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.

 

[Imaro]

Then why doesn't everyone with those qualities get super-powers?

Because most people won't give themselves over to those emotions as the driving force for their existence...

Why doesn't everyone whose lost someone to murder in the real world dedicate themselves to hunting down the murderer and exacting revenge.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Do they align with the tiers in 5th edition? Better yet what is a tier 1 adventurer described as?

Here is the relevant text:

The challenges your characters face and the adventures they take can be classified into five main tiers of play. Tiers of play help give you an idea of what to expect involving the scale of the challenges you face and how the world generally reacts to you.

At tier 0 (levels 1st–2nd) your characters are entirely new to adventuring, just beginning to learn how dangerous the world around them can really be.

At tier 1 (levels 3rd–4th) your characters are local heroes. They are coming into their own as adventurers and learning the basic elements of their classes. Threats are small in scale and scope.

At tier 2 (levels 5th–10th) your characters are regional heroes. They are accessing new levels of martial or magical power and can use skills, features, and magic that attract attention and acclaim.

At tier 3 (levels 11th–16th) your characters are masters of their craft, well beyond the abilities of other people and even other adventurers. Spells can bend the definition of what’s possible while martial characters taking to the battlefield can and have turned the tides of massive battles.

At tier 4 (levels 17th–20th) your characters have reached a point where the challenges they face are of world-changing size and proportion. At this tier, your character’s actions have the potential to fundamentally alter the lives and wellbeing of those that rely on (or fear) them.

Hope this helps. Not sure what you're looking for here exactly.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because most people won't give themselves over to those emotions as the driving force for their existence...

Why doesn't everyone whose lost someone to murder in the real world dedicate themselves to hunting down the murderer and exacting revenge.

In the context of this discussion only (not trying to make light of any real world concerns), because a lot of folks in this situation believe in or at least respect the power of law enforcement, and because vigilantism is illegal in most jurisdictions.

 

[Imaro]

Hope this helps. Not sure what you're looking for here exactly.

We'll since the discussion has touched on good design vs bad design... I am curious as to how well the narrative of tier 0 for A5e lines up with the design of its classes at 1st and 2nd level.

 

[Micah Sweet]

We'll since the discussion has touched on good design vs bad design... I am curious as to how well the narrative of tier 0 for A5e lines up with the design of its classes at 1st and 2nd level.

I'm pretty happy with it, though I'd probably be happier if low level PCs were less powerful in general. It's a playable compromise for my D&D 5e-comfortable players, and I have zero-level options available for when I can talk my players into it.

 

[Imaro]

In the context of this discussion only (not trying to make light of any real world concerns), because a lot of folks in this situation believe in or at least respect the power of law enforcement, and because vigilantism is illegal in most jurisdictions.

The point is for someone to have the drive, resolve and will to become a Paladin of Vengeance they would be dedicated enough to discard these things (which you've already admitted majority of normal people don't do) as well as numerous other reasons. In other words that type of dedication, circumstances, etc all lining up would be rare in most campaign settings.

 

[Maxperson]

Powerful Build got removed from orcs

But not goliaths and firbolg. Speaking of which, those two are much closer together than half-elf and elf. Talk about conflicting design space!

This is the starter book supposed to show you a wide variety of options to pick from, not the "Most popular choices in game's history" book. Popularity absolutely should sit to the side for a wider assortment of niches to give new players a wider option. I don't think Half Elf is really quite as distinct as Half Angel or Half Giant so I absolutely would prefer Aasimar and Goliaths remain over them as they bring something unique to the table, while half elves are defined by being half of elves

I mean, if you want to view right this second half-elves are very popular as history, I guess. I really don't see how half-giants or half-angels can be more distinct than half-elves. They are all literally half the race and half human.

They're still races that are requested when not around, and we did just spend most of 5E's lifespan requesting thri-kreen, plus an untold number of homebrew ones done up for it. Me liking a race doesn't mean it should be in the PHB, the very first book you are expected to start the game with, and races being popular also shouldn't have an impact there either.

I disagree very much. The core book is exactly where you put the most popular races.

They have a charisma buff in an edition where charisma is king, the other two stat options could be whatever, and that alone puts them in the top percentage. They are absolutely a powerful race. Go and read up on any of the forums that do class guides or the lot, they flat out say its only competition for most powerful race is Variant Human and that's because a level 1 feat is just that much more powerful

You can't use stat bonus to say half-elves are powerful, though. Other races get it as well. Or at least they did until 5.5e. Didn't they move stat bonuses away from race?

No they wouldn't because they've been watered down versions of elves for the past 30+ years of this game's existence?

They've never been watered down elves. Not in any edition. Since the beginning they have been a race distinct from elves. That's why both elves and half-elves are popular to play. If half-elves were just watered down elves, you'd not see many people playing them. You don't generally choose the watered down versions of things.

 

[Imaro]

I'm pretty happy with it, though I'd probably be happier if low level PCs were less powerful in general. It's a playable compromise for my D&D 5e-comfortable players, and I have zero-level options available for when I can talk my players into it.

For me, at least from what I've garnered from both you and Steampunkette, there seems to be a disconnect between the narrative of tier 0 adventurers and how at least some of them have been implemented mechanically.... and narratively in A5e.



Edit: Which is to say...a Warlock who is... just beginning to learn how dangerous the world around them can really be...but is summoning and making pacts with named entities, has access to invocations, spells and secrets of arcana... just seems like there is a narrative/mechanical disconnect. You don't think so?

 

[Maxperson]

Nothing in the text that I'm reading states that the 3rd level Oath is the only oath or vow that is taken. In fact it implies the opposite:

Becoming a paladin involves taking vows that commit the paladin to the cause of righteousness, an active path of fighting wickedness. The final oath, taken when he or she reaches 3rd level, is the culmination of all the paladin’s training. Some characters with this class don’t consider themselves true paladins until they have reached 3rd level and made this oath. For others, the actual swearing of the oath is a formality, an official stamp on what has always been true in the paladin’s heart.​

It is the final oath, which "binds you as a paladin forever." Note the sole oath.

Excellent. Then the breaking your oath section kicks in at 1st level regardless. It happens when a paladin violates a vow or his oath. They use vow and oath interchangeably in that section.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The amount of ad hoc ergo propter hoc is kind of jarring.

The narrative says one thing, the mechanics say another, so the narrative is bent out of shape in order to make it fit rather than dealing with the mechanics. Where it can't be bent, new narrative is invented, whole cloth, to make it make sense.

None of this is an ad hoc ergo propter hoc. None of it. We aren't saying that the narrative exists because of the mechanics, or that the mechanics exist because of the narrative. That sort of information flow in a single direction doesn't even make sense in this context.

What we are saying is that the narrative can be whatever you want it to be.

I mean, I've made these examples a few times, but I think you aren't quite grasping them. The classical warlock story is the story of Dr. Faust, we both agree with that. Or the story of Robert Johnson. In both these cases, the Devil or Fiend comes to someone and offers them skill and power in exchange for their soul.

- One of the first warlocks I made was Natalie Dumein, a peasant girl who was married into a noble family, so that she qualified to be sacrificed to a demon to continue that noble family's power. She fought back, accidentally freed the demon, who after slaughtering the family forced her into service in exchange for him not slaughtering the rest of her village. This is not a Robert Johnson or Dr. Faust story.

- Another favorite warlock of mine was Corvin. Corvin found a dying, sealed demon, who offered him a deal for power. However, instead of taking the deal, Corvin devoured the Demon and became his own patron, planning on making a cult to empower himself to a full acension into Demon Prince status. This is not a Robert Johnson or Dr. Faust story.

- A great warlock I played was Syreth. On a post-apocalyptic Earth, with magic killing everyone around him, the man who would become Syreth was offered a deal by the Fey. Become the Fiance to a Fey Lady, marry her, and bring the Fey into this new world. His pact was a marriage contract, and his personality and identity were slowly being overwritten to become the Fey Lord of the Crossroads. This is the closest I've gotten to a Dr. Faust or Robert Johnson story, but isn't quite there. Notably, "becoming a Fey Lord" isn't a Warlock ability or mechanic, yet it fit perfectly with that character.

- My most recent warlock was Endymion Lynhart, who was a Celestial Warlock. He had been a theif, and tried to steal a tome from a temple to a Giant Goddess. He was struck dead, but she found him cute and amusing, so she offered him a deal. She'd bring him back from the dead, and he would do as she said. He agreed. This is again, not a Dr. Faust or Robert Johnson story, in fact, raising the dead, post-homous deals, and being an undead are not part of the Warlock story traditionally speaking. But being a Reborn Warlock, I felt it all flowed together quite nicely.

Yes, the root origin mythos is important. But we can play Robert Johnson who made a deal with the Devil at the Crossroads with the 2024 rules. The narrative of that deal still works, even if we don't have Fiendish Vigor as an ability at level 1. Those abilities can inform the narrative, but also.... you can alter them. I could tell a Paladin story, and use the Celestial Warlock to tell it. Because the two aspects have an intentional gap in them. And that gap exists, because all of those characters I've played as Warlocks? None of them were Dr. Faust making a deal for knowledge and magic in exchange for his soul. In fact, I have rarely if ever done the "and in exchange I get your soul" because I find that doesn't have enough narrative impact on the story.