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.

 

[GreyLord]

Another way to look at this is the would-be warlock assumes that they are a sorcerer at levels 1 and 2. They initially assume that their newfound powers are innate and come from within. And then around level 3, an otherworldly being shows up and makes the claim that no, you aren't a sorcerer because they are the source of your powers, and they prove it by briefly taking away your powers. Confusion sets in... Who to believe? Do you believe in yourself or in this otherworldly entity?

Or they make a bargain with some shadowy figure they do not really understand. Something otherworldly has offered them power...and they took it while in ignorance who what and who they were really dealing with.

Only as they have increased in power and knowledge (level 3) do they finally understand who they have made this agreement with and in that way, finally understand themselves how this pact they have made and finally understood (at level 3) was what they had chosen all along (all the way back at level 1).

I mean...look at all those fools who are cultists for the Great Old one's in the Cthulu mythos, or other stories of people making bargains they don't truly understand until it is far too late.

(PS: And then they can go off shrieking in horror and end up in the Asylum...or if they enjoy the Warlock class...dive fully into it knowing they are doomed anyways....so might as well seize the power and glory while they can).

 

[Corinnguard]

Or they make a bargain with some shadowy figure they do not really understand. Something otherworldly has offered them power...and they took it while in ignorance who what and who they were really dealing with.

Why do you suppose this couldn't have happened when they were a member of a particular background in their pre-adventuring days? They make a bargain while they are still an Acolyte or a Sage with some shadowy figure they do not understand. They're offered power that they never had before in their background. By making the bargain, they become a 1st-level warlock and do the bidding of their patron.

 

[Imaro]

Another way to look at this is the would-be warlock assumes that they are a sorcerer at levels 1 and 2. They initially assume that their newfound powers are innate and come from within. And then around level 3, an otherworldly being shows up and makes the claim that no, you aren't a sorcerer because they are the source of your powers, and they prove it by briefly taking away your powers. Confusion sets in... Who to believe? Do you believe in yourself or in this otherworldly entity?

Stop it Corinnguard, there's no room for imagining in D&D. You have to stick to the written word. And it has to be a literal interpretation of said word.

Next thing you know you'll be telling us the default flavor is for those who are inexperienced or who like and want to use it... not those who choose to work with their DM to modify, change and reinvent the fluff of the class... Thats crazy talk...crazy I say.

 

[Corinnguard]

Stop it Corinnguard, there's no room for imagining in D&D. You have to stick to the written word. And it has to be a literal interpretation of said word.

Stop what? Role-playing D&D requires both the DM and the players to use their imagination and think about what they read in order to better be role-players.

As for having to stick to the written word, there are many written words, not just those of the 2024 PHB. And each written word sometimes needs a good interpretation that does require some imagination.

Next thing you know you'll be telling us the default flavor is for those who are inexperienced or who like and want to use it... not those who choose to work with their DM to modify, change and reinvent the fluff of the class... Thats crazy talk...crazy I say.

Don't need to.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, here is the text again, for the first level class feature:

Pact Magic​

Through occult ceremony, you have formed a pact with a mysterious entity to gain magical powers.​

So that seems to make it fairly clear that the pact is formed from the outset. Not at 3rd level.

At 3rd level certain (sub)class features are gained.

Right, but that means that you can make a pact with an archfey to get the djinni subclass, or a great old one to get the archfey subclass. That should not be possible.

It's a design mistake to allow the pact at level 1 and not require the subclass to be chosen then. Even if you don't get the subclass powers until 3rd level, it should still be locked in at 1st level when you make the pact.

 

[Maxperson]

Another way to look at this is the would-be warlock assumes that they are a sorcerer at levels 1 and 2. They initially assume that their newfound powers are innate and come from within. And then around level 3, an otherworldly being shows up and makes the claim that no, you aren't a sorcerer because they are the source of your powers, and they prove it by briefly taking away your powers. Confusion sets in... Who to believe? Do you believe in yourself or in this otherworldly entity?

A pact is a specific deal for power. You can't make one and then think think that power came from you unless you have the intelligence of a goldfish.

 

[Maxperson]

Or they make a bargain with some shadowy figure they do not really understand. Something otherworldly has offered them power...and they took it while in ignorance who what and who they were really dealing with.

Only as they have increased in power and knowledge (level 3) do they finally understand who they have made this agreement with and in that way, finally understand themselves how this pact they have made and finally understood (at level 3) was what they had chosen all along (all the way back at level 1).

I mean...look at all those fools who are cultists for the Great Old one's in the Cthulu mythos, or other stories of people making bargains they don't truly understand until it is far too late.

(PS: And then they can go off shrieking in horror and end up in the Asylum...or if they enjoy the Warlock class...dive fully into it knowing they are doomed anyways....so might as well seize the power and glory while they can).

The problem with this is that it forces all warlocks to be ignorant fools, and forces all patrons to be secretive until 3rd level. It's okay to to give the subclass at level 1 and then roleplay that sort of ignorance if you want to, but it's not okay to force every warlock to go down that path of ignorance.

That narrative is inherently nonsensical if you apply it to every person who becomes a warlock.

 

[Maxperson]

Stop it Corinnguard, there's no room for imagining in D&D. You have to stick to the written word. And it has to be a literal interpretation of said word.

The problem isn't with imagining that there it can be done. The problem is with forcing 1000 warlock PCs in a row to all be ignorant boobs, and with preventing 1000 different warlock patrons from revealing themselves at level one and making a clear pact with the warlock.

That narrative becomes nonsensical when applied broadly to every warlock.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Pact Magic's description says you make a pact, tho

So it's not that the pact is retroactive, it's that warlocks stumble into their pact without full knowledge of what deal they are making and with whom (which is restrictive but less silly). Obviously most warlock characters will be built with at least an idea of who the patron is, if not have a relationship pre-established.

But if most warlock characters will be built knowing who their patron is, why is the default class description that they don't?

 

[Corinnguard]

A pact is a specific deal for power. You can't make one and then think think that power came from you unless you have the intelligence of a goldfish.

A leftover side effect of the Baleful Polymorph spell? "He wasn't the same after he spent a day swimming around as a goldfish."