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.

 

[Bagpuss]

Yes and, previously you and you're playstyle was catered for, now you're the one who needs to homebrew these rules. You're just pissed that you are not part of the leading group of players that the game is made for anymore and try to obscure that personal offense you took with claims how it makes the game objectively worse. Its subjective ofc, but that would weaken your opinion.

I'm not saying it is objectively worse. I am saying it is objectively less challenging, things like death saves, putting stat adjustments where you like, making undead take sneak attack damage, are all objectively less challenging.

It is a different style of game, not objectively worse. In fact clearly better if you don't want to risk losing a character.

 

[Mannahnin]

And hey, while we're having half-elf tangents: 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.

Not to mention the general fluff that everybody hated them. That's some pretty serious racism if you're hated in spite of being totally charismatic just because of your parentage!

I think you're misremembering, or maybe just generalizing from Tanis' traumatic background specifically because the elves in Dragonlance were portrayed as particularly racist, and/or because the original fluff was that his conception was a product of SA. Later elaborated on with his mother dying after the birth from the trauma of it all, and her relatives resenting infant Tanis. (Later still, that was ret-conned in another novel). I'm stretching my memory of the novels now, but I think people in Ansalon may also be generally portrayed as kind of xenophobic, and that Tanis, while not a Ranger, inherits some of Strider/Aragorn's reputation as being thought of as a little suspicious by the rubes, being a bit of a traveler and wanderer.

The first description we get of half elves, in the 1E Monster Manual (and explicitly pointed to by the half elf entry in the PH), says "They are handsome folk, with the good features of each of their races." and "They mingle freely with either race." This text is carried forward into the 2E Players Handbook.

The 2E PH does also say that "Half-elves do not form communities among themselves; rather, they can be found living in both elven and human communities. The reactions of humans and elves to half-elves ranges from intrigued fascination to outright bigotry."

So 2E is saying it varies quite a bit, but bigotry sounds more like the exception than the rule, given that they live and "mingle freely" with either people.

FWIW 1E Unearthed Arcana also gives Half Elves a +1 to Comeliness, and the 1E PH and expanded UA Racial Preferences charts both generally show half elves as being well-regarded except by traditionally evil-aligned (Drow and Half Orcs) or particularly xenophobic (Wild Elves) folks.

5.0 in 2014. Pulled out of thin air more pr less.

Not really. See their descriptions in 1e and 2e. Actually giving a Charisma bonus didn't happen until 4E, but there were less obvious bonuses and indications in the text going back to 1977, when we first get any relevant description (1975 Greyhawk gives purely mechanical info; I checked). And the AD&D rules do include the racial preferences charts giving them relatively good modifiers for henchman loyalty, and that +1 to Comeliness.

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.

Mechanically it seems like it simplified over time. +2 to Gather Information and Diplomacy is functionally a +4 to Charisma for the purposes of those specific skills, of course. It's accompanied in the 3.5 race description with the text "Half-elves get along naturally with all people."

In AD&D, Elves but not Half-Elves have a racial CHA minimum. Elves are the only race with a CHA minimum. (From memory, it is 8 CHA.)

Correct. Perhaps interestingly, as a point of reference, OSE Advanced gives their Half Elf race class a Charisma minimum of 9. (Elves just have an Int min of 9).

Tanis had a charisma of 15 (as a pregen in the modules), he was something of a natural leader.

Right. My recollection is that Tanis had natural leadership qualities and humility in part because of having to bridge two cultures and due to the prejudices of and mistreatment by his elven relatives.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I think you're misremembering, or maybe just generalizing from Tanis' traumatic background specifically because the elves in Dragonlance were portrayed as particularly racist, and/or because the original fluff was that his conception was a product of SA. Later elaborated on with his mother dying after the birth from the trauma of it all, and her relatives resenting infant Tanis. (Later still, that was ret-conned in another novel). I'm stretching my memory of the novels now, but I think people in Ansalon may also be generally portrayed as kind of xenophobic, and that Tanis, while not a Ranger, inherits some of Strider/Aragorn's reputation as being thought of as a little suspicious by the rubes, being a bit of a traveler and wanderer.

The first description we get of half elves, in the 1E Monster Manual (and explicitly pointed to by the half elf entry in the PH), says "They are handsome folk, with the good features of each of their races." and "They mingle freely with either race." This text is carried forward into the 2E Players Handbook.

The 2E PH does also say that "Half-elves do not form communities among themselves; rather, they can be found living in both elven and human communities. The reactions of humans and elves to half-elves ranges from intrigued fascination to outright bigotry."

So 2E is saying it varies quite a bit, but bigotry sounds more like the exception than the rule, given that they live and "mingle freely" with either people.

FWIW 1E Unearthed Arcana also gives Half Elves a +1 to Comeliness, and the 1E PH and expanded UA Racial Preferences charts both generally show half elves as being well-regarded except by traditionally evil-aligned (Drow and Half Orcs) or particularly xenophobic (Wild Elves) folks.


Not really. See their descriptions in 1e and 2e. Actually giving a Charisma bonus didn't happen until 4E, but there were indications in the text going back to 1978, when we first get any relevant description (1975 Greyhawk gives purely mechanical info; I checked). And the AD&D rules do include the racial preferences charts giving them relatively good modifiers for henchman loyalty, and that +1 to Comeliness.


Mechanically it seems like it simplified over time. +2 to Gather Information and Diplomacy is functionally a +4 to Charisma for the purposes of those specific skills, of course. It's accompanied in the 3.5 race description with the text "Half-elves get along naturally with all people."


Correct. Perhaps interestingly, as a point of reference, OSE Advanced gives their Half Elf race class a Charisma minimum of 9. (Elves just have an Int min of 9).


Right. My recollection is that Tanis had natural leadership qualities and humility in part because of having to bridge two cultures and due to the prejudices of and mistreatment by his elven relatives.

I think you're right - my memory of him only really includes his solemness, which I equated to him being uncharismatic. But as a introvert with strong leadership skills myself, I shouldn't be so judgemental. I blame society for treating extroverts as if they are 'normal' and introverts as the opposite, as well as a standard lack of sympathy for the traumatized - but the fault is mine. My initial comment on him wasn't very considered, and you may have noticed that I softened it as I continued to post and think about the subject.

He's solemn due to his understandable trauma from an unforgiving and racist society - directed at him - but he is a leader who rises. Fair enough.

And thanks for the research on half-elves in general! It does sound like it was always there, if not always as obvious and to-the-fore as it is these days.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I think you're misremembering, or maybe just generalizing from Tanis' traumatic background specifically because the elves in Dragonlance were portrayed as particularly racist, and/or because the original fluff was that his conception was a product of SA. Later elaborated on with his mother dying after the birth from the trauma of it all, and her relatives resenting infant Tanis. (Later still, that was ret-conned in another novel). I'm stretching my memory of the novels now, but I think people in Ansalon may also be generally portrayed as kind of xenophobic, and that Tanis, while not a Ranger, inherits some of Strider/Aragorn's reputation as being thought of as a little suspicious by the rubes, being a bit of a traveler and wanderer.

The first description we get of half elves, in the 1E Monster Manual (and explicitly pointed to by the half elf entry in the PH), says "They are handsome folk, with the good features of each of their races." and "They mingle freely with either race." This text is carried forward into the 2E Players Handbook.

The 2E PH does also say that "Half-elves do not form communities among themselves; rather, they can be found living in both elven and human communities. The reactions of humans and elves to half-elves ranges from intrigued fascination to outright bigotry."

So 2E is saying it varies quite a bit, but bigotry sounds more like the exception than the rule, given that they live and "mingle freely" with either people.

FWIW 1E Unearthed Arcana also gives Half Elves a +1 to Comeliness, and the 1E PH and expanded UA Racial Preferences charts both generally show half elves as being well-regarded except by traditionally evil-aligned (Drow and Half Orcs) or particularly xenophobic (Wild Elves) folks.


Not really. See their descriptions in 1e and 2e. Actually giving a Charisma bonus didn't happen until 4E, but there were indications in the text going back to 1978, when we first get any relevant description (1975 Greyhawk gives purely mechanical info; I checked). And the AD&D rules do include the racial preferences charts giving them relatively good modifiers for henchman loyalty, and that +1 to Comeliness.


Mechanically it seems like it simplified over time. +2 to Gather Information and Diplomacy is functionally a +4 to Charisma for the purposes of those specific skills, of course. It's accompanied in the 3.5 race description with the text "Half-elves get along naturally with all people."


Correct. Perhaps interestingly, as a point of reference, OSE Advanced gives their Half Elf race class a Charisma minimum of 9. (Elves just have an Int min of 9).


Right. My recollection is that Tanis had natural leadership qualities and humility in part because of having to bridge two cultures and due to the prejudices of and mistreatment by his elven relatives.

Plus, Tanis had like the 2 hottest women on Krynn (Tika aside) after him and he was stand offish to both. Even Takhisis made a play for him, If I recall correctly.

 

[Mannahnin]

I think you're right - my memory of him only really includes his solemness, which I equated to him being uncharismatic. But as a introvert with strong leadership skills myself, I shouldn't be so judgemental. I blame society for treating extroverts as if they are 'normal' and introverts as the opposite, as well as a standard lack of sympathy for the traumatized - but the fault is mine. My initial comment on him wasn't very considered, and you may have noticed that I softened it as I continued to post and think about the subject.

He's solemn due to his understandable trauma from an unforgiving and racist society - directed at him - but he is a leader who rises. Fair enough.

And thanks for the research on half-elves in general! It does sound like it was always there, if not always as obvious and to-the-fore as it is these days.

I've been a bit of a half elf fan from back in the day.

Originally elves, including my first character, in Mentzer Basic. When I was little I wanted to be Legolas. Then more half elves, including my first long-running AD&D character Sir Gareth of Labelas (Fighter/M-U/Specialty Priest of War in 2E), particularly since I was really into multiclassing. I suspect Tanis may also have been an influence in my getting into half elves, though I was also a big Gilthanas Stan (really enjoyed that I got to play as him in Advanced D&D Gamebook #10 Lord of Doom).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've been a bit of a half elf fan from back in the day.

Originally elves, including my first character, in Mentzer Basic. When I was little I wanted to be Legolas. Then more half elves, including my first long-running AD&D character Sir Gareth of Labelas (Fighter/M-U/Specialty Priest of War in 2E), particularly since I was really into multiclassing. I suspect Tanis may also have been an influence in my getting into half elves, though I was also a big Gilthanas Stan.

What do you think WotC's best way forward with them is? Personally, I think it's probably to name them. If WotC's main problem with them is the term "half-elf" which sounds a little too much like the offensive "half-breed" (I'm assuming that is their logic) and that the popularity and history of the 'race' really is all about specifically folk with ancestry that is a mix of human and elf (another flaw, I guess, to the name 'half-elf' is that the human part is inherently implied, making it human-centric).

So the two options, I think, are to come up with a system to mix-n-match species traits and let everyone go whole hog with mixed parentage, or to lean in to "part human, part elf" being something special.

You could use Khoravar, but that's way too single-world specific. It would need to be more generic. IDK.

 

[Micah Sweet]

What do you think WotC's best way forward with them is? Personally, I think it's probably to name them. If WotC's main problem with them is the term "half-elf" which sounds a little too much like the offensive "half-breed" (I'm assuming that is their logic) and that the popularity and history of the 'race' really is all about specifically folk with ancestry that is a mix of human and elf (another flaw, I guess, to the name 'half-elf' is that the human part is inherently implied, making it human-centric).

So the two options, I think, are to come up with a system to mix-n-match species traits and let everyone go whole hog with mixed parentage, or to lean in to "part human, part elf" being something special.

You could use Khoravar, but that's way too single-world specific. It would need to be more generic. IDK.

WotC doesn't need to do anything with them. They're already in the current edition, and in a 5e SRD. Situation is covered.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

WotC doesn't need to do anything with them. They're already in the current edition, and in a 5e SRD. Situation is covered.

That's an opinion, to be sure. I don't think that it's a long-term solution for WotC, though. They might be able to get away with that for half-orcs, but I think that there will be too much demand for an update for that to work with half-elves.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's an opinion, to be sure. I don't think that it's a long-term solution for WotC, though. They might be able to get away with that for half-orcs, but I think that there will be too much demand for an update for that to work with half-elves.

I don't see why though. The information exists and is accessible to those who want it. Who cares if it's not in their latest (not a) new edition book? Clearly they didn't think it was worth putting in. If that turns out to be a mistake well, they have to live with it.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I don't see why though. The information exists and is accessible to those who want it. Who cares if it's not in their latest (not a) new edition book? Clearly they didn't think it was worth putting in. If that turns out to be a mistake well, they have to live with it.

Well, I mean, they didn't have to take (what is it now, four? five?) shots at the Dragonborn, either - and I don't think too many people were clamoring for a new version of the hobgoblin, or whatever, when they made Monsters of the Multiverse.

But iterating on the species write-ups is something they seem to enjoy doing. I think we'll see a new half-elf (if perhaps by another name) sooner rather than later. I don't think them "having" to do (or not) it is particularly important.

And I don't think that the decision to not include them in the PHB had anything whatsoever to do with WotC thinking it was "worth putting in" or not.