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]

You can pick up DW first, you would just be limited to 1 attack with the crossbow and three with the daggers.

Technically you could just pull out a different crossbow to take the extra attack...

Loading still is not 'you can only shoot one weapon requiring Loading per turn', it's still per object.

 

[Chaosmancer]

• The real pain points in 5e seem to be mostly intact. For me, these are issues such as the 15MAD and particularly the mix of short- and long-rest dependent characters,

I won't say that they fixed this, but by giving more and more classes things to gain from short resting, I would say it is fairly easy for everyone in the group to be perfectly happy with at least one short rest per day. The only class any more that gains back nothing on a short rest is the rogue... who also does not have any long rest materials.

• ranged vs. melee disparity (mitigated by weapon masteries, maybe?)

General consensus seems to be that melee is stronger than ranged, in terms of weapon usage. So, we might see at least a more balanced approach.

 

[Chaosmancer]

That's fine I was just noting hiw my group plays. They really stacked melee feats this time around. I think that range weapon masteries might be the reason. I like the thought of dervish style rangers now but the dual battleaxe wielding barby is gone.

One thing I consistently regret is that barbarians don't get Fighting Styles. I really feel like I should just give them to them around levels 4 to 6. Fighters should also get a second style across the board, with champion having three. By these are fleeting dreams of the future.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Well if you go CBE, you basically want 3 xbows. 2 handxbows and a heavy for range. Put that feat to work.

Only if you somehow mistakenly think that you can wear loaded crossbows.

 

[ECMO3]

Technically you could just pull out a different crossbow to take the extra attack...

Loading still is not 'you can only shoot one weapon requiring Loading per turn', it's still per object.

Well then you could do that with extra attack and heavy crossbows too.

If this is true then XBE is not a feat to beat the crossbow attack tax, it is a feat to keep your encumberence down.

 

[ECMO3]

What I want to try is a max Charisma Rogue with a 2 level Warlock blade dip rocking a Heavy Crossbow with Truestrike and agonizing blast getting double Charisma on damage and adding an extra 1d6 damage with every cantrip scaling level.

In damage if you start Rogue I think it is ahead of a straight class Rogue every level from 2 on except for level 4 (0.5 points behind at level 4). I just can't decide if I should go AT for spell slots or a Thief for fast hands and using wands or spell scrolls.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I won't say that they fixed this, but by giving more and more classes things to gain from short resting, I would say it is fairly easy for everyone in the group to be perfectly happy with at least one short rest per day. The only class any more that gains back nothing on a short rest is the rogue... who also does not have any long rest materials.



General consensus seems to be that melee is stronger than ranged, in terms of weapon usage. So, we might see at least a more balanced approach.

Why the heck would anyone make melee combat more powerful than ranged?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Only if you somehow mistakenly think that you can wear loaded crossbows.

You can wear a brace of loaded pistols...

 

[DinoInDisguise]

Why the heck would anyone make melee combat more powerful than ranged?

Because people like to overcompensate for the past. I bet you'd see very few complaints if martials were all of a sudden stronger by the margin casters theoretically are now. This has psychological roots, but nobody wants to hear about that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because people like to overcompensate for the past. I bet you'd see very few complaints if martials were all of a sudden stronger by the margin casters theoretically are now. This has psychological roots, but nobody wants to hear about that.

It just seems nonsensical to me. People invented ranged weapons for a reason. Martial vs. Caster nonsense shouldn't interfere with how weapons work.