turn', it would be clear. When they say 'this bonus attack', that restricts it to the entry where it resides.

The Light property says you can make an off-hand attack as a bonus action. It doesn't need to specify that you can only make the attack once per turn because you can ordinarily only take one bonus action per turn anyway.

The Nick property states that you can make "the extra attack of the Light property" for free instead of as a bonus action, and then it clarifies that you can't make any more Light property extra attacks (e.g. with your bonus action).

Seems perfectly clear to me.

Not naked, no. You'd need multiple Attack actions for it. Which is not problematic on the Action Surge front (twf Fighters always felt bad, this just brings them up to par), but Haste makes it come up every turn (but then, IME Haste is not commonly used).

Haste doesn't grant you an additional bonus action, so I'm not sure how it is relevant? It doesn't even grant a full additional Attack action, since you can only make one attack with it.