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.

 

[Hatmatter]

I think a lot of DMs are sadly weak.

I can benchpress 260 pounds!

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

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?

It is elegant and tight and sufficient... to you and me. But I think you might be applying your willingness to tinker to the general populace and drawing some erroneous conclusions with regards to the bigger picture.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

[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.

Not really understanding your edit and apology here. I think you were spot on with your initial post. What am I missing?

Bopping back and forth between this and work issues and conversations with my kids. I'll be up to date at some point, not to worry. Just talk to me like I'm five for now.

 

[Imaro]

It is elegant and tight and sufficient... to you and me. But I think you might be applying your willingness to tinker to the general populace and drawing some erroneous conclusions with regards to the bigger picture.

Well I would assume anyone who is thinking about the game deeply enough to know they do not want to play with feats is looking to tinker (though I don't think selecting the simplest feat is actually doing much in the way of tinkering.)... otherwise they'd just play the default game (which most will do). And again, when it comes to players, those who want simplicity will pick a simple feat and those who want more complexity will choose a more complex feat.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Well I would assume anyone who is thinking about the game deeply enough to know they do not want to play with feats is looking to tinker (though I don't think selecting the simplest feat is actually doing much in the way of tinkering.)... otherwise they'd just play the default game (which most will do). And again, when it comes to players, those who want simplicity will pick a simple feat and those who want more complexity will choose a more complex feat.

Yeah, I understand that. What I'm saying is that for the target audience I mentioned, having to make that choice is not much of a carrot. Those who want simplicity, as you put it, will be presented with an option of many feats. Just picking the one feat which keeps things simple requires understanding all the feats as presented then realising that there is one choice that is simpler than others. All they'll see is a wall of noisy rules... if they have to work to sift through the noise... well, there are other options to occupy their time. Particularly when many of the other options have put in the effort to streamline the offering.

Those who want complexity, as you put it, will put in the time. The rest might just move on.

 

[Chaosmancer]

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).

And for it is also worth, I barely see any of this ever. The only "bully" players I've ever seen are literal teenagers doing what teenagers do. The idea that even a significant portion of DMs are "weak" and unable to stand up to themselves against "bullies" is just... I don't know. Wrong on so many different levels? Kind of elitist? Kind of patronizing? Maybe even a bit gross in some ways?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

And for it is also worth, I barely see any of this ever. The only "bully" players I've ever seen are literal teenagers doing what teenagers do. The idea that even a significant portion of DMs are "weak" and unable to stand up to themselves against "bullies" is just... I don't know. Wrong on so many different levels? Kind of elitist? Kind of patronizing? Maybe even a bit gross in some ways?

It's like some people have internalized so much the idea of the viking-hat adversarial DM that they don that Persona in their social interactions: the PC must me put to heel, the players must be put to heel.

It's pretty gross indeed.

 

[Zardnaar]

And for it is also worth, I barely see any of this ever. The only "bully" players I've ever seen are literal teenagers doing what teenagers do. The idea that even a significant portion of DMs are "weak" and unable to stand up to themselves against "bullies" is just... I don't know. Wrong on so many different levels? Kind of elitist? Kind of patronizing? Maybe even a bit gross in some ways?

It's kinda trending elsewhere online. Usually kinda generational.

Also circlejerk type subs where over the top satire is used to mock whatever.

 

[Alzrius]

The idea that even a significant portion of DMs are "weak" and unable to stand up to themselves against "bullies" is just... I don't know. Wrong on so many different levels? Kind of elitist? Kind of patronizing? Maybe even a bit gross in some ways?

I'd characterize it as the downside of reinforcing the message that having fun is the be-all end-all of playing (e.g. "yes and" GMing). While the optimal idea is that everyone is looking out for everyone else's enjoyment, the reality is that there are people (not necessarily just a few outliers, from what I can tell) who invert this idea, turning it into an issue of "if you're not going along with what I find fun, you're the problem."

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I'd characterize it as the downside of reinforcing the message that having fun is the be-all end-all of playing (e.g. "yes and" GMing). While the optimal idea is that everyone is looking out for everyone else's enjoyment, the reality is that there are people (not necessarily just a few outliers, from what I can tell) who invert this idea, turning it into an issue of "if you're not going along with what I find fun, you're the problem."

Yeah... I have seen this sort of self-absorption out there and it's a bit of a head scratcher. I think the world would be better off with more empathy and less 'me, me, me'. I don't think these folks are bad people, but I also don't think they realise how self-centred they actually are.