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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The fiction is the fiction and the rules are the rules. And rules are fundamentally limited, whereas fiction is not.

IMO the mechanics should always follow the fiction as closely as possible.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Which is fine - but we are talking about patrons who can FORCE the character to do what they are told.

Is mind control part of the class/patron fiction?

 

[Micah Sweet]

No, they are also Zargon, the Queen of Air and Darkness, and a bunch of other beings who are far too important to pay much attention to a PC warlock.

Exactly none of the named patrons are beings likely to get personally involved.

The default warlock patron isn’t going to have a significant role in the game.

In most campaigns, PC warlocks, especially as they level, are going to be major players in setting affairs, and therefore major avenues for a patron to influence setting affairs. Most patrons (obviously not all) are going to take an interest in such individuals, logically.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In most campaigns, PC warlocks, especially as they level, are going to be major players in setting affairs, and therefore major avenues for a patron to influence setting affairs. Most patrons (obviously not all) are going to take an interest in such individuals, logically.

I thought you said the PCs in your campaign were “ordinary”. Ordinarily people are not major players in anything.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

IMO the mechanics should always follow the fiction as closely as possible.

Mechanics should reflect the fiction. But it’s quite possible to have multiple different fictions reflected in the same set of mechanics.

 

[Imaro]

The DM should be playing the patron appropriately to their nature and the information that patron has to make decisions, just like a God and their cleric (or paladin sometimes). If you as a player don't trust your DM to do that fairly and with verisimilitude, you IMO have a bigger problem.

So then what are the enforcement mechanics for?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I thought you said the PCs in your campaign were “ordinary”. Ordinarily people are not major players in anything.

Hard to get to high level without inserting yourself into important situations. They're special because they make themselves special by their choices and actions. Not because the story places them in an important narrative roll.

I expected an attempt at calling me a hypocrite. Nice try.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Mechanics should reflect the fiction. But it’s quite possible to have multiple different fictions reflected in the same set of mechanics.

It is, but I don't like it and avoid it whenever possible. That's my way.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So then what are the enforcement mechanics for?

Not sure what you mean. The DM decides what the patron does (whatever is appropriate to their nature, knowledge, and the situation), and the player decides how their PC responds to it.

 

[Imaro]

Not sure what you mean. The DM decides what the patron does (whatever is appropriate to their nature, knowledge, and the situation), and the player decides how their PC responds to it.

We were originally talking about mechanics to enforce the warlock/patron relationship.