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.

 

[dave2008]

Oh I know that nobody thinks it's entirely meat. I just want 5e(or really, most TTRPG that says that and then make the only non-magical way to heal is through a tourniquette and bed rest) to actually put their money where their mouth is and actually mechanize that.

Hell, I'm a personal believer of 'It's always meat until it isn't' being how DnD actually treats HP. That's why you don't suffer HP damage from being berated by your mom or when your allies die but definitely when a mosquito bites you.

It is pretty easy to add meat (we call it bloodied hit points) to 5e, we have been doing it for 9 years. Works great!

 

[GobHag]

You misunderstand my posts--I'm saying that HP is always meat in regards to how 5e designs mechanic and interprets it.

 

[teitan]

OK I picked mine up Saturday. I can't say I was wrong but I was right. My original prediction was that it would be a slightly reworked version of 5e with new layout, tweaked main classes and added subclasses and new art. A complete refresh top to bottom and I was right. There isn't enough to call it a new edition, at least in comparison to when WOTC releases a new core rulebook since every time it's either been a MAJOR overhaul like 3.5 or an entirely different game ala 4e and 5e. This is still very much 5e as I originally predicted but cleaned up, reorganized and easier to understand and navigate. Where I can say I was wrong is that as the playtest went on it seemed like it was going to be more 3.5 than BX-BECMI. This is very much a 5.2 with Tasha's and MoM being a 5.1.

What I am more irritated by though is that MoM, FIzban's & Bigby's are supposed to be forward compatible with the revision but looking at the revised monsters I am not 100% sure HOW they are forward compatible.

Will I upgrade when we go back to 5e? ehhhh maybe. I love Mordenkainen and Volo's and they HAVE been updated but with the MoM not looking as forward compatible I am not sure. It's just information but the changes to mechanics could squeak this off my list for a while. I may run my ToEE with just the 2014 version.

 

[Clint_L]

You misunderstand my posts--I'm saying that HP is always meat in regards to how 5e designs mechanic and interprets it.

How would that work, narratively? A 20th level fighter has roughly 40x as many HP as a standard commoner. Can they withstand 40x as many lethal blows, get a good night’s sleep, and be good as new?

HP as purely meat just doesn’t make any sense from a story perspective. I treat HP as an overall measure of survivability and it’s all good.

Edit: here is the current definition of hit points:
“Hit Points (HP) are a measure of how difficult it is to kill or destroy a creature or an object. Damage reduces Hit Points, and healing restores them.”

 

[GobHag]

How would that work, narratively? A 20th level fighter has roughly 40x as many HP as a standard commoner. Can they withstand 40x as many lethal blows, get a good night’s sleep, and be good as new?

HP as purely meat just doesn’t make any sense from a story perspective. I treat HP as an overall measure of survivability and it’s all good.

Edit: here is the current definition of hit points:
“Hit Points (HP) are a measure of how difficult it is to kill or destroy a creature or an object. Damage reduces Hit Points, and healing restores them.”

Yes to all of those examples. That's why the lithe rogue doesn't have much HP as the big muscle Barbarian, in fact the current definition makes it more likely to be Meat since 'healing' is almost exclusively the domain of divine magic and 'meat grow back' stuff. Only Second Wind is the only exception I know of.

 

[Clint_L]

The level 20 "lithe rogue" can still take around 25x as many lethal hits as a commoner. So call it 25 arrows to the chest. And be up the next morning, good as new. Heck, a level 5 wizard, maybe a frail old dude, strength 8, is still going to be able to withstand 4-5 as many lethal hits as a commoner and be right as rain after catching some Zs. That makes sense to you?

Again, that's not what the PHB says. It states that HP are a "measure of how difficult it is to kill or destroy." In some cases, that might make sense to be considered as "meat" (or structural integrity, or whatever). But surely not in all cases. Not in the case of the lithe rogue. At least, not in my games. How do you narrate the way a solid 8 hours fixes the equivalent of 40 lethal attacks if hit points are always just meat?

Doesn't make any sense, unless everyone in the party is basically Wolverine.

That's likely why WotC are being so cagey with the language around hit points. There is no hard and fast definition so that the term can mean what it needs to narratively, while remaining a useful measurement of survivability for game purposes.

 

[dbm]

Do we know if we still on for the 17th in the UK? I seem to recall hearing that there might be delay due to logistics, but I haven’t been keeping up on the details.

 

[GobHag]

The level 20 "lithe rogue" can still take around 25x as many lethal hits as a commoner. So call it 25 arrows to the chest. And be up the next morning, good as new. Heck, a level 5 wizard, maybe a frail old dude, strength 8, is still going to be able to withstand 4-5 as many lethal hits as a commoner and be right as rain after catching some Zs. That makes sense to you?

Again, that's not what the PHB says. It states that HP are a "measure of how difficult it is to kill or destroy." In some cases, that might make sense to be considered as "meat" (or structural integrity, or whatever). But surely not in all cases. Not in the case of the lithe rogue. At least, not in my games. How do you narrate the way a solid 8 hours fixes the equivalent of 40 lethal attacks if hit points are always just meat?

Doesn't make any sense, unless everyone in the party is basically Wolverine.

That's likely why WotC are being so cagey with the languages around hit points. There is no hard and fast definition so that the term can mean what it needs to narratively, while remaining a useful measurement of survivability for game purposes.

Yes, because that's what the undercurrent of how HP is designed. So of course it makes sense, it is how it is. You go home, you sleep, the HP bar refills. Bada bing. Bada boom

The meat just heals, duh. It's meat, if you run out of meat you are dying, if you have meat you aren't. You don't get to get your meat back from a peptalk, because it's meat. Of course CON increases HP, It's meat. Of course the big burly guys have high HP, it's meat.

 

[Clint_L]

Yes, because that's what the undercurrent of how HP is designed. So of course it makes sense, it is how it is. You go home, you sleep, the HP bar refills. Bada bing. Bada boom

The meat just heals, duh. It's meat, if you run out of meat you are dying, if you have meat you aren't. You don't get to get your meat back from a peptalk, because it's meat. Of course CON increases HP, It's meat. Of course the big burly guys have high HP, it's meat.

What makes you think that’s “the undercurrent of how HP is designed,” given that I’ve just cited the actual description of HP from the rules?

Also, note that the “big burly guys” don’t necessarily have high HP. A level 3 Gnome wizard will have more HP than a level 1 Goliath barbarian. How goes that work if it’s as simple as “HP are meat”?

 

[GobHag]

The level 3 gnome wizards have more meat after levelling up