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.

 

[Arilyn]

Ok. When then? I don't recall seeing a charisma focus prior, but I suppose it could have been 4e.

I looked it up. No Cha bonus in 3e. They got a bonus to diplomacy in 3.5 but not Cha. In 4e, a bonus to Cha is one of the stat boost choices. And of course, 5e cemented it. Been a slow build up.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

At any rate, I always thought it was a weird choice, and was probably done simply to find something to do with stat-bumps that was different than Human or Elf.

Which IMO is one of the many good reasons to remove ASIs from 'race'.

Now if only they'd move them to CLASS, where they belong (or at least ONE of them - maybe each of the three (assuming it needs to be three) should come from three different places? Or get rid of 'em. Whatever.

 

[Micah Sweet]

At any rate, I always thought it was a weird choice, and was probably done simply to find something to do with stat-bumps that was different than Human or Elf.

Which IMO is one of the many good reasons to remove ASIs from 'race'.

Now if only they'd move them to CLASS, where they belong (or at least ONE of them - maybe each of the three (assuming it needs to be three) should come from three different places? Or get rid of 'em. Whatever.

I'd prefer they were removed altogether, but otherwise I'm fine with background.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'd prefer they were removed altogether, but otherwise I'm fine with background.

Agreed. I'm definitely fine with background - it's not really a big deal. I was fine with 'race', even if I didn't agree with everything, and I was also fine with them floating.

But I do think that there's not a lot of point of putting them anywhere but class, where 9 outta 10, people are going to put them on their class's primary, or less often secondary abilities. AND that would correspond with what would likely be the character's most vigorous area of training, so it would match fluff.

At least once you think of ability scores as training, and not as some innate personal potential - though you could still imagine the character's initial array as what they were born with, and all their ASIs as what they got through exercising those abilities.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed. I'm definitely fine with background - it's not really a big deal. I was fine with 'race', even if I didn't agree with everything, and I was also fine with them floating.

But I do think that there's not a lot of point of putting them anywhere but class, where 9 outta 10, people are going to put them on their class's primary, or less often secondary abilities. AND that would correspond with what would likely be the character's most vigorous area of training, so it would match fluff.

At least once you think of ability scores as training, and not as some innate personal potential - though you could still imagine the character's initial array as what they were born with, and all their ASIs as what they got through exercising those abilities.

Background makes more logical sense from a setting point of view, and that's my priority.

 

[SkidAce]

Yeah, it might have been 4e. 3.5 is too long ago for my memory - did they have a CHA-bump then? If not, it was 4e.

Notice the "Half-elves get along naturally with everybody".

 

[FitzTheRuke]

View attachment 380683

Notice the "Half-elves get along naturally with everybody".

Yeah, there's the +2 to Diplomacy and Gather Information - while not exactly a Charisma Bonus, it's pretty much the same thing fluff-wise.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Background makes more logical sense from a setting point of view, and that's my priority.

I'm not sure what you mean - how is background more logical than class? Or do you mean more logical than 'race'?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not sure what you mean - how is background more logical than class? Or do you mean more logical than 'race'?

Background represents what type of work you did before you became an "adventurer". It is a logical place where formative improvements to one's physical and mental attributes would take place, particularly as it can be reasonably that this is rather early in your "career".

Of course, in my conception (from Level Up), culture (how you grew up) and background (your "professional" details) are separate metrics.

 

[pemerton]

When did half-elves become all about charisma? My first exposure to a half-elf was probably Tanis Half-elven, and that grumpy sad-sack didn't read "high CHA" to me.

Yeah, there's the +2 to Diplomacy and Gather Information - while not exactly a Charisma Bonus, it's pretty much the same thing fluff-wise.

I was going to reply with the 3E info, but the thread had already picked it up.

But re Tanis - wasn't he the leader of the party? Which suggests good CHA.