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.

 

[Mecheon]

If a player wants to play a warlock and the warlock's patron, wouldn't the latter become a PC (and a high level one at that)?

I mean the patron isn't necessarily there, they're generally off in another realm or something

So its just a voice the PC hears at the Appropriate Times telling them to do a thing or write home (the patron is their mum)

 

[Corinnguard]

I mean the patron isn't necessarily there, they're generally off in another realm or something

So its just a voice the PC hears at the Appropriate Times telling them to do a thing or write home (the patron is their mum)

True. For the most part, the patron just has a speaking role. "Now where are my lines..."

There might be adventures, however, where warlock and their patron might meet each other. Ex. Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, if their patron happens to be Zariel.

 

[SteveC]

From their common sense familiarity with imaginative game play.

And here we come to the end of the discussion (for me!) because that's the answer. However, when we've been discussing in this thread if there's mechanical support for things like the PC running their patron as a Warlock, there is not. You can create NPC characters, play solo, play a Cyberpunk game or even play a Superhero game ... with what you're talking about.

What you won't get is support from the rules for it. And of course there's a big asterisk there because there could be discussion of that type of play in the DMG. We don't know. If that's the case, I'd say it would be a good thing for the game. I would be kind of surprised, though, as D&D seems to have actively not gone in the direction of other games that encourage more player authority in the game. I think that's an interesting avenue for discussion, but not in this thread. But now, don't know is my answer as to if we will see it.

I really think that's about all I can say on the issue (and you can make the argument I've said way too much already!) If you expect an argument against this style of play, I'm sure you can find it. Just not from me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So the DM is capable of role-playing multiple characters in the same scene, but a player is not capable of the same? Why not?



No, I don't think it does. Particularly if the Player did not come up with the NPC or their motivations.

You just told us about a slew of characters you invented for your PCs background. Since you came up with those NPCs and their motivations, would they become PCs by your definition if you started RPing them?

See, I can fire off binary targeted arguments to support my point too.

 

[Corinnguard]

Since you came up with those NPCs and their motivations, would they become PCs by your definition if you started RPing them?

They could if the DM included them in the adventure.

 

[Older Beholder]

In another game I played in, (the guy I mentioned previously that would take over unused NPC's was the DM this time) we were about to fight the big bad of the campaign. The DM asked if we'd be interested to play as a group of NPC's in a flashback about how the big bad come to be for a couple of sessions.

We played as miners that unleashed a previously trapped evil (there were pre-gen characters that were pretty basic, which were chosen randomly by rolling). As each of us was picked off one by one, the DM asked us what we thought the most powerful creature was. Then, when we went back to our PC's and faced off against the BBEG, there were a group of minions (mini-bosses) that were based on each of our answers to that question.

It was one of the most memorable boss fights I've ever played, because our characters had a huge part in shaping it.

 

[Imaro]

It's also in the DMG, which even you have to admit is counter-intuitive.

How so?

 

[Micah Sweet]

How so?

...the DMG isn't generally known for its chapter full of player-controlled material?

 

[Imaro]

...the DMG isn't generally known for its chapter full of player-controlled material?

Its known for its optional rules that are in general implemented by the DM.

 

[pemerton]

If a player wants to play a warlock and the warlock's patron, wouldn't the latter become a PC (and a high level one at that)?

No.

A player-character is the vehicle whereby a player engages the fiction and has their impact on the game. The way the fiction is configured in a conventional RPG, the PC is a protagonist in a situation established by the GM.

A warlock's patron would not fit this description, any more than a PC's family or mentor or whatever other background elements a player might establish for their character.