FrogReaver
As long as i get to be the frog
Initial Thoughts
The new 2024 PHB is quite a bit larger than the old 2014 PHB. It's layout is vastly improved, likely for both new and experienced players alike. Mechanically the races seem much more interesting, but they also seem more magical/supernatural - which might be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. Backgrounds feel very restrictive, though there is the blurb about using a 2014 background and mixing and matching any stats and any origin feat. Due to the already large page count it's understandable, albeit disappointing, that they didn't include what would have been a mostly redundant blurb about a custom 2024 background. Feats seem to mostly be improved. Class/Subclass changes seem to mostly be in the eye of the beholder - but many have indisputably seen improvement. Spells are similar, most unchanged, some needed nerfs and some unexpected buffs.
Overall the rules feel like home and are a breath of fresh air. 2014 characters starting to get a bit mechanically stale even though I hadn't nearly exhausted every idea. 2024 characters will likely feel quite a bit stronger than their 2014 counterparts, at least until we can see if new monsters are significantly buffed.
Layout
Things I love - Nearly all the basics for playing the game are up front. There's a rules glossary so important rules aren't as scattered all around the book. Spell lists are at the end of each classes section. This actually makes looking at a class and then referencing specific spells on that classes list much easier. In 2014 you had to keep track of the class section, the spell list section and then look up the individual spell you wanted.
Things I hate - Not found anything yet. I suspect there will be something.
Races
Things I love - Most races seem to provide good mechanical support for most classes. Outside layout, races are one of the things I was most concerned about in 2024 but that I overall like the most. There's no restriction/drawback on small races using heavy weapons that I have found!!
Things I hate - Some weren't changed nearly enough since 2014. Dwarves tremor sense ability feels out of place with it's requirement to be on stone, when other races don't have such restrictions on their racial abilities. Many races have a daily or Proficiency Bonus times per day racial ability and it works well for differentiating races but feels a bit clunky to me. Hard to argue with the differentiation results though.
Backgrounds
Things I love - Background feats are cool. There's a bit of power creep to them, but they help differentiate low level characters and that's a really good thing!
Things I hate - Far too restrictive without using the 2014 background backdoor provided in a blurb in the 2024 book. Tying ASI's, Skills, Origin feat all to a list of less than 20 combinations leaves alot of customization holes. Now, I'm all for packaging things together in certain circumstances, but I just don't feel it was really needed here.
Feats
Things I love - Most of the strong feats were 'fixed'. Though it's interesting they still kept them fairly strong.
Things I hate - There's still good and bad feats, but things seem to be closer in line than before. Hopefully yields more interesting choices and not just a different obvious hierarchy. Time will tell.
Classes
Things I love - Almost all classes/subclasses were improved and a few that needed reigned in a bit were. While certainly not perfect I think they did a really good job here.
Things I hate - I've not been a fan of all subclasses at third, still not in love with it. I think I can overlook it though. Rogues seem like they will be even worse at damage in 2024 relative to other martials than they were in 2014. Rangers are a bit too focused on hunter's mark.
Spells
Things I love - Some key spells were nerfed. Tasha's Hideous Laughter was buffed to allow it to upcast and effect more targets. It might be the best level 1 spell in the game now.
Things I hate - Not enough spell nerfs. Conjure Minor Elementals scales to much.
Other Thoughts
There is already errata (as Beyond version isn't matching print version in places - mostly minor things). Stealth rules are as wonky as they always are. There's alot of healing/damage reduction scattered around in subclasses/races/origin feats/etc. Many damage buffs don't work with reaction attacks (GWM damage buff, sneak attack, etc). Optimized archery seems to do significantly less DPR than optimized melee now - that's a big win IMO.
***This review is a work in progress. I may tweak as time goes on.
The new 2024 PHB is quite a bit larger than the old 2014 PHB. It's layout is vastly improved, likely for both new and experienced players alike. Mechanically the races seem much more interesting, but they also seem more magical/supernatural - which might be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. Backgrounds feel very restrictive, though there is the blurb about using a 2014 background and mixing and matching any stats and any origin feat. Due to the already large page count it's understandable, albeit disappointing, that they didn't include what would have been a mostly redundant blurb about a custom 2024 background. Feats seem to mostly be improved. Class/Subclass changes seem to mostly be in the eye of the beholder - but many have indisputably seen improvement. Spells are similar, most unchanged, some needed nerfs and some unexpected buffs.
Overall the rules feel like home and are a breath of fresh air. 2014 characters starting to get a bit mechanically stale even though I hadn't nearly exhausted every idea. 2024 characters will likely feel quite a bit stronger than their 2014 counterparts, at least until we can see if new monsters are significantly buffed.
Layout
Things I love - Nearly all the basics for playing the game are up front. There's a rules glossary so important rules aren't as scattered all around the book. Spell lists are at the end of each classes section. This actually makes looking at a class and then referencing specific spells on that classes list much easier. In 2014 you had to keep track of the class section, the spell list section and then look up the individual spell you wanted.
Things I hate - Not found anything yet. I suspect there will be something.
Races
Things I love - Most races seem to provide good mechanical support for most classes. Outside layout, races are one of the things I was most concerned about in 2024 but that I overall like the most. There's no restriction/drawback on small races using heavy weapons that I have found!!
Things I hate - Some weren't changed nearly enough since 2014. Dwarves tremor sense ability feels out of place with it's requirement to be on stone, when other races don't have such restrictions on their racial abilities. Many races have a daily or Proficiency Bonus times per day racial ability and it works well for differentiating races but feels a bit clunky to me. Hard to argue with the differentiation results though.
Backgrounds
Things I love - Background feats are cool. There's a bit of power creep to them, but they help differentiate low level characters and that's a really good thing!
Things I hate - Far too restrictive without using the 2014 background backdoor provided in a blurb in the 2024 book. Tying ASI's, Skills, Origin feat all to a list of less than 20 combinations leaves alot of customization holes. Now, I'm all for packaging things together in certain circumstances, but I just don't feel it was really needed here.
Feats
Things I love - Most of the strong feats were 'fixed'. Though it's interesting they still kept them fairly strong.
Things I hate - There's still good and bad feats, but things seem to be closer in line than before. Hopefully yields more interesting choices and not just a different obvious hierarchy. Time will tell.
Classes
Things I love - Almost all classes/subclasses were improved and a few that needed reigned in a bit were. While certainly not perfect I think they did a really good job here.
Things I hate - I've not been a fan of all subclasses at third, still not in love with it. I think I can overlook it though. Rogues seem like they will be even worse at damage in 2024 relative to other martials than they were in 2014. Rangers are a bit too focused on hunter's mark.
Spells
Things I love - Some key spells were nerfed. Tasha's Hideous Laughter was buffed to allow it to upcast and effect more targets. It might be the best level 1 spell in the game now.
Things I hate - Not enough spell nerfs. Conjure Minor Elementals scales to much.
Other Thoughts
There is already errata (as Beyond version isn't matching print version in places - mostly minor things). Stealth rules are as wonky as they always are. There's alot of healing/damage reduction scattered around in subclasses/races/origin feats/etc. Many damage buffs don't work with reaction attacks (GWM damage buff, sneak attack, etc). Optimized archery seems to do significantly less DPR than optimized melee now - that's a big win IMO.
***This review is a work in progress. I may tweak as time goes on.
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