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]

No what my claim was is the 2024 game is different than the game we played in the playtest in many ways. That is what I am articulating.

If something was not covered in the playtest but it changed from the 2014 rules, then it changed from when we were playing the playtest.




Stricter ...... as in changed and will be different in play!




Tasha's new spells made no changes at all when we were playing the playtest because they already existed before the playtest started. When you were playing in the playtest you were using the Tasha's spells (unless the book was not used at your table).

If you were playing the playtest with the rules that existed with the playtest (a combination of UA, 2014 PHB, XGE, TCE, Strixhaven) and you play 2024 now there are many impactful spell changes and yes many of them make a big difference.



Not it is not the same thing. If your speed is 40 and you have half speed your speed is 20 while you have half speed. If on top of that it takes 2 feet to move every foot then you can only drag someone 10 feet so it is a difference - When we were playing the playtest this was what we were doing if you were playing RAW.

Further there is a mathematical difference between 2 foot for every foot of movement and half speed when another effect like rising from prone or moving through difficult terrain.

They are just mechanically different and those differences will come up a lot unless you hand waive them.



It is not the same thing. There is a mathematical difference between 2 foot for every foot of movement and half speed, particularly with how it plays into mounting, dismounting, jumping, rising from prone or moving through difficult terrain.

They are just mechanically different and those differences will come up often (particularly difficult terrain) unless you hand waive them away.



Ok they changed it to clean up the language. They still changed it and this is a difference from 2014.

Being different from the playtest is not the same as being harder to understand than in the playtest (although that is an argument of its own).



I never said I couldn't understand anything about 2024. I understand every single thing I have read about, listened to. Every single thing.

Because I understand also those things I know factually that 2024 is substantially different than the rules we were playing with when we did the playtest.

Also as an aside, to the best of my knowlege, Dual Hand Crossbows never could be used in 2014 because of the ammunition property. RAW all those XBE-Sharpshooter builds used 1 hand crossbow for all 3+ attacks (as this was allowed).




There are big changes to the playtest backgrounds, as in most of the mechanics tied to them.

The playtest backgrounds had 5 different mechanics to them; 40% of that is changed in 2024. The ability improvement works differently and languages were completely eliminated.

Then after these changes the backgrounds themselves changed as well.



Yes it is. If you can speak you can talk to other allies in combat and coordinate. Speaking is huge when it comes to cooperating.



Not to me, but it sounds like it is to you as you don't even seem to realize these things have changed.



You are grasping at straws and claiming - well that change isn't really a change, and that change is actually an error so it doesn't count and backgrounds are the the same when they are not ....

Change probably feels like less of a big deal if you are happy with it. Everyone has their own perspective.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Change probably feels like less of a big deal if you are happy with it. Everyone has their own perspective.

That's probably true (as is the reverse) but it's not the full picture - there also appears to be playstyle differences that make a huge difference in how you perceive wording changes - for example, if one way of wording allows for an unintended exploit, while another would not, even if the intent is the same. Some would only see the intent, and therefore the rule is "the same" to them, while others would only see the exploit, and the rules are "totally different".

I think it's really interesting that we can see on these forums opinions ranging from "2024 is so drastically different from 2014 that it ruined 5e" to "2024 is so exactly the same as 5e that there's no point to switching".

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's probably true (as is the reverse) but it's not the full picture - there also appears to be playstyle differences that make a huge difference in how you perceive wording changes - for example, if one way of wording allows for an unintended exploit, while another would not, even if the intent is the same. Some would only see the intent, and therefore the rule is "the same" to them, while others would only see the exploit, and the rules are "totally different".

I think it's really interesting that we can see on these forums opinions ranging from "2024 is so drastically different from 2014 that it ruined 5e" to "2024 is so exactly the same as 5e that there's no point to switching".

Sounds to me like WotC shouldn't have tried to forge a middle path then. Get off the fence fellas!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Sounds to me like WotC shouldn't have tried to forge a middle path then. Get off the fence fellas!

Nah. They were smart to do it. You see, the vast majority of people will wind up between those two extremes. The extremes are just the loudest. Sure, you could please one end or the other, perhaps, (and take some portion of the middle), but you're (probably) best off drawing from the middle, which is by far the largest group.

 

[Chaosmancer]

No what my claim was is the 2024 game is different than the game we played in the playtest in many ways. That is what I am articulating.

If something was not covered in the playtest but it changed from the 2014 rules, then it changed from when we were playing the playtest.

But if I claim "combat changed!" while I am technically accurate, that does not actually portray the real changes.

Stricter ...... as in changed and will be different in play!

So in the playtest it worked using the bonus action casting rule. Which it is effectively still using, but it is stricter than the "no two spell slots" rule. Or in other words, it was changed to be stricter to keep it more in line with the 2014 rules and the playtest, which necessitated changing it from the playtest.

Tasha's new spells made no changes at all when we were playing the playtest because they already existed before the playtest started. When you were playing in the playtest you were using the Tasha's spells (unless the book was not used at your table).

If you were playing the playtest with the rules that existed with the playtest (a combination of UA, 2014 PHB, XGE, TCE, Strixhaven) and you play 2024 now there are many impactful spell changes and yes many of them make a big difference.

And yet, if someone came to me from 2014 and and said "I know how spellcasting works in 5e DnD" I would not slam my fist on the table and scream "YOU KNOW NOTHING! Tasha's has new spells and that changes everything, EVERYTHING! You can't possibly understand how the game works now!" Because that would be rather silly.

Yes, there are new spells. No, that does not mean it is impossibly to understand how 2024 will play by looking at how the playtest played.

Not it is not the same thing. If your speed is 40 and you have half speed your speed is 20 while you have half speed. If on top of that it takes 2 feet to move every foot then you can only drag someone 10 feet so it is a difference. And these were technically the rules in place during the Playtest.

That point aside, there is a mathematical difference between 2 foot for every foot of movement and half speed when another effect like rising from prone, jumping, or moving through difficult terrain is in play and those things will come into play often unless you hand waive them.


It is not the same thing. There is a mathematical difference between 2 foot for every foot of movement and half speed, particularly with how it plays into mounting, dismounting, jumping, rising from prone or moving through difficult terrain.

They are just mechanically different and those differences will come up often (particularly difficult terrain) unless you hand waive them away.

No, no there isn't. If you have 40 foot speed, and dragging takes two feet for every foot, and you are in difficult terrain that takes two feet for every foot... you can only move them 10 ft. The exact same distance.

Additionally, this change happened during the playtest.

Ok they changed it to clean up the language. They still changed it and this is a difference from 2014.

Being different from the playtest is not the same as being harder to understand than in the playtest (although that is an argument of its own).

They changed the font of the text too. Does that count to tell us that we can't know how attack rolls and damage work between the playtest and the new PHB?

I never said I couldn't understand anything about 2024. I understand every single thing I have read about, listened to. Every single thing.

Because I understand also those things I know factually that 2024 is substantially different than the rules we were playing with when we did the playtest.

Substantially different because they added a few new spells and they changed one feat?

And for being so aware and understanding everything... you sure did need to be told that the grappling rules you were quoting were changed mid-playtest.

Also as an aside, to the best of my knowlege, Dual Hand Crossbows never could be used in 2014 because of the ammunition property. RAW all those XBE-Sharpshooter builds used 1 hand crossbow for all 3+ attacks (as this was allowed).

And do you know what the effective difference between a hand crossbow in each hand and one hand crossbow in one hand is? Effectively nothing. The actual biggest change between those two rules is that, in 2014 you could use a shield and in 2024 you can't.... making it weaker overall.

There are big changes to the playtest backgrounds, as in most of the mechanics tied to them.

The playtest backgrounds had 5 different mechanics to them; 40% of that is changed in 2024. The ability improvement works differently and languages were completely eliminated.

Then after these changes the backgrounds themselves changed as well.

The languages were moved out of the backgrounds into their own spot, and frankly that makes more sense. If you were paying attention during the playtest, you would note that the languages section had you learn common, a language of your choice, and a language of your choice from your background. Now, the languages section has you learn common and two languages of your choice. This is an organizational change, not a functional one. The biggest change is restricting the rare languages table.

And still, none of this has anything to do with the length of combat.

Yes it is. If you can speak you can talk to other allies in combat and coordinate. Speaking is huge when it comes to cooperating.

That depends far more on the table culture about speaking in combat than the stunned condition.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Nah. They were smart to do it. You see, the vast majority of people will wind up between those two extremes. The extremes are just the loudest. Sure, you could please one end or the other, perhaps, (and take some portion of the middle), but you're (probably) best off drawing from the middle, which is by far the largest group.

I second this comment, and join your revolution!

Don't ignore the people. But, at the same time, no company, or person, has been better off by making their decisions based on the feedback from the loudest parts of the internet.

You are not compelled to form any opinion about this matter before you, nor to disturb your peace of mind at all. Things in themselves have no power to extort a verdict from you.
-Justin Bieber

 

[trappedslider]

Anyone who starts with 2024 isn't going to have an idea that you can customize backgrounds

so they book's change will suddenly stop players from asking the question of "Can I do this instead"? Maybe I'm just smarter than the average player (highly doubtful) but even back when i first started playing in 3rd/3.5 I asked the DM if i could do something instead of what was in the book because it fit more with the character I had in mind.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Nah. They were smart to do it. You see, the vast majority of people will wind up between those two extremes. The extremes are just the loudest. Sure, you could please one end or the other, perhaps, (and take some portion of the middle), but you're (probably) best off drawing from the middle, which is by far the largest group.

I feel games are better when their designers decide, publicly and clearly, what they game is going to be about and drive their design towards that goal, including seeking to please those gamers whose desires are compatible with that design goal. WotC's design goal for D&D is simply to get as many people to buy their products as possible, so their design will never really focus on making the best game they can.

 

[Nikosandros]

I feel games are better when their designers decide, publicly and clearly, what they game is going to be about and drive their design towards that goal, including seeking to please those gamers whose desires are compatible with that design goal. WotC's design goal for D&D is simply to get as many people to buy their products as possible, so their design will never really focus on making the best game they can.

I can see your point, but D&D is a "mainstream" game and thus, inevitably, aims as wide as possible. There are many smaller games (some of them truly great!) that have the freedom to try and fulfill a specific authorial vision.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can see your point, but D&D is a "mainstream" game and thus, inevitably, aims as wide as possible. There are many smaller games (some of them truly great!) that have the freedom to try and fulfill a specific authorial vision.

I know. It is a weakness in design they have accepted in order to maximize profits. This is why I advocate for other games.