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.

 

[Emerikol]

This feels a bit odd of a take to me. If I was to point to a "generation" of DnD that had a heavy reliance on feats... it would be 3rd edition created almost 25 years ago. Not 5th edition in either 2014 or 2024.

5th edition, even 2024, has had feats as an optional boon that you could use to elevate your character. 3rd edition had it as a mandatory sub-system you had to master or your character would be rendered useless.

I was waxing philosophical and not thinking only of feats. 5e abandoned my playstyle and WOTC abandoned me long before that.

I think a lot of DMs are sadly weak. They don't want to fool with something but they are intimidated by some subset of the players. Now there are other reasons too but that is one big one. So starting with the simplest as core and then having all subsystems as optional add ons is desirable. They will likely all chose some of the optional add ons but they can always fall back and say anything that is optional is not allowed by them.

I don't have that problem. I'm too old and too curmudgeonly to tolerate bully players.

 

[Hatmatter]

Things are a bit different than when you and I started playing! At this point, D&D is attempting to court a larger audience. House ruling may be fine for diehards (e.g. the population of these boards!), but for folks looking for a way to kill a few hours once in a while (i.e. the wider audience that Hasbro is pursuing), this is a turn off. Even for the tinkerers amongst potential new players, there's an argument to be made that the expectation of tighter rulesets created by the wave of more sophisticated/clean/streamlined boardgames of the last couple of decades forces the design team's hand when it comes to creating game rules.

Oh, I see...thanks for clarifying. It would be a shame if we were just raising up a generation of rules followers as a consequence, but perhaps not. I always liked the DIY ethic of role-playing, just like in punk music.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Oh, I see...thanks for clarifying. It would be a shame if we were just raising up a generation of rules followers as a consequence, but perhaps not. I always liked the DIY ethic of role-playing, just like in punk music.

* high five* Yeah, I do like the DIY aspect as well. The good news is though even a tighter ruleset doesn't prevent house ruling and modding at all. Tinkers gonna tinker!

 

[SkidAce]

Things are a bit different than when you and I started playing! At this point, D&D is attempting to court a larger audience. House ruling may be fine for diehards (e.g. the population of these boards!), but for folks looking for a way to kill a few hours once in a while (i.e. the wider audience that Hasbro is pursuing), this is a turn off. Even for the tinkerers amongst potential new players, there's an argument to be made that the expectation of tighter rulesets created by the wave of more sophisticated/clean/streamlined boardgames of the last couple of decades forces the design team's hand when it comes to creating game rules.

Not sure I agree, but its probably anecdotal anyway, based on the players I run into...

AND the fact that I tell the new folks that D&D is a toolkit for gaming how they like.

So I could be tainting the water so to speak.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

So I could be tainting the water so to speak.

Gross.

 

[Alzrius]

I think a lot of DMs are sadly weak.

For what it's worth, I see a lot of this (and maybe it's just me, but it seems more prevalent in the 5E era, though that may be due to the increase of overall players).

 

[Imaro]

Things are a bit different than when you and I started playing! At this point, D&D is attempting to court a larger audience. House ruling may be fine for diehards (e.g. the population of these boards!), but for folks looking for a way to kill a few hours once in a while (i.e. the wider audience that Hasbro is pursuing), this is a turn off. Even for the tinkerers amongst potential new players, there's an argument to be made that the expectation of tighter rulesets created by the wave of more sophisticated/clean/streamlined boardgames of the last couple of decades forces the design team's hand when it comes to creating game rules.

I'd assume folks looking for a way to kill a few hours once in a while would just select a feat they don't really have to think about... like the ASI option. On the other hand those in a mixed group could select a more complex feat and it wouldn't affect the more casual players.

EDIT: Which is to say... how is this not both an elegant solution and tight mechanics?

 

[Laurefindel]

I'd assume folks looking for a way to kill a few hours once in a while would just select a feat they don't really have to think about... like the ASI option. On the other hand those in a mixed group could select a more complex feat and it wouldn't affect the more casual players.

I think it's a big mistake to equal "wanting less complex rules" with "casual gaming".

You can be a hard-core gamer and want simpler rules. As a matter a fact, the more experienced the gamer, the more they know what they like, and "liking simpler rules" is a legitimate preference.

D&D has a lot of stuff. I know what I want from D&D; the rest is just noise. Not garbage - it's good stuff, I can objectively see that - but it's stuff I know i don't need. I can ignore the noise, and I even have a high tolerance for it. However, eliminating this noise is a welcomed relief and I find i enjoy my hobby better that way. I'll tolerate the noise if it means that my good friends enjoy their hobby better this way, but honestly, I'd rather do without.

It's not because I'm not good at math.
It's not because I have poor memory.
It's not because I have only so much mental room for complex rules.
It's not because I have poor imagination.
It's not because I'm stuck in my old ways.
It's not because I lack experience. It's actually quite the opposite.

[edit] I should also add; "what I want from D&D" changes from campaign form campaign, so I'm glad that D&D has it all. I can pick and choose without having to swap systems and look for another game because of the inevitable "obviously, D&D is not for me". D&D is obviously well-made for me, down to the fact that things can easily be added and removed from the game. It's brilliant in its customization potential really.

 

[Imaro]

I think it's a big mistake to equal "wanting less complex rules" with "casual gaming".

You can be a hard-core gamer and want simpler rules. As a matter a fact, the more experienced the gamer, the more they know what they like, and "liking simpler rules" is a legitimate preference.

D&D has a lot of stuff. I know what I want from D&D; the rest is just noise. Not garbage; it's good stuff. I can objectively see that, but it's stuff I know i don't need. I can ignore the noise, and I even have a high tolerance for it. However, eliminating this noise is a welcomed relief and I find i enjoy my hobby better that way. I'll tolerate the noise if it means that my good friends enjoy their hobby better this way, but honestly, I could do without.

It's not because I'm not good at math.
It's not because I have poor memory.
It's not because I have only so much mental room for complex rules.
It's not because I have poor imagination.
It's not because I'm stuck in my old ways.
It's not because I lack experience. It's actually quite the opposite.

The description I addressed in my post "Looking for a way to kill a few hours once in awhile" doesn't seem to describe you... but it does describe what I would consider a casual gamer.

 

[Laurefindel]

The description I addressed in my post "Looking for a way to kill a few hours once in awhile" doesn't seem to describe you... but it does describe what I would consider a casual gamer.

[edit] Yikes, @Imaro , I grossly misunderstood your post. I'm not gonna remove it because you probably read it already, but take it with a huge grain of salt. My apologies

Casual gamers don't get very invested in a game, or else they aren't casual. They don't spend much resources on it (be it time, money, emotion, personal investment, identity, marriage/family). You seem to be equating hard-core gaming (or whatever is the opposite of casual gaming) with an affection for complexity and multitude of (mechanical) options, but I think you are losing focus on the bigger picture of RPG as a hobby, or even D&D as a game.